Modernism’s Whammies Delivered
We journeyed from the 1860s right up to today.
Exploring and explaining Modern Art & Modernism to an excellent audience of art lovers, art sceptics, and simple appreciators of the aesthetic qualities of life.
Manet to Banksy.
The Belle Epoque. WW1 and WW2 and the consequences affecting art movements – Dadaism after WW1 and the dramatic shift from Paris to New York following WW2.
A vast subject with many controversial elements. Fantastic audience participation with a number of challenges made for instance Kazimir Malevich’s ‘Black Square’ “how can that be art?”. Excellent, and I’m not going to go into the explanation here, not enough room.
We considered existentialism i.e. the freedom humans have to exercise free will, free thinking and action (in countries where they can of course) and how avant-garde artists became themselves, away from the constraints (money, censorship, female restrictions etc) imposed on many of their fore-fathers and mothers.
Commissions to live by, yes. But developing new styles and approaches, definitely.
We considered some of the prime movers behind a number of the art movements: Louis Leroy with the Impressionists, Andre Breton and the Surrealists, Clement Greenberg and the Abstract Expressionists and Charles Saatchi with the Young British Artists and the Royal Academy ‘Sensation’ exhibition in 1997.
Numerous ‘isms’ were rolled out and as far as possible in chronological order. Starting of course with Impressionism, through such ‘isms’ as Vortism, Pop Art, Conceptualism to today’s Street Art and Internationalism (is that really an ‘ism?).
Many works and movements were set to music videos as I was advised once to always ‘listen to the sound of the picture’. Plus it gave me a chance to rest my voice.
We had quizzes and some cartoon humour. So not just a talk with a few slides, but a whole ‘show’.
These talks were held in support of Brockenhurst Village Hall: an extremely valuable community hub offering all sorts of community activities and support.
The next talk or series of talks? Do not know yet so let’s see what hits the headlines and maybe go from there.
Modernism’s Whammies Delivered