Modernism and Post-Modernism

Self Portrait (1998) Chuck Close

Maggie (1996) Chuck Close

Water Lillies (1920) Claude Monet

Water Lillies (1920) Claude Monet

1. Outline the intentions of each artist.
The intentions of both of the artists were to take a normal subject matter, as they have shown, such as people or flowers, are represented that common subject matter in an entirely different way. Designed to question the viewer and make the viewer think, quite clearly, out of the box, and to extend the viewers mind outside of a normal comfort zone in order to express themselves as artists better and also more creatively.

2. Describe the techniques of each artist
Chuck Close uses a straight line of a brush stroke and then used these to create many box-like shapes that close in on themselves. He has used these in various colours and shades to then create the final picture. The materials in which he used to do these paintings include; a razor blade, an airbrush, rags and an eraser in which was attached to a power drill. He became well known before this as he decided to throw away all his regular tools such as paintbrushes and started to only use tools of a bizarre nature when it came to creating paint art works.

Claude Monet has an similar idea of creating his work, but at the same time is also entirely different to what Close has done. Monet has painted the as he probably sees the subject matter as an artist. The flowers have been painted with a slight blur to them, which again, challenges the viewer to think outside the square. Another reason for why Monet may have painted these works with a slight blur is because whilst he was doing this work he suffered from eye cataracts. Monet did 20 paintings in this series of the water lillies, so then became one of his most famous pieces.

3. Find 2 quotes about each artists work, and reference them correctly.
"the illusion of an endless whole, of water without horizon or bank....."the refuge of a peaceful meditation in the center of a flowering aquarium." Claude Monet, The Museum of Modern Art, (1926) http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5100003&CID=5447010003801a

"en plein air" (outdoor) techniques for painting" Eugène Boudin (1857) http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/

"Chuck Close is an American artist noted for his highly inventive techniques used to paint the human face. He is best known for his large-scale, Photo-Realist portraits." Anon (unknown) http://bigthink.com/chuckclose

"I threw away my tools,I chose to do things I had no facility with. The choice not to do something is in a funny way more positive than the choice to do something. If you impose a limit to not do something you've done before, it will push you to where you've never gone before." Chuck Close (2009) http://www.chuckclose.coe.uh.edu/

4. Note 3 similarities of the work of both artists.

- Both use a different kind of brush stroke
- Both approach the work with photo-realism and hyper realism
- Both are trying to push the boundaries of art for their time

5. What are some differences between the artist's work. (at least 3)

- The subject matter each artist uses is entirely different
- The inspirations that each of the artists paint from are obvious, and because of the time are in ways trying to achieve something different
- To the viewer, the works are completely different.

6. Describe your response to the work of both artists.

As an individual, I think that I respond better to the works of Monet out of the two artists mentioned in this blog. Because I personally just prefer the more classical type of art work from this era. I like both the subject matter and the way Monet has painted.

Also, I personally am not a fan of Close's works. Though I fully can appreciate the work that he has done and I do like how he has not used a conventional way of painting, this makes him different and more talented then most artists of his time for pushing the boundaries as he has done.

Claude Monet, Biography, (2003) http://www.chuckclose.coe.uh.edu/

Tucker, P.H, (1998) Claude Monet: Life and Art. Yale University Press.

Finch, C., (2010) Chuck Close: Work Prestel, USA.

Finch, C., (2010 Chuck Close: Life Prestek, USA.

Industrialisation and Cao Fei's RMB City

Umberto Boccioni (1910) The City Rises

Dynamism of Dog on a Leash (1912) Giacomo Balla

1. What and when was the Industrial Revolution?

The Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century and continued into the 19th. It was an era inwhich began in the United Kingdom and from there on spread to Europe and so on. What the Industrial Revolution is itself is the huge changes the began in the fields of agriculture, business, technology, manufacturing, and transportation. These changes had huge inpact on all aspects of the economy.

2. Research both Modernist paintings in order to comment on the subject matter, form and style used to celebrate the machine and motion in each painting. Answer the question in 2 parts for each painting.

In Boccioni's work 'The City Rises' we see a city in quite clear uproar. The subject matter consists of what looks like some sort of fox-like beast taking over a city. The fact that our attention is drawn to the subject matter of the background, in which is an array of buildings, we can tell that Boccioni's work is intended to be in a Modernist style and we can therefore relate this work to industrialisation.

The reason for this fact we can refer this work to industrialisation is because the subject matter is harsh and dirty. The fact the work refers to the destruction of the city through motion, we as viewers get a sense of the work being some what machine-like, because it is often that machine is seen as something dirty and destructive. Boccioni as indeed intended for this in his work as we see here.


The subject matter of Balla's work features a dog quite clearly in motion. The way he has painted it leads us to believe that this is true, he has painted the dog itself and then continued to turn it on an angle and keep painting it this way. He has used a classical form of painting and then added an industrial twist to the work.

This work portrays the movement of the city and the harsh reality which is that of the city. We can relate this work to industrialism because it shows the nature of the new industrialised city in which Balla was clearly influenced by.

3. Research Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9) in order to comment on this work in more depth.

RMB City was a work created by Fei as something the viewer could actually go and interact with themselves. It is said to be known as a type of 'online city' which one can go and push the boundairies between the physical exsistance of ones self as well as pushing that of the virtual self. This work took Fei almost 2 years to complete and holds a lot of meaning in regards to the Industrial movement itself. RMB city was used for the creation of several films and also as a live theatre.

I personally very much like this work and think it has been very well done.

4. RMB City is described as a utopia/dystopia. Comment on what these terms mean, and how they can be applied to the work.

RMB City has been described as utopia/dystopia because of the subject matter involved in the piece. It is an array of different things and different pieces of scenery. One, we can call this utopia because utopia is a word used to describe a picture perfect place inwhich displays the perfect kind of world. However dystopia is used to describe a mismatched type of scenery or world. These two terms can be applied to the work RMB City because it is something which makes the viewer think of a place which is an unrealistic euphoria of a world and then the mismatched mixed up feeling we get from the work.

5. Although the Modernist paintings and the contemporary digital work have emerged from
different contexts, there are also many similarities. Comment on the similarities that you can see in the work. Look at the moving digital image at vimeo.com/4272260, if you have not
already researched it.

Although RMB City is different in many ways to the previously discussed Modernist work from many years ago, it still holds true that there are a lot of similarites. These simlarites can be seen in the fact that both of the works are based on motion and machine, where as when Balla and Boccioni were creating their works they had to be far clever with the means that they expressed themselves when showing motion and movement, where as thanks to modern day technology, Fei is able to express himself much, much more fluidly. Both of RMB City and the Modernist works has usewd machine to further the kind of destruction they viewed as being placed during each of their times.


The Industrial Revolution – Innovations. (2011) Industrialrevolution.sea.ca.

People's Monthly 01 Issue", ed. RMB City, (2008)

Fei,C. (2009) Cao Fei: PRD Anti-Heroes Museum Het Domein.

Dubovsky. F,.(1996) Industrialism and the American Worker, 1865-1920 (American History Series) Harlan Davidson

Landscape and the Sublime

On The Beach (2003) Richard Misrach

Untitled 2 (2002) Richard Misrach

Wanderer In The Mists (1818) Caspar David Friedrich

1. What and when was the Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment happened during the midst of the 18th century and is commonly reffered to as the age of reason, and it was called that because this was the time "when man began to use his reason to discover the world, casting off the superstition and fear of the medieval world." Aude Sapere (1999.) The Enlightenment was thought of as not ideas but actual values and beliefs, this was because the ideas within The Enlightenment were often quite contradicting with each other, and so bought about the phenomenon inwhich people began to lead lives based on The Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was not only big in europe, but also in America and Australia, and other places as such.

2. Define the concept of the Sublime.

The Sublime in some ways, is much like The Enlightenment. The Sublime was the notion that us as humans were able to transend above and beyond normal human emotion. To be able to fully appreciate and become apart of The Sublime, one had to have the the belief that there was more to ourselves then what we could see. This includes the belief in paranormal activity, life after death, our souls not exclusively belonging to our bodies, and so forth.

3. How did the concept of the Sublime come out of the Enlightenment thought?

The Sublime was one of the many ideas that the The Enlightenment gave birth to. In this new age of Enlightenment people had become accoustmed to taking in new beliefs that prior to the beginning of The Enlightenment they would of not had the mind brod enough to do so. We can see The Sublime coming through in many aspects of The Enlightenment, such as people opening their minds to the fact that although God was not the be all and end all, science still could not explain everything. Thus ideas began to form that suggested that there was life beyond death and perhaps it wasn't heaven or hell. The Sublime became a great concept to work with through art as it depicted great, vast landscapes completely secular, showing only the beauty and serenity of man in nature.

4. Discuss the subject matter, and aesthetic (look) of Misrach's work to identify the Sublime in his work. Add some more images of his work.

Misrach was greatly known for his minimalistic approach to painting. Depicted in his works we see a stretch of land that quite clearly goes on for miles without anything except one or two people, clearly doing nothing but relaxing. Misrach opens our eyes up to the great nothing which is the beauty of nature, this is what The Sublime teaches. The amazing thing which is that no matter what we build and where, nature will always take its course and act of its own accord, and nothing we do is ever for sure or forever. Misrach draws us in to the beauty of nature and of The Sublime.

Man With Rifle (2001) Richard Misrach

5. Identify some other artists or designers that work with ideas around the Sublime, from the Enlightenment era as well as contemporary artists.

Another artist that worked largely around the idea of The Sublime was Salvador Dalí. He used bizarre out of place objects and painted them with the idea of the Sublime in context. As I have put here you see the melted clocks in the foreground of a vast background. He is obviously not as such a contemporary artist but did become a forerunner for this kind of work.

Persistence of Memory (1931) Salvador Ali

Barnett Newman was quoted as saying his work focused around some ideas of the Sublime and the Enlightenment. His work basically solely consisted of large paintings of one or two colours and could either leave plenty or not much at all to the imagination.

Untitled (1970) Barnett Newman

A famous photographer by the name of would take photographs of beautiful scenery from helicopters and paragliders and through what he photographs we can see is influenced largely by the Sublime.

Untitled (2002) Benutzer Flyout

Also another photographer who was famous for this kind if Sublime photography was David Wilman

Snowdonia (2010) David Wilman

6. How does Misrach's photography make you feel? Does it appeal to your imagination?

Misrach's photography does to me exactly what he probably intended it to. He makes me feel at peace and serene and most defiently gives me a much greater appreciation for the Sublime. Because of the emptiness of space and landscape seen in his work it leaves plenty for the imagination. We begin to wonder what exactly Misrach saw we he took that particular photograph and if it is that same as we feel.

7. Add a Sublime image of your choice to your blog, which can be Art or just a Sublime photograph.

Japan Tsunami (2011) Unknown