MODERN ART
See also individual ARTISTS
Expressionism: German Revolutionary Art in the early modern period
Reviled by the Nazis, the most important and influential art movement in Germany in the early 20th century could be beautiful and sombre, highly charged and edgy, exciting and disturbing.
The Camden Town Group
Founded in 1911, and inspired by French Post-Impressionism (and working-class life in London), the short-lived Camden Town Group chronicled changes in British society immediately before and during World War 1, and heralded a new modern spirit in British art.
Making Sense of Modern Art
Society changed more rapidly in the twentieth century than at any time in the previous four thousand years. So did art. This lecture will explain many modern movements and the artistic response to political and social upheavals, including both World Wars, which inspired some of the great masterpieces of modern art. Recent decades have seen a questioning of the nature and language of art, with Post-Modernism and the Turner Prize.
“The paths of glory....” Art and the Great War
This lecture examines the way artists, with direct experience of war, attempted to depict the conflict in the face of strict official censorship, and how each side responded to the aftermath of war.
Modern Art and the Old Masters: the new approach to familiar themes in 20th century art
A comparison of the way in which the modern treatment of traditional genres in art is different from that of the Old Masters, the effect of these differences, and whether they add to, or change, our understanding of the subject and its message. The lecture will cover all of the traditional genres, i.e. History Painting, Portraits, Genre (pictures of everyday life), Landscape and Still-Life, and we will consider the way in which the treatment of these subjects has changed over the centuries, up to the present day.
Bricks, Sheds, Unmade Beds: Is it Art?
Have you ever wondered how bricks, an exploded shed or an unmade bed can be art? Why a dead cow and her calf were exhibited at the Tate? Or how a urinal placed on a pedestal can be taken seriously as a sculpture? This lecture may provide the answer.
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Era: Pop Art in the Swinging Sixties
Pop Art is a figurative, realist, brightly-coloured response to the modern world of consumerism, youth culture and the mass media in Britain and the USA. Inspired by popular and commercial culture, Pop artists were fascinated with their own modern era - the post-war world of advertising, Hollywood films, pop music, comics and the cult of celebrity.
Surrealism:Dreams and Nightmares
Surrealism continues to be one of the most enduring and popular modern movements. Inspired by the political climate of 1920s Europe and the writings of Sigmund Freud, Surrealist artists explored the world of the irrational, of neuroses, of desire and fetish, dreams and nightmares. This lecture will look at a rich variety of Surrealist art and consider whether it is really possible to put the contents of the unconscious mind on canvas.
