FREE ESSAY ON MODERNIST ART IN EUROPE

MODERNIST ART IN EUROPE

Modernist Art in Europe 1910-25 by Robert l. Herbert
Herbert's thesis of his essay is to investigate the arrival of the machine and modern art
and its complexities. During WWI, modernist painting and sculpture paid major attention
to machinery, science and industry. Modern art during that time has become a central
factor in our culture due to its dominance in public art, museums, media and literature.
Herbert brings in background information and stated the avant-garde of Pisarro, van Gogh,
Monet, Renoir, etc. The industrial revolution had a stronger grip on society during the
19th century, and during this time, modern art was associated with primitive nature.
During the rise of industrial art their was a rise of landscapes and paintings of rural
everyday life. Also, the new technique and style which became the handcraft to modern art
was so avant-garde from the academic art. Modern art was involved with cubism, futurism
and vorticism. He explains that all of these arts consisted of the importance of
handcraft, creativity, individuality, and original expression. Herbert keeps bringing in
the fact the machine was the leading sign of modernity. There was no more of a gap
between handwork and the machine. Also, that the machine became so important in modern
art because it was now a part of daily urban life, due to subways, telephones,
automobiles, sewing machines, bicycles, televisions, cinema, and more advanced
photographic and advertising developments. Herbert states that although the machine
became a large factor in art that it was not incorporated in the work of all modernists,
such as Picasso and Braque. The author then describes the modern art in epic cubism, and
how it focused on geometric architecture and structures of mechanical parts with organic
rhythm of daily life. And how Italian futurism dealt with modern city life, but with more
immediacy, more implied movement. It was similar to cubist but with more calculations.
The cubo-futurists in Russia combined machinery with modernity but did not require the
latest industrial form. The Russian Revolution of 1917 led to the adoption of the
abstract language. Artists were now considered constructor-inventor because they gave
engineering a new creative form. But in France there was no equivalence to Bauhaus or the
Constructivists' schooling. The new artistic energies came from the vanguard. Its
government did not want radical change. There was the vanguard embrace of modern industry
with aesthetic clarity which is related to French culture. Herbert concludes that in
modern art there was a very close relationship between art and industry which considering
history was avant-garde for its time. I felt that this essay was very clear and to the
point. I found it easy to read and somewhat enjoyable. Although I wasn't too sure of
Herbert's main thesis I found his essay interesting.