- Wednesday, 24 July 2024
- Wednesday, 31 July 2024
- Wednesday, 7 August 2024
- Wednesday, 14 August 2024
- Wednesday, 21 August 2024
- Wednesday, 28 August 2024
About
What is modern art? Is it art? These questions have become a trope to describe the puzzlement felt by many towards ‘modern art’. Over our six sessions we will look at some of the ideas about ideas around modernity that became influential during the 20th-century, and demystify some of the perceived problems around the concept of avant-garde art.
The 20th century saw a dramatic change in the visual arts, from representational works on canvas to conceptual art. By the end of World War I, many artists no longer depicted figurative images. A new kind of art emerged where the found object, performance, and collage all came into play. We see a trajectory from traditional paint on canvas and bronze & marble statues on plinths to works made of wool, sand, plastic, rice, and sound, evolving even further into conceptual art, installations, interventions, performance & video art.
Over the course of our six sessions, we will focus on responses to the modern world, the road to abstraction, new media, feminism, gender politics, issues of race. We will consider the influence of avant-garde art in Paris in the first part of the 20th-century before its eclipse by New York after World War II, and the later importance of London and Berlin as focus of the art market.
We will also think about the changing art market; from the expansion of commercial art galleries in 19th-century Paris, through to the curious economics of the contemporary art market, and the art gallery as the cathedral of modernity.
Find out more about 'Stories of art' and upcoming modules.
Week 1- The Shock of the New
This session introduces the course, focussing on the theme of modernity. We will look at how art history tells the story of 20th-century art as a series of isms: Fauvism, Cubism, Orphism, Expressionism, Futurism, Constructivism and Suprematism. We will also consider the development of what became known as the avant-garde, a military term.
Week 2- The Road to Abstraction
Malevich’s 'Black Square' of 1915 marks a signal moment where colour and form replaced a recognisable image. Not all vanguard artists embraced abstraction but from 1915 this was the choice for many. We will look at the impact of Malevich, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Hilma af Klint, and the road to abstraction.
Week 3- From Dada to Surrealism
In this session we will look at the dual impact of Sigmund Freud and of World War I on many European artists. Specifically we will consider how war and politics created the background to the emergence in 1916 of Dada, and its influence. We will explore how Dada later morphed in 1920s Paris into Surrealism, one of the most influential art movements of the century, considering art by artists such as Salvador Dali and Dora Maar.
Week 4- From Abstract Expressionism to Pop
World War II saw European artists move to USA, the growth of the US as a super-power, and New York supplanting Paris as centre of the art world. We look at mid-century New York, at the work of abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko and at the work of a younger cohort reacting to the high seriousness of their predecessors with the era of Pop Art, ushered in by artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. We also consider artistic collectives such as Spiral in the USA.
Week 5- From Happening to Performance
In our fifth session we study art off the walls, created by artists like Yves Klein, Niki de St Phalle, Yoko Ono, Yayoi Kusama, Sophie Calle, Cindy Sherman, and the interest in performance. In the second half of our session, we examine where text replaces image, and look at how artists use words in their art, including the Guerilla Girls, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Ed Rucha, Bob and Roberta Smith.
Week 6-From Conceptual Art to the YBAs
In the first half of our final session, we consider Conceptual Art from its godfather Marcel Duchamp, whose practice ripples through the decades and finds echoes in the work of contemporary artist Martin Creed. We will also consider the impact of Damien Hirst and the Young British Artists who rose to prominence in the 1990s, and the powerful affect of their work on the art market.
We will explore themes of feminism, gender politics, issues of race, and of non-European art, changing our approach to how we view art; its democratisation via graffiti art and its most famous practitioner Banksy and how this impacts the art market. We will ponder how the canon is made and review our journey through the modern to the contemporary art world.
Your Tutor
Lucrezia Walker lectures regularly for the National Gallery. She is Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina London Program where she teaches the undergraduate Art History course. She was Lay Canon (Visual Arts) at St Paul’s Cathedral where she continues to serve on the Visual Arts Committee. She has written several books on 19th- and 20th-century artists and art movements.
Watch Again
Can't make Wednesday evenings but don't want to miss out? No problem, you can watch again.
'Stories of art' sessions are recorded and made available to you for one week.
A video of the week's lecture will be uploaded and available for you to watch via your National Gallery account on Friday afternoons, in time for the weekend. Just be sure to watch it by the following Friday lunchtime, as it will be taken down on Friday afternoons.
Format
Each session lasts for 2 hours and includes a lecture delivered by the course lecturer followed by a short break and further discussion.
Time will be allowed for questions and discussion via Q&A.
Handouts will be available via your National Gallery account on Tuesday mornings.
Optional homework is provided to help you prepare for the following week's session.
Booking Information
This is an online ticketed course hosted on Zoom. Please book a ticket to access the course. Only one ticket can be booked per account.
You will be emailed an E-ticket with instructions on how to access the course via your National Gallery account. All course information including your Zoom link, weekly handouts, and recordings will be available here.
Your link will be valid for the duration of the course.
Booking after the course has started
You are welcome to join the module at any point during its six-week run. However, please note that you will only be able to see the recording from the previous session, as these are taken offline after one week.
Stories of Art 1900-2000
- Wednesday, 24 July 2024
- Wednesday, 31 July 2024
- Wednesday, 7 August 2024
- Wednesday, 14 August 2024
- Wednesday, 21 August 2024
- Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Enrol
Standard: £75
Concessions: £70.50
Please book a ticket to access the event. You will receive an E-ticket with instructions on how to access your online events, films and resources via your National Gallery account.
Please note, only one ticket can be booked per account. Bookings close ten minutes before the event.
Concessions are for full-time students, jobseekers, and disabled adults.