Edvard Munch: The Fragility of Life

Edvard Munch - The Sick Child - 1907 - Oil on canvas - 1187 x 1210 mm - Tate Modern, London (click photo for larger image)Norwegian Symbolist/Expressionist painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944) was a leader in the revolt against the naturalistic dictates of 19th-century academic painting and also went beyond the naturalism still inherent  in Impressionism. His concentration on emotional essentials sometimes led to radical simplifications of form and an expressive, rather than descriptive, use of color. You can read more about Munch on What About Art?.

“The Sick Child touches on the fragility of life. It draws upon Munch’s personal memories, including the trauma of his sister’s death, and visits to dying patients with his doctor father. He described the 1885 painting as ‘a breakthrough in my art’ and made several subsequent versions, of which [the one featured here] is the fourth.” (Tate Modern, London) 

All modern art was considered ‘degenerate’ by the National Socialist (Nazi) party. Expressionism was particularly singled out, and the work featured here was given that label. In 1937, German museums were purged of modern art by the government, with a total of some 15,550 works being removed. A selection of these was then put on show in Munich in an exhibition titled Entartete Kunst (meaning degenerate art). This exhibit was carefully staged so as to encourage the public to mock the work. At the same time an exhibition of traditionally painted and sculpted work was held, which extolled the Nazi party and Hitler’s view of the virtues of German life: ‘Kinder, Küche, Kirche’: roughly, family, home and church. Ironically, this official Nazi art was a mirror image of the socialist realism of the hated Communists.

Some of the degenerate art was sold at auction in Switzerland in 1939 and more was disposed of through private dealers. About 5,000 items were secretly burned in Berlin later that year. The Sick Child was sold at the 1939 auction.

James Ensor: Bizarre Fantasy and Sardonic Social Commentary

James Ensor - Comical Repast (Banquet of the Starved) - ca. 1917-18 - Oil on canvas - 45 1/2 x 57 1/4 in. (115.6 x 145.4 cm) - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (click photo for larger image)Belgian artist James Ensor (1860-1949) quickly stepped off the path of traditional painting and began to develop a revolutionary style that reflected his own take on modern life. Abandoning the usage of illusionism and one-point perspective to organize the image depicted, he began to build volume with patches of color across the surface of the canvas. His canvases are bursting with imagery that impresses the viewer with its presence. The artist was particularly intrigued by commenting on society’s shortcomings through carnival themes. His social commentary evolved from being subtle to overtly cynical.

“The current title of this painting reflects the two names it was given during Ensor’s lifetime. Scholars have interpreted the enigmatic scene as a critique of the German occupation of Belgium during World War I, which the artist experienced firsthand. The grouping around the table evokes the Last Supper, but Christ and the Apostles are replaced by ill-behaved, grotesque, and masked figures—some of Ensor’s favorite motifs. Their meager meal, including insects and a raw onion, may evoke the near-famine that Belgians endured. Ensor underscored the theme of mortality by quoting three of his works depicting rowdy skeletons in the background.” (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC)

Othon Friesz: An Explorer of Styles

Othon Friesz - Portrait of Karin - 1939 - Oil on canvas - H. 53; W. 46 cm - Paris, Musée d’OrsayOthon Friesz (1879-1949) was an Academy-trained French painter who experimented in the early avant-garde movements of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Fauvism (all discussed elsewhere on What About Art?). But in 1907, as the novelty and excitement of Fauvism wore off, Friesz like several other Fauvist artists changed course and pursued a less colorful style of painting.

Following a painting trip to Portugal in 1911, Friesz settled on what was to become his signature method: a traditional but looser, style of oil painting. In 1912 he opened his own studio where he taught until the outbreak of war in 1914. He served in the French army until the Armistice, at which point he returned to Paris. During the 1920s he spent extended periods working in the South of France, at Toulon and in Provence. From 1929 he enjoyed an influential career as an academic Professor at the Academie Scandinave in Paris - and later, during the early 1940s at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. 

The work featured here, Portrait of Karin “…is an example of his undertaking "to reconstruct painting for one's own purposes", developed by the artist in the 1920s. The viewer's attention is drawn to the child's face and determined expression. The close framing gives the model a strong presence. This technique brings to mind Velasquez' portraits of the Infantas, whereas the treatment of the background evokes baroque settings and drapery. In doing this, Friesz echoes the traditions of royal and aristocratic portraits.” (Musée d’Orsay)

M.C. Escher: “Mathematics Made Visible”

M.C. Escher - Relativity - 1953 - Woodcut - 28.2 x 29.4 cm (11 1/8 x 11 5/8 in.) (click photo for larger image)Optical Art (which came to be known as “Op Art” in the 1960s) is a mathematically-themed form of non-representational art, which uses repetition of simple forms and colors to create vibrating effects, moiré patterns, foreground-background confusion, an exaggerated sense of depth, and other visual effects.

In a sense, all painting is based on tricks of visual perception: manipulating rules of perspective to give the illusion of three-dimensional space, mixing colors to create the impression of light and shadow, and so on. With Optical Art, the rules that the viewer's eye uses to try to make sense of a visual image are themselves the "subject" of the artwork.

Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher (1898-1972) experimented with Optical Art. Escher's work, although not non-representational, deals extensively with various forms of visual tricks and paradoxes. He became well-known for his detailed realistic prints that achieve bizarre optical and conceptual effects.

Escher’s mature style emerged after 1937 in a series of prints that combined meticulous realism with enigmatic  optical illusions. He portrayed with great technical virtuosity impossible architectural spaces and unexpected metamorphoses of one object into another. Sometimes referred to as the “father of modern tessellations,” Escher commonly used geometric grids to form intricate interlocking designs.

The work featured here, Relativity, is a lithograph, first printed in December 1953. It depicts a world in which the normal laws of gravity do not apply.

Marcel Janco: Bridging Multiple Genres

Marcel Janco - Composition with Red Arrow - 1918 Plaster and casein on burlap, mounted on cardboard - 19 3/4 x 26 1/2 in. - The Art Institute of Chicago - Chicago, IL (click photo for larger image)Romanian-Israeli artist Marcel Janco (1895-1984) was born in Bucharest. In 1910–14 he exhibited at the salons in Bucharest and moved among modernist artists and poets. In 1916, while studying architecture, he was among the founders of Dada in Zurich. There he participated in the famous evenings at Café Voltaire where he was in charge of the stage and costume design. In the 1920s he was much involved in the Dada movement. He had ties with the Paris branch, participating there in an international exhibition of abstract art, and was one of the founders of the art and literature journal Contimporanul. He eventually drifted away from Dada and moved toward Constructivism, a style or movement in which assorted mechanical objects are combined into abstract mobile structural forms.

In 1940, following the rise of fascism in Romania, he immigrated with his family to Ereẓ Israel. In Israel, Janco participated in many important exhibitions including those of New Horizons and the Venice Biennale.Janco played a major role in the modernization of Israeli Art, importing the latest trends in Constructivism from Romania. Once established he joined local artists in developing a more abstract approach to depictions of the local landscape and also turned his attention to pertinent local themes. Janco's significance for avant-garde Israeli Art continues today, through the still-active artist's colony he established in Ein Hod.