Modern Art

Reading assignment: For next time, read part two of chapter 3, pages 59 to 69 (skip the section on Rodin for now; we will cover his sculpture a little later in the semester)

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Writing assignment: This week’s assignment is very similar to last week’s.

This week’s readings discuss several more Post-Impressionist artists (including Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin) and groups (including The Nabis and the Montmartre artists).

After you’ve done this week’s reading, go back and figure out which artist or group you think created the most interesting art. Write a half a page to full page in which you cover the following questions.

• What were the main artistic principles, theories, or ideas of the artist or group you chose? (In other words, what did he/she/they want to do with their art, and what kind of response did they want it to create in a viewer?)
• What did this artist or group retain and/or reject from Impressionism or Realism?
• What made their work new, exciting, groundbreaking, or radically different from what had come before? In your opinion, why is this artist or movement still remembered today? (Be sure to back this up with information from the reading.)