Blog 2 - Modernism.

Book:

Winner of an International Architecture Book Award in the Related Arts Category from the American Institute of Architects in 1998, the book ‘Modernism’ showed, explored, and elaborated for the first time the modernist concept. ‘Modernism’ discusses the main ideas of visual arts, design, interiors, architecture and decorative arts in the modern range. Not only gives an insight about the modernism principles but also brilliantly tells the reader how it all came about. It is considered a must for those who intend on learning specifically about modern art.

Reference:
Weston, R. (1996). Modernism. London, England: Phaidon Press Limited.
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Journal Article:

Zhang Xiaogang, Wang Guangyi, Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun, Zhou Chunya, He Duoling, Zhang Peili and Wu Shanzhuan are considered to be the most important modernists of the 20^th century in China. They were responsible for transforming the country’s biggest city’s design style. Modern art then became popular in the market, however, these artists were never able to exhibit their work in their own country until 2007, when the government offered each of these artists their own personal museum, willing to spend a total of 13 million dollars. This article is relevant to get away a little bit from the U.S. and British modern art that are usually the ones approached.

Reference:

Barbosa, D. (2007). A Gift Offer for Artists in China: Museums. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/25/arts/design/25muse.html?_r=2.
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Website:

 

Huntfor is a Canada based organisation that offers a whole insight in regards to the history of modernism as well as a place where anyone around the globe can purchase art pieces, recreations of old masters, murals on canvas, portraits and oil paintings by your own design or photograph. Any image chosen from their gallery is guaranteed to be 100% genuine and authentic hand-painted. Huntfor believes that the passion to collect art comes from appreciation, knowledge, and understanding. For this reason, they added an educational dimension to their website offering resources, lessons, and tutorials, mostly elaborated when it comes to modern art, making it a very important website in regards to the study of modernism.

Reference:
HuntFor. (2005). Modernism. Retrieved from: http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/modernism.htm.
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Edited book:

In the book “Concepts of Modern Art”, Nikos Stangos (editor) puts together the third edition of several expanded and updated articles written by key artists and writers from the 20^th century. The book also contains a very important essay in regards to the understanding of modern art called ‘Postmodernism and the Art of identity’. This very essay explores the history of the modern art and brings it up to how we see it now-a-days. Not being it enough, it also focuses on the art that may have lost its meaning due to the common day-by-day use. It is a key book for better acknowledgement and understanding of the 20^th century art.

Reference:
Stangos, N. (1994). Concepts of Modern Art. London, England: Thames and Hudson Ltd.

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Image:

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was one of the most important modernists of all times. By designing mainly furniture, he would keep the essence of classical art in his modern work.  By designing the Barcelona Chair for the King and Queen of Spain (image above), he uses the object as a representation of his “less is more” concept of as well as of a pure and perfectionist work.

Reference:
Fig. 1 Mies, L. (1953). The Mies Barcelona Chair, [furniture]. Retrieved March 30, 2012 from Minimalissimo: http://minimalissimo.com/2010/09/the-mies-barcelona-chair.