Cezanne and Pollock
Uploaded by prue on Aug 25, 2002
Explain Cézanne and Pollock’s contribution to Modernism by:
Describing their new techniques/materials (practice)
Innovation in concepts, theories and intentions
Explore the significance of their work and the influence they had on other artists (support with critical and historical quotes/comments.)
‘I want to make of Impressionism something soled and durable, like the art of the museums’
Paul Cézanne
‘The source of my painting is the unconscious’
Jackson Pollock
Modernism is the revolutionary ideas and styles in art, architecture, and literature that developed in the early 20th century as a reaction to traditional forms. Both Cézanne and Pollock understood that although their art was turning away from traditional forms, art is continuity. Never disregarding the Old Master, Cézanne is said to be the father of modernism and Pollock the man who brought art from Paris to America. These two men, both known as avant-garde artists, one who’s aim in life was to paint fruit and avoid people, the other who spent most of his time drunk, two great artists who revolutionised the art world with their use of new material and techniques and with their ideas and theories. Cézanne began as an Impressionist but soon became frustrated, as Impressionist did not generate paintings that were compositionally strong, and so the creator of Modernism set out on a journey to empower objects with three-dimensional solidity. Cézanne wanted to establish an equilibrium between the vivacious colour and solid form of three-dimensional objects and the two-dimensional surface of the picture plane. (Post-Impressionism: Cezanne, Nineteenth Century Art, pg 478). Similarly, Pollock was a modernist whose works were most prominent between 1948 and 1952. Pollock set out to explain as well as he could an emotional response to the day-to-day problems that are thrown in out face. Lee Siegal believes Pollock painted as if living and painting were identical. (Critical Eye, Lee Siegal, pg 3).
Picasso, and the traditional Indian and Mexican ways of working inspired Pollock. Working mainly on the floor, Pollock would drip paint on the un-stretched canvas, sometimes hanging it on the wall to change the direction of the paint. Pollock was an artist who believed in art for arts sake. Cézanne on the other hand was still a realist, while Pollock worked with surrealism and abstract art. Cézanne was a realist he painted what he saw, but did not imitate it. By using many different techniques Cézanne was able to create something so simple that had been seen before but not...