Exploring Modern Art: Techniques and Materials of the 20th Century

Exploring Modern Art: Techniques and Materials of the 20th Century

The 20th century was marked by quite a revolutionary period in the history of art, as modernism became the center stage for breaking away from old approaches. This saw many techniques and materials dramatically change since artists looked at drawing the new world fast around them. From abstract expressionism to minimalism, modern art became a melting pot of styles that represented shifts in culture, society, and technology. Let's get an overview of some of the innovative techniques and materials defining modern art during the 20th century.

Techniques That Redefined Art
Abstract Expressionism - Abstract Expressionism broke into the art world in the 1940s, with principals Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko pushing the borderline. They then abandoned representational art and focused their attention on spontaneity, feelings, and the subconscious. Perhaps the most characteristic aspect of this movement is Pollock's "drip painting"; he dripped and poured paint onto canvases laid flat on the floor. This methodology also abandoned the careful application of paint to a canvas that is the hallmark of traditional painting and instead invested in chaos and randomness as being integral elements of creation.

Led by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Cubism found a new way to present its subjects. Cubism ended the rule of the Western artistic world since the Renaissance in the concept of single-point perspective by breaking objects into geometric shapes and showing multiple angles simultaneously. This technique created flatness in the canvas while giving a dimension and intricacy.

Probably the most influential of them all was the Surrealist movement, led by Salvador Dalí and René Magritte who experimented with the unconscious mind using dream-like imagery and unexpected juxtapositions. Techniques such as automatic drawing, where artists let their hands move freely to create forms without conscious control, were used to explore the realms of the irrational.

Revolutionary Materials
Materials also became widely transformed in the 20th century. Oil on canvas remained the norm for some time, but avant-garde artists soon began to play with odd material objects. Marcel Duchamp's "ready-mades," such as his infamous urinal sculpture "Fountain," wreaked havoc on what anyone could even think to call art. Using everyday items, such as an urinal, Duchamp actually pushed the very border between art and life into completely new contortions of the term.

Another extremely popular technique that emerged was collage, generally used by cubists and later surrealists. Artists like Picasso stick cut-out pieces of newspaper, fabric, and other materials into works of art that metamorphosed painting into sculpture and vice versa. Besides giving the works new textures, the method added layers of meaning through the introduction of existing objects into works of art.

Industrial materials such as plastics, metals, and neon lights entered mainstream by the end of the century. Donald Judd, a minimalist sculptor, thus used industrial fabrication techniques to create exact and geometric forms. It would challenge cultural perceptions of craftsmanship and the role of the artist in paintings that adopted materials from industrialism not traditionally applied for fine art.

The Legacy of 20th-Century Art
The techniques and the materials of the 20th century open enormous vistas that future generations of artists will wield. Modern artists break all the barriers in creating new fresh forms to express, to redefine the role of art, and push it into new horizons of creative expression. Contemporary artists draw inspiration from this innovation and continue to use this spirit to experiment further with traditional and unconventional methods.

In a word, the 20th century was the period of radical innovation in the world of art, in techniques and materials still in motion with the societal changes. From abstract expressionism to readymade objects, artists of that time paved the ground for those various dynamic art forms we are now witnessing.

Exploring Modern Art: Techniques and Materials of the 20th Century