Giacomo Balla, Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, 1912, oil on canvas

GIOCOMO BALLA was a futurist who was a bit more up-beat than the other futurists. By 1914 he was advocating a totally futurist lifestyle. He even named his 2 daughters Propeller and Light. “Dynamism of a Dog On a Leash” 1912 used the idea of simultaneity of views. the chain leash is shown to be in motion by repeating it 4 times. The feet of the dog and the woman are also repeated to imply motion. Everything is in diagonal lines and harsh brushstrokes which imply movement. The light background is painted in pink and green streaks. He painted the frame in dashes (which were inspired after seeing a Seurat) which unifies the whole composition. The little lines that imply motion that go between the 4 leash lines are called Lines of force. Even Balla’s signature is on an angle which adds to the affect.

Robert Delaunay.  Sun, Tower, Airplane, 1913, oil on canvas

When he 1st saw cubism he said “These chaps are painting with spider webs”. He took on aspects of cubist style but with lots of color.  “Sun, Tower, Airplane” 1913 (ROBERT) although he had eliminated all recognizable objects from his paintings by 1912 he re-introduced them in this one which celebrates 3 symbols of technological achievement-The Eiffel tower, the Ferris wheel (which had recently been invented in 1893 and was almost an equivalent of the Eiffel tower), and the boxy airplane. His enthusiasm for technology was apparent with his use of color. It was inspired by a photo he had. The sun dominates the left side of the canvas suffusing it with colors and energy. The disc like forms seen floating are those rhythms of the universe and modern consciousness that he sought to express through Orphism. He wanted to show the variety of states of mind and the many feelings that an individual could experience in the modern world. He wanted to show them all at the same time and it was sometimes called SIMULTANISM or seeing everything all at once.

Sonia Delaunay.  Colored Rhythm, 1958

They believed that the rhythms of modern life could best be worked out through color, harmony, and disagreement. They believed that the disc was a symbol of the universe whose rhythm is expressed in the movement of light and revealed by color. “Colored Rhythm #69-8” 1958 (SONIA) it’s difficult to figure out. There is norecognizable subject matter except colored squares, triangles, and bisected circles that create a rhythmic movement along diagonal lines. She created paintings that optimize the expressive qualities of color. She said that “we disengaged color from its foreign elements and it became a means of expression, pure like notes of music or words in poetry”. Sonia did a lot of decorative arts in her long career like textiles and book covers.

Vassily Ermilov.  Oval Composition, c. 1923, oil on board and masonite

VASSILY ERMILOV he made utilitarian objects like the Tatlin camp but he continued to explore purely aesthetic and formal questions. 1923 he uses Malevitch like suprematist rectangular forms that should be calling up feelings. “Oval Composition” 1923 the composition is flat and the corners of the rectangles are touching the inner contours of the oval. He made the wooden oval that’s set inside of it. He’s making things look round that are flat. The rectangles are cut out and glued in and overlap. It IS constructed and it’s evident. It’s not trying to hide this at all. The nail heads show. The oval background is textured and very granular. All of these elements work to contradict that tradition of illusionary depth and space on a flat surface. So he’s making a painting that IS actually 3D. Delicate gradations of hue (color) and value (lightness) on the rectangles also create these illusions of volume. The work is very small. He made other paintings made of wood chips and paint.

Naum Gabo.  Linear No. 2 Variation, 1962-65, stainless steel coil on plastic

Wanted an innovative new art to express a new reality. He did “Head
of a Woman”1917 after he saw Picasso’s “Woman’s Head” 1909 (sculpture). He, like Malevitch believed that this art would spring from a separate reality than real life. That reality was this “space time world” and was described by Einstein who developed a whole theory of space time. And in sculpture they rejected color, volume, and mass. “Linear no. 2 variation”1962 (Gabo) It’s made from stainless steel coil wrapped around clear plastic which were new to sculpture at the time. It was made long after he became a citizen in 1946. A starry image appears in the center and it changes from different angles.

Laslo Maholy-Nagy.  D IV, 1922, oil on canvas

He was a painter, sculptor, theorist, and photographer amongst other things. Originally studied law but after he was injured in WWI he became interested in painting and photography.  IV” 1922 here he works with paint in a very conventional way to capture the brilliance of projected light by implying the transparency of the shapes in the painting. It supposed to be painted transparent sheets. It’s implied transparency. The painting has a very smooth finish except the half circle in the center which has a matte finish. Which shapes were painted 1st and which were intended to stand in front? His titles were given impersonal numbers and letters. The lines are crisp and the forms are geometric and very few of his lines are strictly vertical or horizontal. Here he uses diagonal lines to create
tension and balance. Balance is aided by repetition of shapes; he’s got 3 half moons, 2 long rectangles, and 2 geometric L’s. He tried to create a certain stability with all these shapes.

Piet Mondrian.  Composition London, 1940-42, oil on canvas

He developed his own belief that art should be purged of every
reference to the real world. Following the philosophy of theosophy (along with Kandinski). Gradually, his style simplifies greatly. He eventually mainly paints regularly squared off spaces of color no matter what the subject matter was. Eventually he rejected cubism itself because cubism did not accept the logical consequences of its own discoveries. It was not developing towards its own goal: the expression of pure plastics. He named his theory of art NEO- PLASTICISM. He believed art was successful if it fulfilled 2 co-existing goals. One was the attempt to create universal beauty. The other was a desire for aesthetic expression of ones self, so very personal expression and very universal beauty. He felt that the style he developed was a complete equation of the universal and the personal and that it was above reality so that it would have true value for mankind. He eventually limited his palette to the 3 primary colors which he believed to be the purest hues (colors) and the 3 primary values of lightness and darkness (black, white, and gray), and the 2 primary directions (vertical and horizontal).  “Composition London” 1940-42 the red on the middle right was painted later on.

Antoine Pevsner.  Construction in the Egg, 1948, bronze

wrote “space and time are the only forms on which life are built and
hence art must be constructed”. He explained “we are realists bound to earthly matters. The shapes we’re creating are not abstract they are absolute. They are released from any already existing thing in nature and their content lies in itself. Our emotions are the real manifestations of its content”. He has a lot in common with Malevitches ideas about feeling and art.  “Construction In the Egg” 1948 was built up entirely from bronze rods. The egg shape was a very fundamental shape to him. He believed the egg brought to mind the beginning of time and things.

Liubov Popova.  Untitled Composition, c.1921, oil on canvas

women became involved in the movement, more than any other
movement in western art. She died in 1924 of scarlet fever.
“Untitled Composition” 1921 and “Untitled Composition” 1916 The 1921
composition is the reverse of the 1916 one. . it’s a double sided canvas. They both
look like collages. She was a passionate theorist and wanted to create what she
called “painterly architectonics” and spacio-dynamic constructions that rejected the
painting of what she called “illusionism, literary-ness, and emotion”. The 1921 side
demonstrates theories that she worked on of dynamism and rotational arrangement and
it uses line, color, and shading.

Morgan Russell.  SYnchrony in Orange; To Form, 1913-1914, oil on canvas

American painter, active mainly in Paris; with Stanton MacDonald-Wright he was the founder of Synchromism, one of the earliest abstract art movements. Russell was born in New York, the son of an architect. Originally he intended following his father's profession, but on a visit to Paris in 1906 he was overwhelmed by the Michelangelo sculptures he saw in the Louvre and decided to become a sculptor. After returning to New York he studied sculpture at the Art Students' League and painting under Robert Henri . In 1908 he settled in Paris, where he met the American collectors Gertrude and Leo Stein and through them Matisse , at whose art school he briefly studied. By 1910 Morgan was turning away from sculpture and devoting himself increasingly to painting, and in 1911 he met MacDonald-Wright , with whom he developed theories about the analogies between colours and musical patterns. In 1913 they launched Synchromism,

means literally 'colours together'. Russell and Macdonald-Wright were concerned with the purely abstract use of colour; iNew York, where he studied sculpture at the art Students League and painting under Robert Henri. In 1908 he settled in Paris, where he briefly attended Henri Matisse school of painting and drawing. By 1910 he was devoting himself increasingly to painting, and in 1911 he met Macdonald-Wright, with whom he developed theories about the analogies between colours and musical patterns. In 1911 they launched 'synchromism' which means literally 'colours together'. Russell and Macdonald-Wright were concerned with the purely abstract use of colour; i