Key Artistic and Architectural Movements of the 19th and 20th Centuries

19th Century Literary and Artistic Movements

Literary Movements

• Realism: Detailed and precise descriptions of reality.
• Modernism: An attempt to escape reality by evading the past or looking toward the East.

Architecture and Sculpture

• Architecture: Utilization of iron for its high strength and low cost. Notable styles include Modernisme (e.g., Victor Horta's Hôtel Tassel).
• Realist Sculpture: Focused on representing the proletariat (e.g., Meunier's The Puddler).
• Impressionist Sculpture: Utilized the incidence of light to create visual effects (e.g., Rodin's Balzac).

Painting

• Realism: Emerged in the second half of the 19th century, focusing on anonymous people (e.g., Courbet's A Burial at Ornans).
• Impressionism: Emerged in France during the late 19th century, focusing on the artist's immediate impression (e.g., Monet's Impression, Sunrise).
• Post-Impressionism: Includes Pointillism (Seurat) and the works of Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Cézanne.

The Avant-Garde Movements (20th Century)

• Fauvism: Used color detached from reality (Matisse).
• Expressionism: Emphasized human pessimism and stress (Kirchner).
• Cubism: Decomposed subjects into flat geometric shapes (Juan Gris).
• Futurism: Praised action, violence, and movement (Filippo Marinetti).

Modern Architecture and 20th Century Art

Architectural Evolution

Functionalism prioritized aesthetic function, utilizing concrete and iron. Key developments include:

• New York Skyscrapers: Urban verticality.
• Le Corbusier: Focused on the urban revolution and simple volumes.
• Bauhaus School: Led by Gropius, focusing on building renovation and design.
• Frank Lloyd Wright: Integrated architecture into the landscape (e.g., Fallingwater).

Sculpture and Painting

Sculpture moved toward abstraction, simplifying forms and using new materials (e.g., Henry Moore's Reclining Figure).

• Expressionism: Pre-WWI social critique (e.g., Otto Dix).
• Dadaism: Used satire and ready-mades to reject the society that allowed the war (e.g., Man Ray).
• Surrealism: Explored the subconscious beyond reality (e.g., Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró).

Cinema

Early 20th-century film used the medium for social, political, and economic critique (e.g., Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times). Others, like Fritz Lang, Murnau, and Luis Buñuel (Un Chien Andalou), integrated pictorial expressionism and surrealism.