1. Enhancing the study of Art Enhancing the study of Art History utilizing computational thinking Focus: Abstraction in Art (Modern) computational thinking
This OER material was produced as a result of the CS04ALL CUNY OER project.
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WEEK 2

2. Abstraction in Modern Art in Europe and America
Dates and Places:
1900 to 1945
America and Western Europe
People:
Rapid social and political change
Radical politics
Avant-garde, constant innovation
World War I
Themes:
Artists personal vision
Urban life
Portraits, still life
Pure abstraction
Forms:
Honesty of medium
Expressive distortion
Reject illusionism
PABLO PICASSO,
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,
1907

3. Fauvism (Europe, 1900 to 1920) Example: The Fauves (Wild beasts)
Expressive use of color
Exhibited at annual Salon d’Automne exhibition in Paris
Portrait of Matisse’s wife
Controversial execution of portraiture
Non-naturalistic colors
Loose brushwork
Listen to short discussion of the painting in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art:
HENRI MATISSE, Woman with the Hat, 1905

4. Expression in Fauve Art
The objective of many Modernist artists is to choose colors and compositions that express their inner feelings.
What do you think the artist is communicating?
HENRI MATISSE, Red Room (Harmony in Red), 1908–1909

5. Fauvism Example: The Fauves (Wild beasts) Expressive use of color
Juxtaposition
Pleasant themes
Flattened space, texture
Read about this painting in the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg, USSR:
HENRI MATISSE, Red Room (Harmony in Red), 1908–1909

6. Abstraction in Art after 1945
People:
Response to World War II
Rise of consumerism
Avant-garde artists
New York location
Rapid change
Themes:
Formal exploration
Consumer and popular culture
Society, environment
Forms:
Abstraction, realism, found objects, new media
RAUSCHENBERG, Canyon, 1959

7. The Abstract Expressionists are sometimes called the New York School artists. There was not an actual "New York School" where artists took classes; rather, the term is shorthand for a loose association of avant-garde artists who lived in New York in the mid-twentieth century, and who made art in the Abstract Expressionist style.
Artists of the New York School, c. 1950

8. Abstract Expressionism
The New York School introduced radical ways of painting that helped moved the center of the art world from Paris to New York City.
JACKSON POLLOCK, Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), 1950

9. Watch a video on Pollock’s unique drip technique: http://bit.ly/9b1NeI
Pollock’s abstract paintings highlight the gestural execution.

10. Abstract Expressionism
Example:
Abstract Expressionism, gestural abstraction
Rise of American modernist painting
Act of creation most important
Action painting
Pure abstraction
Explore the NGA’s website on Pollock’s Lavender Mist (be sure to click the read arrow buttons to advance through the site):
JACKSON POLLOCK, Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), 1950.

11. Abstract Expressionism
Pollock’s friend Willem de Kooning emphasizes the gestural quality of painting too, but retains some reference to the figure.
WILLEM DE KOONING, Woman I, 1950–1952.

12. Abstract Expressionism
Example:
Abstract Expressionism, gestural abstraction
Expressive, energetic application of paint
Leaves traces of the figure
Critique of women in advertisements
Highlights the act of painting
Watch a video lecture on Smarthistory.org about this painting at MoMA:
WILLEM DE KOONING, Woman I, 1950–1952

13. Abstract Expressionism
Rothko believed color had the capacity to express human emotions, such as tragedy, ecstasy, and doom.
His paintings are meant to be viewed from up close in order for the color to envelope your field of vision.
Read about this painting in the collection at SFMoMA:
MARK ROTHKO, No. 14, 1960

14. Abstract Expressionism
Example:
Abstract Expressionism, chromatic abstraction
Non-representational art
Emotional properties of color
Universal spirituality
Color gateway to new reality
Emotion via formal elements, not content
Watch the first 9 minutes of Simon Schama’s Power of Art episode on Rothko (note the dark paintings in the Tate Modern are some of Rothko’s murals for the ill-fated Four Seasons restaurant commission in the Seagram Building that is in midtown, New York City):
MARK ROTHKO, No. 14, 1960

15. Using AI to create Art
- Creating art
MARK ROTHKO, No. 14, 1960

16. Pathway2Code Modern Art Worlds:
Matisse
Pollock

17. Pathway2Code Commands
placePen(x, y) drawSymbol(filename, width, height) options: goldfish, vase, fruitBowl, cup, cat, zigzag drawLine(color, width, height) createPattern(filename, width, height, x, y, width, height) options: flower, dot, brushstroke, foliage, curl (maybe the students can upload their own) (will randomly place and rotate the object chosen into the defined area so that the area is filled, with no objects overlapping each other. The area is defined starting at position x, y with the width and height as defined.) (we could also make it so that it randomly picks the object.) colorArea(x, y, width, height) (will fill a random color in the area that is defined starting at position x, y with the width and height as defined). (Each time the program is run the colors will change)

18. Solution Instructions
colorArea(0, 20, 9, 20) createPattern(flower.png, 0, 20, 9, 20) colorArea(9, 6, 11, 6) createPattern(flower.png, 9, 6, 11, 6) colorArea(20, 20, 8, 20) Height = 1 For (y = 1; y < 20; y++height) placePen(20, y) drawSymbol(zigzag.png, 8, height) colorArea(16, 20, 8, 10) createPattern(curl.png, 16, 20, 8, 10) colorArea(9, 12, 11, 6) createPattern(brushstroke.png, 9,12, 11, 6) placePen(13,8) drawSymbol(fruitBowl.png, 4, 3) placePen(17, 9) drawSymbol(vase.png, 2, 4) Width = 11 For (x = 9; x <= 9 + width; x++width) placePen(x, 6) drawLine(black, 0.2, 1.5) colorArea(9, 20, 7, 8) createPattern(foliage.png, 9, 20, 7, 8) Width = 7 placePen(x, 20) drawLine(orange, 0.2, 8) placePen(9, 12) drawLine(orange, 8, 0.2)
Sample Solution

19. Matisse Example
Sample Output

20. Pollock Example
Sample Output