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  • Essay / Analysis of “Demoiselles d’Avignon” and “Blue Poles”

    The artists shocked and confronted the public in search of the “avant-garde” in artistic movements such as realism, cubism and abstract expressionism. Realistic, abandoning traditional themes and practices; The Cubists and their subject matter, positioning, composition and primitivism; and the Abstract Expressionists, abandoning conventional tools and methods of artistic creation. For example, Edouard Manet with his Déjeuner sur l'herbe, Pablo Picasso with his Demoiselles d'Avignon and Jackson Pollock with his Polonais bleus (number 11) each demonstrated their own methods in their quest for the "avant-garde". ', shocking and confronting the audience in doing so. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"?Get an original essayAs a realist, Édouard Manet's "Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe", known as Déjeuner sur l'herbe , expresses methods that display the abandonment of traditional themes and practices in pursuit of the "avant-garde", ultimately shocking and confronting the audience. Realists of the time had primarily depicted nude women as the "ideal woman", including mythological themes, as well as highly articulated shading and shading techniques. Luncheon on the Grass shows how the realists had abandoned traditional themes by drawing inspiration from an older, more traditional piece, as well as how the painted figures had been perceived at the time, with great consideration of gender. Manet aimed to expand and re-evaluate the possible subject matter of paintings. With considerable inspiration, Marcantonio Raimondi's engraving of Judgment of Paris depicts in the lower right corner three figures similar in appearance to those in Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe. It was a reworking that transformed a mythological and traditional scene into a work of art that, at the time, was considered vulgar and scandalous. Having a nude in a classical setting was acceptable, but having a nude in a contemporary setting was considered vulgar and caused a public scandal, which was wildly criticized at the time. It also caused laughter at the lack of interaction between the characters. Having three figures, the two clothed men and the naked female figure were depicted as objectifying. Added to this was a feminist theory in which the male gaze was illustrated as a way of representing women in the world solely for the pleasure of the male viewer. The female figure, naked and facing the public, had been recognized as being a known prostitute, Victorine Meurent. During the 1860s, wealthy men were known to be associated with these types of women in society, but this had been openly thrown in the face of society, shocking and confronting the public. All the figures in this particular artwork have been flattened, using very little shading and shading in general. This technique was considered very crude, crude and clumsy, as it was painted in a way that allowed the viewer to see only the surface, and not look at the scene and what was around the characters. Technological advances (such as the camera and the collapsible paint tube) have also caused many artists to reevaluate their practices, changing their subjects, mediums, and practices. Furthermore, French realist Edouard Manet's "Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe", although striving for the "avant-garde", was considered a work which had abandoned traditional themes and practices and which, at the time, shocked and confronted the public. Pablo Picasso shocked and confronted the publicin his own quest for the “avant-garde”, while his cubist work “Les demoiselles d’Avignon” highlights primitivism, immoral subjects, positioning of characters and composition. The Cubists of the time did not shy away from their own depiction of the "modern world", brothels and prostitutes had been a common theme since realism and had primarily seen reality from everywhere. angles, integrating an object into a network of contexts, completely abandoning perspective. Primitivism is apparent in “Les demoiselles d’Avignon” as it is influenced by art and artifacts from non-Western cultures. Originally, the first sketches and drawings depicted two men and three women. This was later modified and now incorporates primitive masks on two of the women on the far right of the work. Picasso's work also expresses immoral subjects, in the way women are positioned and how this is perceived, with combative behavior. Distinct compositional choices include areas that are painted in 2 dimensions, as the scene lacks depth. This makes the characters more visible than what is around them. “Les demoiselles d’Avignon” shows Primitivism through the African masks on the two characters on the right. Simplified and sharp, the faces of these characters appear threatening and dangerous, amplified by the primitive masks, and adding to the postures that all the women seem to have, with violence and power. Originally, the preliminary drawings for this work depicted the women as Iberian prostitutes, presenting very marked Iberian features. As the work progressed from free sketches to Cubism, these characteristics were learned. Yet, with the three women on the left displaying sharp, angular features, and the two women on the right displaying primitive African masks, the entire piece resembles a battlefield, with the Iberian prostitutes facing off against the masked "creatures." The scene itself is presented in 2 dimensions, allowing the women to be seen clearly. The blue, white and brown background resembles broken glass, adding to the effect of danger and violence. These could also be depicted as curtains from which women emerge and confront the audience. Furthermore, Pablo Picasso's "Les demoiselles d'Avignon" is a Cubist work that, while pursuing the "avant-garde", was confronting and shocking to the public due to its intense primitivism, immoral subject matter and of his distinct compositional choices. , at the time was considered scandalous, in bad taste, vulgar and crude. Jackson Pollock, as an Abstract Expressionist, shocked and confronted audiences in his own quest for "the avant-garde", through his artwork "Blue Poles", showcasing how he abandoned tools and conventional methods, while allowing the materials to “speak their own language”. Pollock had abandoned conventional tools and methods, choosing to set aside brushes, artist's paint and traditional composition, and then pouring, dripping, throwing and painting the pool house paint directly onto large canvases, placing them on the floor to allow for “action painting”. . He had exploited the "accident", while maintaining control, while using the effects of gravity to build layers of paint, using an "all-over" paint composition to then allow the materials to "speak their own own language”. In “Blue Poles,” Pollock had used rags and brushes and poured paint all over the canvas. The layers of paint are all evenly distributed across the entire canvas, and he has integrated the "posts"'.