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ArtSpoke : a guide to modern ideas, movements and buzzwords, 1848-1944 / Robert Atkins

By: Atkins, RobertPublisher: New York : Abbeville Press, 1993Description: 224 p . : ill 23 cm001: 88ISBN: 1558593888Subject(s): Modern art | Art historyDDC classification: 709.04 ATK
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Item type Current library Collection Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode
Book MAIN LIBRARY Book PRINT 709.04 ATK (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 063174

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Chronicling international art from Realism through Surrealism, ArtSpoke explains such popular but often misunderstood movements and organizations as Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, the Salon, the Fauves, the Harlem Renaissance, and so on--as well as events ranging from the 1913 Armory Show to Brazil's little-known Semana de Arte Moderna.

Concise explanations of potentially perplexing techniques, media, and philosophies of art making-including automatism, calotype, found object, Pictorialism, and Readymade-provide information essential to understanding how artists of this era worked and why the results look the way they do. Entries on concepts that were crucial to the development of modern art--such as androgyny, dandyism, femme fatale, spiritualism, and many others--distinguish this lively guide from any other art dictionary on the market.
Also unique to this volume is the ArtChart, a handy one-page chronological diagram of the groups discussed in the book. In addition, there is a scene-setting timeline of world history and art history from 1848 to 1944, overflowing with invaluable information and illustrated with twenty-four color reproductions.


Students, specialists, and casual art lovers will all find ArtSpoke an essential addition to their reference shelves and a welcome companion on visits to museums and galleries.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

Introduction: A Users Manual When I visited museums as a child, I tuned out the art historical conversations that buzzed around me. Terms like Secession and Japonisme, Merz and Scuola Metafisica delighted me for their music and poetry but otherwise meant very little. Not until later did I realize the difficulty of communicating my thoughts and feelings about art without command of its language. Modern art--like every professional discipline--requires a specialized vocabulary for all but the most rudimentary communication. Even the term modern needs deciphering: in the context of this book it refers to the modern or modernist period, encompassing the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century. It is this century-long span that ArtSpoke surveys, identifying and defining the terminology essential for understanding modern art. Although the terms modern and contemporary can both be used to describe a newly made artwork, contemporary is most accurately used to describe art produced since World War II. That art is the subject of ArtSpokes companion volume, ArtSpeak: A Guide to Contemporary Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords. ArtSpoke begins with 1848, the year when revolution swept Europe and catalyzed profound social changes that contributed to the development of modern art. A few of the earlier movements, such as Romanticism, that proved crucial to the emergence of modern art are also included here. The terms discussed in this volume comprise art movements (such as Constructivism and Fauvism); art forms (found object, kinetic sculpture); critical terminology (formalism, psychoanalysis); and a smattering of key events and institutions (Armory Show, Bauhaus). It also includes influential social phenomena, such as spiritualism and anarchy, that were central to the formulation of modern art. Each term is explained in a concise essay, and the essays are arranged in alphabetical order. The entries that deal with groups and movements are divided into the journalistic categories of Who, When, Where, and What. Who is a list of the principal artists involved. Those whose names are capitalized are the pioneers or virtuosos of that approach. The nationality of the artist appears in parentheses after the name. In cases of artists who have lived and worked in more than one country, the nation with which they are most associated is the one cited. Thus, the Spanish-born Pablo Picasso is identified as French. Certain artists appear in several entries. The Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky, for instance, is listed under abstraction, Abstraction-Création, Bauhaus, Der Blaue Reiter, Die Brücke, and spiritualism. When signifies the moment of greatest vitality for a particular attitude toward, or method of, art making. The entry for Impressionism, for example, gives the dates 1870-1890, but some Impressionist artists carried on with the style well into the twentieth century. Where identifies the cities, countries, or continents in which a movement was centered. It does not mean that artists involved in that movement did not live or work in other places. What defines the origins, nature, and implications of the group or movement. Cross-references to other entries are capitalized. What is the best way to use this volume? That depends on who you are. ArtSpoke has been designed for different kinds of readers. The expert can use it to find specific facts--say the name of the critic who coined the term Neo-Impressionism or the location of the first international exposition. The student, collector, or casual art buff will find it useful to read the book from beginning to end, then return to it as needed, guidebook fashion. A timeline and an artchart put the material in chronological perspective; cross references and an extensive index ensure easy access to the information. The purpose of all these elements is to offer a new understanding of modern art--and a new pleasure in it. Excerpted from Artspoke: A Guide to Modern Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords, 1848-1944 by Robert Atkins All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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