Tag Archives: 1921

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: Albert Gleizes, Tableau

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albert gleizes tableau photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

The abstract paintings of artist Albert Gleizes (1881 – 1953) often keep strong links with subject matter that inspired them. In Tableau  (1921) the image may be based on a female head, possibly that of his wife. Gleizes was a pacifist, but was conscripted into the French army in the First World War. Deeply affected by this experience, he became gravely concerned with the future of society. He thought that artists could help create a better world, not just by making beautiful things, but by offering new ways of seeing.

Photographed in the Tate Modern Museum in London.

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: Stuart Davis, Lucky Strike

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stuart davis lucky strike photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

Stuart Davis typically painted local modern subjects in rhythmic compositions with bold colors. Among his sources of inspiration were “skyscraper architecture; the brilliant colors on gasoline stations; chain store fronts and taxi cabs“ and jazz music. Long before postwar artists mined the world of trademark brands, Davis incorporated imagery from logos, commercial signage, and packaging into his paintings, such as the branded bag of tobacco in Lucky Strike (1921). Championed by the visionary dealer Edith Halpert at her downtown Gallery, Davis’s work was met with both enthusiasm and confusion despite being engaged with the stuff and forms of modern life in New York in the 1920s.

Photographed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: New York Interior By Edward Hopper

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New York Interior By Edward Hopper
Photo By Gail

New York Interior (1921) is an early example of Edward Hopper’s  interest in enigmatic indoor scenes, offering an unconventional view of a woman sewing, suggesting the impersonal, yet strangely intimate quality of modern urban life. We glimpse this private moment through a window, with the figure’s turned face and exposed back heightening her anonymity and our awareness of her vulnerability. The woman’s clothing and gesture are reminiscent of the iconic ballet dancers painted by French impressionist Edgar Degas, whom Hopper singled out as the artist whose work he most admired.

Photographed in the Whitney Museum in NYC.

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: Why Not Sneeze, Rose Sélavy? By Marcel Duchamp

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Why Not Sneeze
All Photos By Gail

Why Not Sneeze, Rose Sélavy? is a 1921 Readymade sculpture by Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp considered this to be an “Assisted Readymade” because the original object, the Birdcage, was altered by the artist with the addition of the other objects. These consist of 152 white cubes (made of marble but resembling sugar cubes), a mercury thermometer, a piece of cuttlebone, and a tiny porcelain dish. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Why Not Sneeze, Rose Sélavy? By Marcel Duchamp →

Arts and Culture

Modern Art Monday Presents: Fernand Léger, Woman with a Cat

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Woman with a Cat
Photo By Gail

Woman with a Cat (1921) belongs to group of monumental female figures that Fernand Léger (1881 – 1955) painted throughout the 1920s. Motionless and frontal, this nude might be made of stone or metal, evoking at once a classical sculpture and a futurist robot. While Léger’s subject is rooted in European, particular French, artistic traditions, his streamlined style reflects contemporary design aesthetics that the painter’s friend, the architect Le Corbusier, advocated and popularized.

Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.