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The book meticulously analyses the history of the critical reception of avantguard art through the interpretations received by one of its greatest emblems, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Picasso, 1907. Since Les Demoiselles has been considered over this century the true paradigm of Modern Art, this book is, fundamentally, a sort of synthesis of the discourses about Modernism from formalism, iconology, Leo Steinberg's 'Other Criteria', sociological, the biographical and psychoanalytical theses, cultural and historicist and lastly, the impact of post-structuralism and the feminist, post-colonialist and transnational interpretations. The final chapter deals with the artistic versions of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon made by artists. It is an essay on the different versions and identities of Modern Art and Modernism that have been produced throughout the last century.

Modernism (Art)

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"Bodies of tow and paraffin" is the phrase used by Georges Braque, pioneer with Picasso of Cubism, to describe the alarm that he felt at his first sight of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon when he paid Picasso a visit as he was painting it in the Bateau Lavoir in 1907. This sums up well the reactions the work produced among the friends of the Spanish painter who first saw it. This chapter summarises these first reactions of horror, disgust and disappointment felt among Picasso's friends and acquaintances. It also provides a host of comments and quotes made by Picasso himself, remarkable for their contradictions and high dosages of irony.

Modernism (Literature)

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In the 1960s and 1970s this formalist version seen in the previous chapter began to show signs of fatigue. Some critics and art historians began to show interest in the personages on stage in Les Demoiselles. Early on John Nash linked the damsel squatting at lower right of the canvas with the myth of Medusa. Leo Steinberg immediately formulated a series of questions that constituted a direct attack against the formalist version. Why should we examine a painting that presented five naked prostitutes, all gazing fixedly at the viewer, merely from the formalist perspective? The time had come to take into account the content of the painting and consequently all of modern art which had been restricted by the prevailing formalism. This chapter tells how the formalist arguments were refuted and cleared the way for the iconological studies that placed the powerful sexual content in the foreground. The person mainly responsible for this was Leo Steinberg who sparked off an authentic revolution on the way to deal with this work and Modernism as a whole.

Modernism (Literature)

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In the 1960s and 1970s this formalist version seen in the previous chapter began to show signs of fatigue. Some critics and art historians began to show interest in the personages on stage in Les Demoiselles. Early on John Nash linked the damsel squatting at lower right of the canvas with the myth of Medusa. Leo Steinberg immediately formulated a series of questions that constituted a direct attack against the formalist version. Why should we examine a painting that presented five naked prostitutes, all gazing fixedly at the viewer, merely from the formalist perspective? The time had come to take into account the content of the painting and consequently all of modern art which had been restricted by the prevailing formalism. This chapter tells how the formalist arguments were refuted and cleared the way for the iconological studies that placed the powerful sexual content in the foreground. The person mainly responsible for this was Leo Steinberg who sparked off an authentic revolution on the way to deal with this work and Modernism as a whole.

Modernism (Literature)

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The book meticulously analyses the history of the critical reception of avantguard art through the interpretations received by one of its greatest emblems, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Picasso, 1907. Since Les Demoiselles has been considered over this century the true paradigm of Modern Art, this book is, fundamentally, a sort of synthesis of the discourses about Modernism from formalism, iconology, Leo Steinberg's 'Other Criteria', sociological, the biographical and psychoanalytical theses, cultural and historicist and lastly, the impact of post-structuralism and the feminist, post-colonialist and transnational interpretations. The final chapter deals with the artistic versions of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon made by artists. It is an essay on the different versions and identities of Modern Art and Modernism that have been produced throughout the last century.

Modernism (Art)