How ancient art influenced modern art - Felipe Galindo

404,186 views ・ 2016-02-25

TED-Ed


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:07
The term modern art sounds like it means art that is popular at the moment,
0
7169
4824
00:11
but in fact, modern art is a style that originated over 150 years ago,
1
11993
5379
00:17
and includes artists that by now have attained classic status,
2
17372
4183
00:21
such as Picasso, Matisse, and Gauguin.
3
21555
3217
00:24
And what's even more ironic is that the movement they pioneered,
4
24772
3091
00:27
considered revolutionary and even scandalous at the time,
5
27863
3478
00:31
was inspired largely by an object of a traditional and ancient design.
6
31341
5659
00:37
As far back as the Renaissance,
7
37000
2963
00:39
the primary European art movements emphasized conventional representation
8
39963
4665
00:44
and adherence to classical forms.
9
44628
2517
00:47
But that began to change in the late 19th century
10
47145
3038
00:50
as artists like Van Gogh and Cézanne expanded the boundaries of painting.
11
50183
4427
00:54
Soon, a movement arose that sought to create an entirely new style of art,
12
54610
4924
00:59
and one way of doing so was to look beyond Western civilization.
13
59534
4733
01:04
For example, Paul Gauguin moved to the island of Tahiti in the 1890s.
14
64267
5078
01:09
There, he found inspiration in the island's inhabitants, landscape, and culture
15
69345
5090
01:14
to create artwork that intertwined European themes and Polynesian lore.
16
74435
6022
01:20
Others looked the cultures of the Islamic world,
17
80457
2537
01:22
but the most influential inspiration would come from Sub-Saharan Africa.
18
82994
5635
01:28
As European empires expanded deeper into the African continent,
19
88629
3384
01:32
its artifacts and artworks made their way into the hands of museums and collectors.
20
92013
5632
01:37
One such collector was Henri Matisse,
21
97645
2315
01:39
who showed his friend Picasso a mask he had acquired
22
99960
3347
01:43
made by the Dan tribe of the Ivory Coast.
23
103307
3091
01:46
The mask awoke Picasso's curiosity,
24
106398
2444
01:48
leading him to visit the Trocadéro Ethnographic Museum in Paris in 1907.
25
108842
6502
01:55
Founded to house acquisitions from colonial conquests,
26
115344
3281
01:58
the museum boasted a collection of African art,
27
118625
2964
02:01
with stylized figures and masks made of wood
28
121589
3219
02:04
and decorated with simple colors and materials.
29
124808
3123
02:07
The visit was a revelation for Picasso,
30
127931
2646
02:10
who proclaimed that African masks were what painting was all about.
31
130577
4598
02:15
At this time, Picasso had been working on a painting of five nude women
32
135175
3868
02:19
in a style that would later come to be known as Cubism.
33
139043
3718
02:22
And while three of these ladies show facial features
34
142761
2445
02:25
found in ancient Iberian art,
35
145206
2199
02:27
a nod to Picasso's Spanish heritage,
36
147405
2483
02:29
the faces of the two on the right closely resemble African masks.
37
149888
4826
02:34
Created in 1907 after hundreds of sketches and studies,
38
154714
4089
02:38
"Les Demoiselles d'Avignon"
39
158803
1660
02:40
has been considered the first truly 20th century masterpiece,
40
160463
3335
02:43
breaking with many previously held notions in art.
41
163798
3118
02:46
It was at once aggressive and abstract,
42
166916
2763
02:49
distorted yet primal in its raw geometry,
43
169679
3251
02:52
a new artistic language with new forms, colors, and meanings.
44
172930
5120
02:58
And these avant-garde qualities caused a sensation
45
178050
2930
03:00
when the painting was first exhibited almost ten years later.
46
180980
3698
03:04
The public was shocked,
47
184678
1358
03:06
critics denounced it as immoral,
48
186036
2054
03:08
and even Picasso's own friends were simultaneously surprised,
49
188090
3674
03:11
offended,
50
191764
1060
03:12
and mesmerized at his audacity.
51
192824
2731
03:15
More artists soon followed in Picasso's footsteps.
52
195555
3317
03:18
Constantin Brâncuși and Amedeo Modigliani in Paris,
53
198872
4151
03:23
as well as the German Expressionists,
54
203023
2355
03:25
all drew on the aesthetics of African sculptures in their work.
55
205378
4149
03:29
Others looked to a different continent for their inspiration.
56
209527
3380
03:32
British sculptor Henry Moore based many of his semi-abstract bronze sculptures
57
212907
4671
03:37
on a replica of a chacmool,
58
217578
2347
03:39
a distinctive reclining statue from the Toltec-Maya culture.
59
219925
4668
03:44
Pre-Columbian art was also a major influence for Josef Albers.
60
224593
3830
03:48
He created a series of compositions,
61
228423
2218
03:50
such as the geometrical series Homage to the Square,
62
230641
3603
03:54
that were inspired by pyramids and local art
63
234244
2680
03:56
he encountered on his frequent visits to Mexico.
64
236924
3568
04:00
Inspiration from ancient cultures
65
240492
2122
04:02
initiated one of the most revolutionary movements in art history,
66
242614
3901
04:06
but were these artists playing the role of explorers or conquistadors,
67
246515
4636
04:11
appropriating ideas and profiting from cultures they considered primitive?
68
251151
4309
04:15
Questions like this deserve scrutiny, as artists continue to redefine standards.
69
255460
5057
04:20
Perhaps not too long from now,
70
260517
2218
04:22
the bold innovations of modern art will seem like stale orthodoxies,
71
262735
4282
04:27
ready to be overturned by a new set of radical trailblazers
72
267017
3897
04:30
drawing inspiration from another unlikely source.
73
270914
3539
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7