Art 230 Week 5 Group Paper

The Modern Art Era

All art is defined by eras and are grouped together by the years the art was created. As times change, so do works of art. One of the most well known periods was the Renaissance Era. The timeframe for these works of art was between 1400-1600. Most of the works focused on realistic figures portraying personality and behavior. The artist we have chose to review in this project was an Irish artist, Francis Bacon. His works of art is based on the Modern Era of art (1890-1940).

The modern art era began with the industrial revolution in the late 1900’s. It reflects the changes in our society. It is said to have begun by four French artists in 1863 that wanted to break away from the rigid style of art that was the traditional art form of the time. These four original artist, Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Frederic Bazille of the modern era were French art students and friends. It is said these painters took there easels and went to a forest and begun to paint in the open air. This was the beginning of a new art form. This movement was termed “Impressionism”. It took about 20 years for this movement to become a recognized art form and break away from the ridicule it took in the beginning. The art of the previous era reflected Greek mythology and history with dark colors being dominant. These paintings were formal that where always painted exclusively in studios. This form of art was considered by many to be unfinished and the work of madmen. Pregnant women were warned to not enter the studios of modern artists for fear they my have a miscarriage because of what they would see there.

Modern art focused on the impression of light on a subject. Some artists would paint the same painting at different times of the day to try to show the differences the lighting had on the paintings. The paintings would use strong and vivid colors. Most of the work would be of scenes and landscape of the modern times. As time...