video review

This week, I picked the four videos I did because they all were things I know we read about in the book. I wanted to gain more knowledge on them and was hoping it would bring teach me more about the time periods because other than reading the text, I dont know much about them.

Dada and Surrealism
The video basically goes through different leading artists of the ttwo trends and some of their famous works. It starts with Kurt Schwitters. He was a post WWI artist from Germany. He was famous for his collages and the use of objects in them. Next was a dadaist artist named Hannah Hoch. Hoch used photomontage to attck political leaders. Surrealist, Salvadore Dal,i was my favorite artist in the video. His painting of the Burning Giraffe was disturbing but interesting. It didnt really make sense so it involves imagintation. The video ends with Man Ray and his painting La Fortune. This video was interesting because it gave different artists than the book and different works.

Expressionism
Expressionism is interesting to me. I found it interesting reading about it and was looking forward to watching this video. It basically goes through the different artists of the time, just as the Dada and Surrealism video did. It went through a lot more artists and works of art than the book did so I found that helpful. The video basically showed how expressionism grew from fauvism. It showed how expressionist used colors emotinal effects, but not as dominantly. They video also talks about the contemporary neoexpressionism period and what artists were included. My favorite part of the video was Franz Marc's The Blue Horse. This painting was my favorite because of the bright colors and it was very colorful. It was different than a normal horse because it was blue so it made you think about why he did this.

Cubism
Cubism started and was the most influential trend of the early 20th century. I enjoy looking at cubists' work because it is simple objects made into a complex piece. It uses different shapes and lets you break down things in your head, everyday things, into those different shapes. I find that interesting. The video went through a number of different artists who used this style, including Jaun Gris, Umberto Boccionis (who I remember well from the book), and Marcel Duchamp. Cubism was a way to use space and form in nonclassical ways and these artists did this well. My favorite part of the video was Jaun Gris' collage in 1912, The Teacups. It was very interesting painting and took a while to look and figure out the different objects through all of the shapes.

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte
This video I chose because I wasnt familiar with Georges Seurat. The video talks about major parts of his life and also one of his famous pieces, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. It basically breaks down the painting and analyzes its strong parts and its inconsistencies. What I found most interesting about the video was the monkey, just as all of the other veiwers in the video, everyone likes the monkey. I found it interesting because I wasnt sure why it was there or what it symbolized. And why was the monkey not in it from the start, it was added later on.