Readymades
In 1916, the French artist Marcel Duchamp coined the term “readymade” to describe a body of his own work in which everyday and often mass-produced…
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Anemic Cinema (1926)
Considered one of the important experimental films of the prewar European avant-garde, Anemic Cinema (1926) is a short experimental film by Marcel Duchamp, who authored…
Peggy Guggenheim (1898–1979)
In any history of the migrations and transformations of modernism, Peggy Guggenheim (1898–1979) deserves a privileged place. She shares with Marcel Duchamp, a close friend…
Hopps, Walter (1932–2005)
Walter Hopps was an American art dealer and curator of modern and contemporary art. Best known for organizing the first museum retrospective of Marcel Duchamp…
Picabia, Francis (1879–1953)
A cavalier individualist, Francis Picabia became an internationally renowned avant-garde artist, spearheading Paris and New York Dada with his friend Marcel Duchamp and also contributing…
Dadaism
Dada began in Zurich, Switzerland, in the midst of World War I. Several expatriate artists converged in the city to escape the brutal and seemingly…
Surrealism Overview
Soupault’s publication of Manifeste du Surréalism in 1924. Rising in the wake of the First World War, Surrealism revolted against a world that had become…
Cubism [REVISED AND EXPANDED]
Cubism is an art movement that emerged in Paris during the first decade of the 20th century. It was a key movement in the birth…
Abstract Expressionism
Abstract Expressionism was a movement initiated by a group of loosely affiliated artists that came together during the early 1940s, primarily in New York City.…
Arensberg, Walter (1878–1954)
Walter Arensberg (April 4, 1878 to January 29, 1954) and his wife, Louise Stevens Arensberg (1879–1953), were influential patrons of the avant-garde, building a collection…
Assemblage
Assemblage is an artistic form that involves the transformation of non-art objects into two-dimensional or three-dimensional artistic compositions. Together with abstraction, it has been considered…
Automatism [REVISED AND EXPANDED]
There were different directions and forms connnected to Dada but an important element within it was a position of critique of established art and society.…
Modernism in Europe
We are living in a very singular moment of history. It is a moment of crisis, in the literal sense of that word. In every…
Wood, Beatrice (1893–1998)
An American potter known for luster-glaze chalices and whimsical ceramic figures, Beatrice Wood was once named the “Mama of Dada.” Born on 3 March 1893…
Hare, David (1917–1992)
David Hare was an American sculptor and critic whose work was inspired by the imagination and the subconscious. During the early 1940s, when he began…
Société Anonyme
The Société Anonyme, Inc., Museum of Modern Art, was an international avant-garde exhibiting society that ran from 1920 to 1950. Founded in New York by…
Levy, Julien (1906–1981)
New York-based art collector and gallerist, Julien Levy, was an important advocate for photography as a modern art medium in the 1930s and 1940s, and…
Ouvroir de literature potentielle (Oulipo) [Workshop of potential literature]
Oulipo, Ouvroir de littérature potentielle [Workshop of potential literature] is a dynamic and even flamboyant group of writers, poets, and mathematicians who strive to elaborate…
Hamilton, Richard (1922–2011)
British painter and printmaker Richard Hamilton is best known as a progenitor of Pop Art. While mass media and consumer culture remained key points of…
Maria Martins (1894–1973)
Maria Martins was a Brazilian sculptor and writer, a founding member of the Fundação do Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, and a…
Dreier, Katherine S. (1877–1952)
An impresario, collector, and painter, Katherine Dreier directed her attention and personal wealth to the promotion of European modernism in the United States, most notably…
Man Ray (1890-1976)
Born Emmanuel Radnitzky, Man Ray was one of the key innovators in modernist photography, film, and object making. He began his artistic career as a…
Automatism
Both Dada and Surrealist writers and artists experimented with “automatic” creative production. Dadaists including Francis Picabia, Tristan Tzara, Hans Arp, and Kurt Schwitters wrote “automatic”…
Archipenko, Alexander (1887–1964)
Alexander Archipenko studied painting and sculpture at the Kiev Art school from 1902 until 1905, when he was expelled for criticizing its conservatism. Outside formal…
Duchamp, Marcel (1887-1968)
Duchamp was one of the most influential and original artists of the 20th century. He rejected the constraints of painting and believed (both as an…