The Arts in the 1920's
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A lot of beautiful artwork comes from the 1920's. Georgia O" Keefe's artwork is an example of art work that came from the 1920's. She painted flowers in an enlarged, to show the world the beauty of flowers. Another artists was Edward Hopper. Art Deco style was popular in the 1920's in architecture. It used angular geometric shapes like you see in the Empire State building. Alfred Stieglitz was a famous photographer of that time.
Georgia O” Keefe
Sample 1 of her Artwork Sample 2 of her Artwork
Georgia O” Keefe was a great painter and artist during her time. She painted many admirable paintings during the 1920’s that are still a beauty today.
When she came to New York she met and fell in love with Stieglitz they got married in 1924. They lived and worked together in New York (winter and spring) and at the Stieglitz family estate at Lake George, New York (summer and fall) until 1929, before that O'Keeffe spent many of her summers painting in New Mexico. As early as the mid-1920s, when O'Keeffe first began painting large-scale depictions of flowers as if seen close up, which are among her best-known pictures. Her husband effectively promoted her works of art and later, she had become recognized as one of America's most important and successful artists.
Three years after Stieglitz's death, O'Keeffe moved from New York to her beloved New Mexico, whose stunning vistas and stark landscapes were a beauty and inspired her work since 1929. In 1984 her health failed and two years later she died at the age of 98.
Source:
http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/background/index.html
Art Deco
Art Deco is an elegant style of decorative art, design and architecture which began as a Modern art during the 1920’s. It used angular, symmetrical and geometric forms. One of the classic Art Deco themes is that of 1930s-era skyscrapers such as New York's Chrysler Building and Empire State Building. The former, designed by architect William Van Allen is considered to be one of the world's great Art Deco style buildings.
The Art Deco look is sort of similar to Precisionist which developed at about the same time. This brought a style to American design and architecture. We may not realize it, but many of our buildings use the style that originated during the Art Deco. The Art Deco continued from the 1920’s on to the 1930’s, and a lot of improvement was made to architecture during that time period.
Well-known artists within the Art Deco movement included Tamara de Lempika, fashion illustrator Erte, glass artist Rene Lalique and graphic designer Adolphe Mouron (known professionally Cassandre). They all contributed greatly, along with other less well known artists too.
Source:
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/history/art-deco.html
Edward Hopper
This is a self portrait oil painting
of Edward Hopper.
Edward Hopper was a man during the 1920’s who drew many oil paintings. In 1920, he held the first one-man show with his paintings at the Whitney Studio Club but no one bought any of his paintings.
In 1923, he stopped painting and instead started earning his living by commercial illustration. In 1924, he held his second show and in this show, all of his paintings were sold. Edward Hopper was slowly becoming famous for his artwork.
In 1925, Edward Hopper visited Santa Fe in New Mexico where he painted seven watercolor paintings. He had found out that watercolor paintings sell out well. He also went to the Pennsylvania Academy in Pennsylvania and they bought one of his oil paintings. He painted "House by the Railroad". This painting is important because it marked his mature style of painting. In 1929, his art was included in MOMA’s second exhibition, called Paintings by Nineteen Living Americans. This was when the Great Depression started and he started painting sad pictures.
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Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz was a well known photographer during the 1920’s as a photographer. Because of his photographs, he was named the “Patron Saint of Straight Photography.”
In 1922, he said that he wanted to make his photographs look like photos and not paintings or etches. In 1924, he married artist Georgia O’ Keefe. After they married, Alfred Stieglitz took a lot of famous pictures involving her. Other than just a photographer, Alfred Stieglitz was also a writer, collector, publisher, and a curator. He became famous all over the world and took many pictures, especially pictures with only one person in it.
Alfred Stieglitz displayed most of his photographs in 291, which was the Little Galleries of the Photo- Secession located at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York. The 291 was a photo gallery and he was the director of it. He founded it in 1905 with Edward Steichen, another photographer. In 1925, he created the Intimate Gallery, which was another photo gallery.
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