Great 20th Century Works of Art

I have to write a paper on a significant work of art of the 20th century. It can be film, literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, etc… Something along the lines of Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon, Eliot's The Wasteland, Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion, etc… Something that changed the direction of its genre.

I'm having a mental block – Anyone have any suggestions?

The best work of art I saw on my vacation was grafitti scrawled on a wall in Florence that said "Renoir is shite".

Perhaps my wifey has an opinion on this one, but she's probably too hard at work to be reading the board.

Oh lord, my art-crazed boyfriend would probably want to write that paper for you. I'm asking him for suggestions…

<img src="http://www.warholfoundation.org/images/photobooth%20600%20px%20.gif" alt=" - " />

jacob lawrence should be a fine subject…his emancipation series…21 prints outlining the african american experience…

oops, its the migration series. not the emancipation series.

probably the single most important black painter of the 20th c. http://www.jacoblawrence.org/

Are you sure he was the blackest? Surely there were some that were blacker.

Originally posted by lily1:
oops, its the migration series. not the emancipation series.

probably the single most black painter of the 20th c. http://www.jacoblawrence.org/

woops. :D

Jacob Lawrence is really shite….


How about the obvious:


Picasso, Guernica

Warhol, would be a fine example.

As would Duchamps Urinal

Magrittes ce n'est pas une pipe.

So all visual arts….

Why not just write about the Sex Pistols? Or Elvis? Or that blues guy robert Johnson.


Literature from this century….I have no idea.

But as for films 2001 was a clear breakthrough.

How about the collected works of Milan Kundera?

why? do you feel that there is another american painter that is a better selection, aside from the obvious warhol? you've already mentioned some european selections.

Originally posted by Andrew WK:
Jacob Lawrence is really shite….

Originally posted by Andrew WK:
Jacob Lawrence is really shite….
How about the obvious:

Picasso, Guernica

Warhol, would be a fine example.

As would Duchamps Urinal

Magrittes ce n'est pas une pipe.

So all visual arts….

Why not just write about the Sex Pistols? Or Elvis? Or that blues guy robert Johnson.

Literature from this century….I have no idea.

But as for films 2001 was a clear breakthrough.

most of that has already been written about, and mostly in one book: "lipstick traces" by greil marcus. one of my favourite books, too.

OK…

Louis Armstrong
Igor Stravinsky
Rogers & Hammerstein
Steven Spielberg
Ernest Hemmingway
George Bernard Shaw

Thanks for the suggestions.

I considered Guernica, but I think someone else may claim it before I get to class. If not, I may have to go with it.

I also considered Warhol, but I think the prof is one of those Pop-Art haters. Perhaps I should take the challenge of converting her?

Jacob Lawrence isn't a bad idea at all. I don't like him visually, but think he and the Migration Series are probably rich soil for an overly long academic examination.

R. Mutt's Fountain is out. Important, but I don't think I could write twenty pages on it.

The Sex Pistols just reminds me of that Onion article about the kid that thought he was being original by tying punk rock into all his English assignments.

How about a film? I thought you people were all cinephiles. What do you consider the most important films of the 20th century?

Also, the paper has to be on a single work.

Originally posted by lily1:
why? do you feel that there is another american painter that is a better selection,

Originally posted by Andrew WK:
Jacob Lawrence is really shite….

I just think Lawrence is shite

<img src="http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~yosimi/stay/2001/images/Jacob.jpg" alt=" - " />

to mee looks like someones art school project. I really dont feel that it is clever original or beautiful. Perhaps I am wrong, but they are my opinions.

I prefer Basquait, but he was just Warhols bitch…..

I can never remember who is American and from this not last Century…

Winslow Homer, last century?

Arthur Bellows

Wayne Thiebaud

Edward hopper

Ed ruscha

Calder

is Lichtenstein American?


that list is just off the top of my head.


I prefer all of them to the dire Lawrence. I dont think American painters have excelled (other than Warhol). The sculptures of Flavin or Judd are more interesting and innovative in a lot of ways.

film–italian neorealism works pretty well. i've got a couple of books you could borrow. bicycle thief, or la strada, la dolce vita, etc.

5?©¬5Ah$riginally posted by Venerable Bede:
[most of that has already been written about, and mostly in one book: "lipstick traces" by greil marcus. one of my favourite books, too.


ah something else have never heard of that I will make you lend me.

Behind the Green Door…

Originally posted by ggw:
How about a film? I thought you people were all cinephiles. What do you consider the most important films of the 20th century?

Originally posted by ggw:

How about a film? I thought you people were all cinephiles. What do you consider the most important films of the 20th century?

The Tramp or Modern Times

fair enough. we can agree to disagree on lawrence.

though i will agree with you regarding american painters not excelling, esp in the last 40 years.

Originally posted by Andrew WK:
I prefer all of them to the dire Lawrence. I dont think American painters have excelled (other than Warhol). The sculptures of Flavin or Judd are more interesting and innovative in a lot of ways. [/QB]