Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Sculpture - AP Art History

"Found object" can be considered an umbrella term, as it can apply to sculpture, installations, and many other media. The main concept behind "found object" art is that any object can be presented as or included in fine art. The first use of such art was by Marcel Duchamp with his "readymades," which were literally just regular objects Duchamp gave titles to and placed in galleries. The earliest form of the movement was seen as a subset of Dadaism.

Found object art, or art that incorporates already made materials, is a form of art that often elicits controversy over what "art" really is--while it began as a conscious technique early in the twentieth century, it continues on today.

Readymades were everyday objects that were chosen and then adjusted by the artist before being put on display. Examples include Duchamp's own provocative "Fountain," which was simply a urinal. He saw this as a response to so-called "retinal art," or art that only affected its viewers through sight.

The Prairie School was an architectural movement that grew around the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century in the American midwest. The Prairie School architects wished for a uniquely American form of architecture that could fit in with the natural landscape of America. Among the leading figures of the Prairie School was the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, whose early houses were all largely in the Prairie style.

"Found object" can be considered an umbrella term, as it can apply to sculpture, installations, and many other media. The main concept behind "found object" art is that any object can be presented as or included in fine art. The first use of such art was by Marcel Duchamp with his "readymades," which were literally just regular objects Duchamp gave titles to and placed in galleries. The earliest form of the movement was seen as a subset of Dadaism.

Found object art, or art that incorporates already made materials, is a form of art that often elicits controversy over what "art" really is--while it began as a conscious technique early in the twentieth century, it continues on today.

Readymades were everyday objects that were chosen and then adjusted by the artist before being put on display. Examples include Duchamp's own provocative "Fountain," which was simply a urinal. He saw this as a response to so-called "retinal art," or art that only affected its viewers through sight.

Jeff Koons is a controversial modern sculptor, as he has often turned his eye to pop culture subjects considered outside the realm of high art. Notably, he has a series called "Banality," and has constructed immense metallic sculptures of balloons twisted into animal shapes. While his subjects tend to be "lighter" compared to his contemporaries, like George Segal, Koons' skill with steel and his non-traditional subjects have been highly influential on younger generations of artists, including Damien Hirst and Mike Leavitt.

Duchamp is responsible for this three-dimensional art piece. The piece was signed "R. Mutt," but the origin of this signature is still debated, though it is said to stand for Richard Mutt.

Claes Oldenburg is best known for Pop Art sculptures of everyday objects and more specifically his "soft sculptures". His soft sculptures consisted of creating large, everyday objects so they collapse like a deflating balloon.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's installation art piece The Gates was set up in 2005.

Image accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Gates#/media/File:Gates\_a.jpg

Dan Flavin's fluorescent light tube sculptures used the objects' eerie glow to give the area around them an unusual energy. Marcel Duchamp is famous for his urinal readymade "Fountain," while Jeff Koons employed vacuums in his early work. Dali created a Lobster Telephone, and trash art is a genre unto itself.

"A Subtlety" was housed in an old sugar plant and depicted a slave woman naked except for a headscarf in the pose of a Sphinx. The sculpture fused ancient art with the abuses of American slavery in a massive sculpture.

Chicago aims at elevating female achievements in this work, honoring traditional female roles and celebrating the strength, inventiveness, creativity, and independence of women throughout history. Its feminist themes touch on sexuality, traditional gender roles, concepts of achievement, and more.

While it may bear some similar principles to movements like Surrealism and Cubism, the sculpture's emphasis on the energy of a body in motion is a prime example of Futurism, of which Boccioni was a leading artist. Fauvism is not applicable to sculpture, dealing instead with the color palette of paintings, and Abstract Expressionism largely did away with representational figures, even somewhat abstracted ones like the sculpture in question.

Image is in the public domain: http://www.wikiart.org/en/umberto-boccioni/unique-forms-of-continuity-in-space-1913

The answer is "defining lines," of which there are none in this sculpture. All of the other answers are key features of both Futurism and this sculpture.

Image is in the public domain: http://www.wikiart.org/en/umberto-boccioni/unique-forms-of-continuity-in-space-1913

The figure demonstrates momentum and speed in the way Boccioni has conveyed his forward movement. Impetuosity is an emotional quality we can infer from the speed and momentum. Though it lacks defined muscles in a naturalistic way, the sculpture also conveys a sense of muscularity through the unique rendering of his body parts. Of all these qualities, and in spite of this being a bronze sculpture, weight is not a fitting description for a figure that has muscularity but also a significant lightness to it.

Image is in the public domain: http://www.wikiart.org/en/umberto-boccioni/unique-forms-of-continuity-in-space-1913

The Italian Renaissance began in the city-states of Northern Italy, which were ruled over by no king, as a larger project of enhancing their authority. The David was made by Michelangelo to fulfill a contract with the Overseers of the Office of Works of the Duomo, which was the cathedral of Florence. The David's subtle turn, wary glare, and perfect form helped the stature to become a symbol for Florence.

Beginning in 1914 and continuing until his death in 1968, the French artist Marcel Duchamp created sculptures he termed "readymades." Duchamp took essentially everyday objects and mounted them as sculptural pieces in galleries. The pieces grew to be less found objects and more objects built to look like common items, often presented with absurd or humorous titles.