TATE MODERN COURSE

Tate Modern's 'In the Studio' display shows how Modern artists have vigorously explored their subject matter with new ways of seeing and releasing art from the need to imitate natural forms. Cubism was the product of a collaboration between Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque when they worked to establish a new direction for the visual arts. Abandoning the single 'realistic' perspective of traditional art, Cubism introduced a variety of viewpoints depicted simultaneously. The Cubists represented reality through fragmenting images of objects and figures, presenting them as a series of geometric, overlapping facets.

The Surrealists attempted to tap into the unconscious through the analysis of dreams in order to paint from the imagination using a form of free expression. Avant-garde Surrealist artists sought to both understand humanity and undermine authority and experimented with drugs and alcohol to induce states of hallucination and free their minds. Artists such as Salvador Dali and René Magritte painted with exceptional pictorial skill in a photo-realist style and with imaginative brilliance to produce mesmerising images which are outside of the control of reason and purely intuitive.

Tate Modern's 'Artist and Society' display places Ben Nicholson's abstract work alongside that of Piet Mondrian. Through this comparative approach in a thematically curated display, it's possible to position these artists within a broad context of Modern Art so as to gain an overall understanding of post-war art and culture. Henri Matisse's dazzling experiments with colour marked a turning point in the history of art and form the basis for most subsequent artistic developments. He wanted his words to induce a state of profound inner happiness and achieved his aim almost entirely through his use of colour.

Abstract artists such as Mark Rothko also discovered that colour need not be simply descriptive but had an expressive power of its own and could evoke feelings or states of mind. Abstract Expressionism emerged in the US, where artists such as Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman began moving away from the human figure and became interested in how abstract works could have an immersive effect on the viewer. After World War II, artists felt compelled to respond; they rejected traditional and accepted practices of artmaking, with their works becoming abstract and often using experimental techniques materials.

Tate Modern's 'Media Networks' display explores the evolving ways in which 20th century artists responded to the modern world and the impact of technological advancements and mass media. Whilst technology enabled progress and network, it also presented a new set of issues for artists, such as Eduardo Paolozzi, to examine. Mass media provided artists with an array of visual material to interpret, as exemplified in the work of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Through posters, pop art, activism and installation, artists have continually commented on our ever-changing world.

The introduction of the technique of collage allowed artists to indicate spatial relationships more clearly without resorting to the use of conventional perspective and, by using the materials of everyday life, such as wallpaper, fake chair caning and newspapers, the artist could further challenge traditional assumptions about the nature and purpose of art. Familiar materials used in unfamiliar ways, for example by Juan Gris and Juan Miró, challenge the notions of reality and illusion in ever more complex and sophisticated ways and often delight the viewer with humorous associations.

Tate Modern's 'Artist and Society' and 'Media Networks' displays explore the relationship between artists and the political and social ideals and realities of their times, for example in Joseph Beuys' response to post-World War II Germany and the Guerilla Girls’ focus on racism, sexism and homophobia in today’s society. A major development in modern art is that of the creation of Installation, mixed media constructions or assemblages which offer a complete unified experience to the viewer and often occupy an entire room, designed to be walked through or viewed from the doorway, such as Richard Long's natural material sculptures.

Modern artists challenged the idea that only a select few materials are suitable for creating art. Beginning with Marcel Duchamp’s pioneering urinal, artists have utilised the readymade object, everyday materials and unconventional mediums, to create conceptual art that rejects and challenges the tradition of artmaking and makes use of the abundance of materials in our consumer-led society. By placing familiar objects in unexpected contexts, by the artist Man Ray for example, conceptual art deals with the revolutionary idea that the concept is more important than the finished object.