Theatrical and staged elements have been a key feature of visual art throughout the 20th century. Movements like Futurism, Dada, and Bauhaus employed theater, dance, music, and poetry with live or broadcast performances to engage with audiences. In the 1960s and 1970s, performance gained renewed momentum when artists conceived of Happenings, Fluxus, "actions," experimental dance, and site-specific interventions. Throughout its history MoMA has been host to many artworks involving live and performative elements. While most of these activities previously took place at the periphery of MoMA's exhibition program, the 2008 addition of "and Performance Art" to what was then called the Department of Media introduced performance art as a central component in the Museum's programming.
Hear from contemporary artists as they share their art-making techniques and sources of inspiration.
The history of modern art is not simply a linear progression of styles. Rather, artists respond to and participate in the intellectual, social, and cultural contexts of their time. MoMA has a long history of experimental approaches to engaging people with art, which is at the core of the museum's mission. Listen to MoMA educators discuss how they teach challenging works of art, hear tips for teaching, and learn about MoMA's programs for individuals with dementia.
Themes can provide a great structure and pedagogical framework for engaging students with many different subjects, including art. Explore four themes–Places & Spaces, Art & Identity, Transforming Everyday Objects, and Art & Society–while learning about artworks from The Museum of Modern Art's collection. Enroll in "Modern Art & Ideas" on Coursera: http://bit.ly/1JHtmuM
Watch these video demonstrations of key art terms relating to the Abstract Expressionists.
1913 is a particularly important year within the history of modern art, marked by events and objects that would fundamentally change the way art was conceived and understood. In February of that year, the groundbreaking "Armory Show" introduced the American public to the work of Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and many other European artists exhibited alongside their American avant-garde counterparts. In this series of videos, curators from all areas of the Museum speak about their favorite works from 1913 in MoMA's collection.
Although taking, sharing, and viewing photographs has become second nature for many of us, our regular engagement with images does not necessarily make us visually literate. These videos aim to address the gap between seeing and truly understanding photographs by introducing a diversity of ideas, approaches, and technologies that inform their making. You will look closely at photographs from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art and hear a variety of perspectives on what a photograph is and the ways that photography has been used throughout its nearly 180 year history: as a means of artistic expression, as a tool for science and exploration; as an instrument of documentation; to tell stories and record histories; and as a mode of communication and critique in our ever increasingly visual culture. Enroll in "Seeing Through Photographs" on Coursera: http://bit.ly/1KANpxB
Artists have used printmaking to create some of their most profound and compelling works of art, yet the basic printmaking techniques remain a mystery to most people. These videos demonstrate three key printmaking processes—relief, intaglio, and lithography. They include prints from the Museum's collection to demonstrate the range of expressive effects associated with each technique.
More than sixty years have passed since the critic Robert Coates, writing in "The New Yorker" in 1946, first used the term “Abstract Expressionism” to describe the richly colored canvases of Hans Hofmann. Over the years the name has come to designate the paintings and sculptures of artists as different as Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner and David Smith. Watch these short videos to explore some of the most important abstract art of the 20th century and the artists' experiments with techniques.
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