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Georges Braque

(b Argenteuil-sur-Seine, Seine-et-Oise, 13 May 1882; d Paris, 31 Aug 1963). French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most important contribution to the history of art was his role in the development of what became known as CUBISM. In this Braque’s work is intertwined with that of his collaborator PABLO PICASSO, especially from 1908 to 1912. For a long time it was impossible to distinguish their respective contributions to Cubism, for example in the development of COLLAGE, while Picasso’s fame and notoriety overshadowed the quiet life of Braque.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Glass on a Table (1909-10)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Nude (1908)
 

 Constantin Brancusi

 (b Hobitza, Gorj, 19 Feb 1876; d Paris, 16 March 1957). French sculptor, draughtsman, painter and photographer of Romanian birth. He was one of the most influential 20th-century sculptors, but he left a relatively small body of work centred on 215 sculptures, of which about 50 are thought to have been lost or destroyed.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Bird in Space (1931)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Newborn (1915)

Marcel Duchamp

(b Blainville, Normandy, 28 July 1887; d Neuilly-sur-Seine, 2 Oct 1968). French painter, sculptor and writer. The art and ideas of Duchamp, perhaps more than those of any other 20th-century artist, have served to exemplify the range of possibilities inherent in a more conceptual approach to the art-making process. Not only is his work of historical importance—from his early experiments with Cubism to his association with Dada and Surrealism—but his conception of the ready-made decisively altered our understanding of what constitutes an object of art. Duchamp refused to accept the standards and practices of an established art system, conventions that were considered essential to attain fame and financial success: he refused to repeat himself, to develop a recognizable style or to show his work regularly. It is the more theoretical aspects implicit to both his art and life that have had the most profound impact on artists later in the century, allowing us to identify Duchamp as one of the most influential artists of the modern era.

Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even  (1915-1923)
Fountain (1917)

Henri (Emile Benoît) Matisse,

(b Le Cateau-Cambrésis [now Le Cateau], nr Cambrai, Picardy, 31 Dec 1869; d Nice, 3 Nov 1954). French painter, draughtsman, sculptor, printmaker, designer and writer. He came to art comparatively late in life and made his reputation as the principal protagonist of FAUVISM, the first avant-garde movement at the turn of the century. He went on to develop a monumental decorative art, which was innovative both in its treatment of the human figure and in the constructive and expressive role accorded to colour. His long career culminated in a highly original series of works made of paper cut-outs, which confirmed his reputation, with Picasso, as one of the major artists of the 20th century.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Algerian Woman (1909)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Young Sailor (1906)

Pablo Picasso

(b Málaga, 25 Oct 1881; d Mougins, France, 8 April 1973). Spanish painter, sculptor, draughtsman, printmaker, decorative artist and writer, active in France. He dominated 20th-century European art and was central in the development of the image of the modern artist. Episodes of his life were recounted in intimate detail, his comments on art were published and his working methods recorded on film. Painting was his principal medium, but his sculptures, prints, theatre designs and ceramics all had an impact on their respective disciplines. Even artists not influenced by the style or appearance of his work had to come to terms with its implications.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Three Dancers (1925)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Weeping Woman (1937)
 

Vasily Kandinsky

(b Moscow, 4 Dec 1866; d Neuilly-sur-Seine, 13 Dec 1944). Russian painter, printmaker, stage designer, decorative artist and theorist. A central figure in the development of 20th-century art and specifically in the transition from representational to abstract art, Kandinsky worked in a wide variety of media and was an important teacher and theoretician. He worked mainly outside Russia, but his Russian heritage continued to be an important factor in his development.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Picture with Archer  (1909)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Improvisation V (Park) (1911)

Edvard Munch

(b Løten, Hedmark, 12 Dec 1863; d Oslo, 23 Jan 1944). Norwegian painter, printmaker and draughtsman. Especially concerned with the expressive representation of emotions and personal relationships, he was associated with the international development of Symbolism during the 1890s and recognized as a precursor of Expressionism, particularly in his paintings and woodcuts.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        The Storm (1893)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Count Harry Kessler (1904)
 

Odilon (Bertrand-Jean) Redon

(b Bordeaux, 20 April 1840; d Paris, 6 July 1916). French printmaker, draughtsman and painter. He spent his childhood at Peyrelebade, his father’s estate in the Médoc. Peyrelebade became a basic source of inspiration for all his art, providing him with both subjects from nature and a stimulus for his fantasies, and Redon returned there constantly until its enforced sale in 1897. He received his education in Bordeaux from 1851, rapidly showing talent in many art forms: he studied drawing with Stanislas Gorin (?1824–?1874) from 1855; in 1857 he attempted unsuccessfully to become an architect; and he also became an accomplished violinist. He developed a keen interest in contemporary literature, partly through the influence of Armand Clavaud, a botanist and thinker who became his friend.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Etruscan Vase with Flowers (1900-1910)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Silence (1911)

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George Wesley Bellows  (1882 - 1925)

Born in Columbus, Ohio, George Bellows was a major American artist of the early 20th century, known for his paintings of boxing match figures and for his lithographs, numbering nearly two hundred, of his paintings. He became an instructor in New York at the Art Students League and at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Steaming Streets (1908)
Mrs. T in Cream Silk (1920)

Mary Stevenson Cassatt  (1844 - 1926)

The Impressionist painter, Mary Cassatt is best known for her mother and child compositions and also for her color prints, based on Japanese woodblock techniques and that combined drypoint, etching, and aquatint. From 1890, she had her own printing press at her home. Born in 1844 in Allegheny City (now part of Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, she was recognized by the turn of the century as one of the preeminent painters both of her native country and of France, which she made her permanent home.

 

Mother about to Wash her Sleepy Child  (1880)
Portrait of the Artist  (1878)

William James Glackens  (1870 - 1938)

Born in Philadelphia, William Glackens became an Impressionist painter who modified the style by retaining delineation of figures. But early in his career, he was an active Social Realist when the 'Ash Can' approach to painting was being promoted by Glackens' good friend, Robert Henri. However, Glackens eschewed subjects of the seamier side of society and adopted more refined depictions such as upper class persons strolling in parks, sitting in cafes, and studio posed still lifes and figures.


 
                                                                                                                                                                                                       Hammerstein's Roof Garden (1901) 

Robert Henri  (1865 - 1929)

Born Robert Henry Cozad in Cincinnati, Ohio, he became one of the leading personalities in American art, known for his teaching skills, ethnic portraits, especially spirited children, and insistence that artists should adhere to social realism and give rein to their own artistic instincts.

The Masquerade Dress  (1911)

Edward Hopper  (1882 - 1967)

Born and raised in Nyack, New York, Edward Hopper became one of the most famous painters of 20th century America, known for interior scenes of isolated figures, rural landscapes, and marine scenes.

Nighthawks  (1942)
New York Movie (1939)
 

Walt Kuhn  (1877 - 1949)

A painter and major organizer of the Armory Show, Walt Kuhn is perhaps best known for his circus figure-clown depictions. They were unique in that he treated his subjects as human beings conditioned to specialized jobs. He also painted still lifes and some landscapes. He was inspired and influenced by many artists, most notably Paul Cezanne. And like Cezanne, he destroyed many of his canvases, saving only about a dozen paintings a year.

Green Pom-Pom (1944)
Plumes (1931)

 

Maurice Brazil Prendergast  (1858 - 1924)

Much influenced by the Post-Impressionists and Fauves in Paris, Maurice Prendergast became a leading name in modernist American art and is known for his depictions of urban leisure-class people enjoying themselves in idyll landscapes and beach scenes. His style was based on a carefully adjusted combination of colors, which were applied to the canvas in dots, patches, and layers.

Holidays (1920)
Huntington Avenue Streetcar (1895-1897)

John French Sloan  (1871 - 1951)

Born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, John Sloan became one of the major early 20th- century figures in New York, pioneering in the Social Realist movement with Robert Henri and his circle. He was also an illustrator and early eastern painter in the Southwest.

Nightwindows (1910)
Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair (1912)
 

Joseph Stella  (1877 - 1946)

Born in Muro Lucano, near Naples, Italy, Joseph Stella is best known for his "Brooklyn Bridge", 1919 a futurist work that is an icon of the Industrial Age. He arrived in the United States in 1896 and studied medicine and pharmacology and then attended the Art Students League under William Merritt Chase. From 1900 -1909, he was an illustrator, especially interested in immigrant life in New York.

Battle of Lights, Coney Island (1914)
Brooklyn Bridge (1922)
 

James Abbott McNeill Whistler  (1834 - 1903)

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, James Whistler became one of the most influential late 19th-century American painters and etchers, although he lived primarily in England. He worked in a wide variety of styles that included Impressionism, Symbolism, and Art Nouveau. He was especially influential in the Tonalist movement and was a catalyst for those who wanted to break away from prescribed academic methods, credited with being the first American modernist to influence European art.

                                                                                                                                                              Arrangement in Grey and Black No 1: The Artist’s Mother (1871)
                                                                                                                                                                           Nocturne: Grey and Gold - Westminster Bridge (1871-74)