Art, Literature & Film History: Timeline & Movements

A visitor looks at a painting entitled "La persistance de la mémoire" (Persistence of Memory) by Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali's during an exhibition devoted to his work at the Centre Pompidou contopary art center (aka Beaubourg) on November 19, 2012 in Paris. More than 30 years after the first retrospective in 1979, the event gathers more than 200 art pieces and runs until March 13, 2013. AFP PHOTO FRANCOIS GUILLOT (Photo credit should read FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP via Getty Images)

Surrealism History

THE BEGINNING OF SURREALISM Surrealism officially began with Dadaist writer André Breton’s 1924 Surrealist manifesto, but the movement formed as early as 1917, inspired by the paintings of Giorgio de Chirico, who captured street locations with a hallucinatory quality. After 1917, de Chirico abandoned that style, but his influence reached the Surrealists through German Dadaist […]

Louis Comfort Tiffany (American, 1848–1933), A Wooded Landscape in Three Panels, c. 1905, stained glass, 219.7 x 334.1 cm (86.5 x 131.6 in), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas.

Art Nouveau and Art Deco History

Arts and Crafts Movement The Arts and Crafts movement, a precursor to Art Nouveau, focused on hand craftsmanship in the decorative arts and was personified by influential textile designer William Morris. In Art Nouveau, the style of an object is not predetermined and imposed but developed organically through the process of creation, an idea derived […]

A visitor looks at enigmatic American artist Andy Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans" at the Tate Modern in London 05 February 2002. A major retrospective of the controversial Warhol's work is expected to be a highlight of the English capital's cultural year. AFP PHOTO/Nicolas ASFOURI / AFP / NICOLAS ASFOURI (Photo credit should read NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images)

Modernism and Post-Modernism History

MODERNISM IN ART The shift to modernism can be partly credited to new freedoms enjoyed by artists in the late 1800s. Traditionally, a painter was commissioned by a patron to create a specific work. The late 19th century witnessed many artists capable of seizing more time to pursue subjects in their personal interest. At the […]

Bauhaus

Walter Gropius The Weimar school founded by architect Walter Gropius in 1919 was inspired by Expressionist art and the work of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and designer William Morris. Its creators believed in bringing artists and craftspeople together for a utopian purpose. Under the leadership of Gropius, the Bauhaus movement made no special distinction between […]

"Paris Street; Rainy Day" by Gustave Caillebotte. From the Art Institute of Chicago. (Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

Impressionism

Beginnings of Impressionism Impressionism coalesced in the 1860s when a group of painters including Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Pierre-Auguste Renoir pursued plein air painting together. American John Rand never joined their ranks as a preeminent artist, but as a painter living in London, he designed in 1841 a device that would revolutionize the art […]

PARIS, FRANCE - OCTOBER 18: A visitor looks at Picasso paintings 'Seated woman with a hat' and 'Bust of a woman with a striped' during the press day at the Picasso Museum, on October 18, 2014 in Paris, France. The museum will reopen on the 25th and will be inaugurated the same day by French president Francois Hollande. (Photo by Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images)

Cubism History

THE FIRST ERA OF CUBISM Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque first met in 1905, but it wasn’t until 1907 that Picasso showed Braque what is considered the first Cubist painting, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. This portrait of five prostitutes draws heavy influence from African tribal art, which Picasso had recently been exposed to at the Palais […]

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Hollywood Ten

Historian Yohuru Williams discusses key facts about the Hollywood 10, a group of film directors, screenwriters, and producers blacklisted for Communist affiliations in 1947.

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The Star-Spangled Banner

In this This Day in History video, the 9/13/1814 writing of the Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key is recounted. It was inspired by the British bombing of Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812.

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Mark Twain

Youth Samuel Clemens, the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Moffit Clemens, was born two months prematurely and was in relatively poor health for the first 10 years of his life. His mother tried various allopathic and hydropathic remedies on him during those early years, and his recollections of those instances (along with other […]

Hollywood Ten

Reds in Hollywood In the years following World War II (1939-45), the United States and Soviet Union engaged in a tense military and political rivalry that became known as the Cold War. Although the U.S. and its communist rival rarely confronted each other directly, they both attempted to extend their influence and promote their systems […]