The age of movement

One thing I realized while I was reading the introduction was that the twentieth century art world was dominated by this concept of movement and time. As art became less of a "privileged" medium and more of a "common-man" thing, art tried to appeal to the audience by integrating into the "human perspective". During the early 1900's, the thing that humans had and art did not was movement and time.

Many of the pictures in the introduction show different ways artists tried to control time and movement. The art piece I thought was most interesting was the "Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash" by Balla because the picture was made after video cameras came into existence; however, the artist decided to keep the medium as a painting. This was a BIG no-no in the painting world, as paintings were supposed to be elaborate and full of detail and emotion. However, this painting looks simple and for a lack of better words, weird as it depicted this mundane movement. This embrace of motion in a medium that is historically stand-still shows a new approach to an "old" medium.

This is another work by Balla called "The Speed of a Motorcycle". This painting was also done with oil and has a simplicity to it that isn't seen in much more older works of oil. However, it shows his passion and the century's amazement for the concept of movement. In this picture, you can actually feel the motorcycle rushing past you. Even though this is not a movie, the concept of time and movement is embedded right in the picture.