Class: Kerrin Meis - Modernism: Matisse to Mondrian, Art for Art's Sake

Book Passage Class
Four Thursdays: Nov. 18-Dec. 17 (no class Nov. 25)
Corte Madera store, $60
Register for Class

What exactly was Modernism? From our vantage point a century later we shall be examining the avant-garde movements in the visual arts in Europe from 1900 to 1940. Modernism had its roots in the late nineteenth century when artists like Cezanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh began a move toward abstraction. We will begin with the Austrian Secession; Klimt, Schiele and Kokoschka and move on to Germany: The artists of Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter. We'll encounter the Fauves in France: Matisse, Derain, et al. The pioneers of Cubism: Braque and Picasso, Orphism and the Delaunays will be followed by a study of the Italian Futurists. A special emphasis on the Women artists of the Russian Avant-Garde will be followed by a study of the Surrealists whose notion of reality fell entirely outside traditional views of reality versus the artists of Neue Sachlichkeit who addressed the problems of Weimar society.

Kerrin Meis taught art history at SFSU for ten years, lectured for the College of Marin, Exploritas, Dominican University, and leads study tours in France.