Cosmic Chasm

 Finding sanctuary in turbulent times. For many, Mexico became a safe haven during World War II, with a Nazi Germany reigning and wreaking havoc on the lives of many Europeans. This knowledge is important because this final blog is dedicated to the art of women artists in Mexico. However, only one of them was born there. All the women covered are significant to the surrealist movement in Latin America during the mid-modern era. Mexico had surrealist artists already, but the form and movement grew when surrealists from other countries became inspired by the art popularized at the time. Overall, I see that this establishes a safe space for artists to continue expressing themselves without fear of harsh punishment.     Three notable female artists in Mexico made surrealist art from 1930-1960, roughly at the same time as the mid-modern art movement. Surrealist art in Mexico followed the popular literary movement of French poet Andre Breton. The speaker in the video above, Anne Umland, ment

 “I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.”                              - "The Things They Carried", Tim O'Brien As we have established throughout this course, art has a profound sense of storytelling, giving life, meaning, and narrative at the viewer's discretion. The Vietnam War was nothing short of a revolution in art, inspiring and urging artists from all walks of life to speak out on the horrors of war. The stories told in these pieces remain transcendent, and their messages of morality, humanity, and injustice remind us of the refusal to obey an American government that aimed to dehumanize its own people. Yoko Ono, Cut Piece , 1964-66 Yoko Ono would sit on a stage in front of an audience with a pair of scissors in front of her and call on each person to cut a piece of her clothing off.  The intention was to provoke the audience to consider how long one would wait before intervening in harmful ci

 The Harlem Renaissance The Creation (1927) Illustration by Aaron Douglas, based on the written work of James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse."        The Harlem Renaissance was unlike any other movement in American history. During its time, participants referred to this movement as "The New Negro,"  the term originating from the title of Alain Locke's work from 1925. After the Civil War, many African Americans moved north to pursue a new life. There was a sizeable cultural boom in the neighborhood of Harlem in New York City. This movement spread and bred the works of artists like Aaron Douglas , Hale Woodruff , and Archibald John Motley Jr . Along with them came other artists, musicians, photographers, and writers who created the first African American movement of modern art. These creations show diversity in stories, craft, emotions, and expressions of life, religion, and post-civil-rights political and civil ten