Beyond 1913

Beyond 1913

The cataclysmic events of the War galvanized the modernist and multifaceted aesthetic of 1913 in various ways. During the next two decades, the trends in formal experimentation and modes of engagement that were initiated by the avant-garde movements persisted and evolved. These three works evoke the legacies of 1913. Paul Klee’s watercolor, which juxtaposes strict geometric frames with softer, organic-looking forms, points to the ongoing exploration of abstraction. Chaïm Soutine’s painting of dead poultry is a visceral interpretation of expressionist idioms and leaves a lasting impression of violence. This impending violence appears in Pablo Picasso’s Minotauromachy, a highly symbolic etching that prefigures Guernica but also distills the politically agitated 1930s.