ART 236 : Modern Art History

How does the jazz of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker fit into the great tradition of the modern arts between 1920 and 1950? In this text, cultural historian Alfred Appel provides the answer.

The Music of Paintingexplores the connections between music and the visual arts in the period covering the emergence and flowering of Modernism, c.1849-1950. Peter Vergo in this volume examines the changes in the analogies between the two disciplines, using in his analysis critical and philosophical sources as well as evidence of artistic and musical practice.

Now available again, this fascinating book examines the relationship between music and painting in Klee's art. A talented violinist as well as a painter, Klee drew much of the inspiration for his abstract art from musical rhythms and structures. Like a composer, he developed and harmonized pictorial themes, weaving a complex series of signs and symbols into his painting. The book focuses on Klee's decadelong tenure at the Bauhaus, where the artist's theories and practices first merged.

Discusses the influence of music on Klee's theories about art and shows how his background as an accomplished musician affected his painting.