The art of Stephen King

The Dark,Tower, vol.7, Wikipedia

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A friend of mine once told me that she read S. King's The Stand every year. That made quite an impression. Lately her comment has come back to me more than once, so I decided to take a look, even though I don't really care for horror stories. It seems to me there's enough horror in the world as it is, but after reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods, which I really liked, I was game.

The Stand is a big book, both in length and theme. And there were times I had to just put it down, because it was too intense. Sometimes I had to brace myself to read sections I knew would be dark and/or violent. Still, it had a relatively happy ending--the good guys survived (mostly). It had some truly interesting characters. The Dark Man, aka Randall Flagg, is pretty unforgettable.

One of the most interesting characters was the writer, Stephen King, himself. It's also of interest that  "His books have sold more than 350 million copies." (Wikipedia).

Now I'm planning to read The Dark Tower, a work Mr. King considers his Magnum Opus. In preparation I bought The Complete Concordance by Robin Furth, knowing from my experience with The Stand that the details and characters in 7 volumes would be a challenge to track. In the foreword to the Compendium, King describes the process of writing a 7-volume work that spans 32 years in 'real' time, comparing it to visiting and revisiting a department store. The analogy goes like this--

Will I tell you what happens to a story when it lies fallow over such long periods of time? Will you hear? Then close your eyes and imagine a vast department store, all on one level, lit by great racks of overhead fluorescent lights. You see every kind of item under those lights—underwear and automotive parts, TVs and DVDs, shoes and stationery and bikes for the kiddies, blue jeans and mattresses (Oh look, Herbie, they’re on sale, 40% off!), cosmetics and air rifles, party dresses and picnic gear.

Now imagine the lights failing, one by one. The huge space grows darker; the goods so temptingly arrayed grow dimmer and harder to see. Finally you can hardly see your hand in front of your face.

That was the kind of room I came to when it was finally time to write The Drawing of the Three, except then the store wasn’t so big— the first volume was less than three hundred pages long, so it was actually more of a mom n pop operation, do ya not see it. I was able to light it again simply by reading over the first volume and having a few ideas (I also resurrected a few old ones; I hadn’t entirely forgotten what was in those handwritten pages, or the purpose of the tale).

Coming back to write the third volume (The Waste Lands) in the mid-eighties was harder, because the store was once again almost completely dark, and now it was much bigger. Once again I began by reading over what I’d written, taking copious notes, and filling paperback copies of the first two books with yellow highlighted passages and pink Post-it notes.

Another four years passed . . . or perhaps this time it was six. The store had once again grown dark, and by the time I was ready to write Wizard and Glass, it was bigger than ever. This time I wanted to add a whole new annex (call it Roland’s Past instead of the Bridal Shoppe). Once again out came the books— three of them, this time— the yellow highlighter, and the packets of Post-it notes.

(Furth, Robin (2012-11-06). Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance, Revised and Updated (Kindle Location 52). Scribner. Kindle Edition.)

I wonder what repeatedly drew him back to working on this mammoth project. Did its state of unfinished itch? Did he dream about it? Did Roland haunt him? You may find an answer at the website.

It should be quite an adventure.

-- Marge

 

Art: Loving Vincent

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Loving Vincent is a most pleasing combination of painting and film produced by Polish studio BreakThru Films and Trademark Films. Its visual style evokes that of Van Gogh and it flows from scene to scene effortlessly. Here's a trailer--

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According to The Reel --

Vincent Van Gogh’s obsession with his art might have caused him tremendous personal agony, but his output was tremendous – almost 900 paintings, many of which are counted among the greatest works of all time. In a new tribute to Van Gogh, the makers of an animated documentary will feature 120 of his most famous paintings.

Breakthru Films (still working on their online presence) won several awards for another film, Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" (2006), a stop-motion animation. It was released in the U.S. as an adaptation by Suzie Templeton and won an Academy Award. Here's a taste:

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This concept trailer for Loving Vincent, published by Solar Pictures, has some interesting points to make. Needless to say perhaps, but there is a theory that Van Gogh didn't commit suicide, but was shot. My apologies if this is a spoiler for you.

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-- Marge

Afghanistan's poet-martyrs

Afghan women, AsiaSociety.org

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Eliza Griswold, a poet herself, wrote an article Why Afghan Women Risk Death to Write Poetry that captures one of the ways these women survive (or don't) their rigidly enforced roles as women. She describes the interaction of rural female poets with a group of urban women who have formed a society of more than 100.

Mirman Baheer, Afghanistan’s largest women’s literary society, is a contemporary version of a Taliban-era literary network known as the Golden Needle. In Herat, women, pretending to sew, gathered to talk about literature. In Kabul, Mirman Baheer has no need for subterfuge. Its more than 100 members are drawn primarily from the Afghan elite: professors, parliamentarians, journalists and scholars. They travel on city buses to their Saturday meetings, their faces uncovered, wearing high-heeled boots and shearling coats. But in the outlying provinces — Khost, Paktia, Maidan Wardak, Kunduz, Kandahar, Herat and Farah — where the society’s members number 300, Mirman Baheer functions largely in secret.

Poetry is one of the few creative releases available to women in Afghanistan, and even then they are in danger of being discovered. Amail, an urban member of Mirman Baheer, mentors one of the rural poets, Meena Muska (her pen name).

Of Afghanistan’s 15 million women, roughly 8 out of 10 live outside urban areas, where U.S. efforts to promote women’s rights have met with little success. Only 5 out of 100 graduate from high school, and most are married by age 16, 3 out of 4 in forced marriages. Young poets like Meena who call into the hot line, Amail told me, “are in a very dangerous position. They’re behind high walls, under the strong control of men.” Herat University’s celebrated young poet, Nadia Anjuman, died in 2005, after a severe beating by her husband. She was 25.

Pashtun poetry has long been a form of rebellion for Afghan women, belying the notion that they are submissive or defeated. Landai means “short, poisonous snake” in Pashto, a language spoken on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The word also refers to two-line folk poems that can be just as lethal. Funny, sexy, raging, tragic, landai are safe because they are collective. No single person writes a landai; a woman repeats one, shares one. It is hers and not hers. Although men do recite them, almost all are cast in the voices of women. “Landai belong to women,” Safia Siddiqi, a renowned Pashtun poet and former Afghan parliamentarian, said. “In Afghanistan, poetry is the women’s movement from the inside.”

An example of landai is

“On Doomsday, I will say aloud,
I came from the world with my heart full of hope.”

                                                              -- Zarmina

In her article, Eliza Griswold follows the stories of two poets, the elusive Meena

Meena lost her fiancé last year, when a land mine exploded. According to Pashtun tradition, she must marry one of his brothers, which she doesn’t want to do. She doesn’t dare protest directly, but reciting poetry to Amail allows her to speak out against her lot. When I asked how old she was, Meena responded in a proverb: “I am like a tulip in the desert. I die before I open, and the waves of desert breeze blow my petals away.” She wasn’t sure of her age but thought she was 17. “Because I am a girl, no one knows my birthday,” she said.

and Zarmina.

Rahila was the name used by a young poet, Zarmina, who committed suicide two years ago. Zarmina was reading her love poems over the phone when her sister-in-law caught her. “How many lovers do you have?” she teased. Zarmina’s family assumed there was a boy on the other end of the line. As a punishment, her brothers beat her and ripped up her notebooks, Amail said. Two weeks later, Zarmina set herself on fire.

Eliza's poetry can be found Poetry Foundation and Work in Progress.

-- Marge

Art: two contemporary artists

Dima Rebus, "I've been out walking," dimarebus.com

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Taking a break from posts on technical topics, here are two artists that I found online--Dima Rebus, a Russian watercolorist, and Diana Al-Hadid, an American sculptor. It's apparent from the work of both these artists that they have unique ways of looking at the world. Ms. Al-Hadid goes so far as to ask: "How does an artist resist reality?" This may seem a strange question, but not all artists want to blindly copy the world. The video below gives intriguing insights into how the creative process works for her.

Dima Rebus' work is fairly easy to find on the internet at sites like Colossal and Juxtapoz, but he himself is somewhat a mystery. The most in-depth information I found about him was at the site of a  Moscow-based gallery, Artwin Gallery. They say this about Mr. Rebus and contemporary Russian artists:

We are discovering a new generation of urban artists. They prefer personal anonymity while hiding their faces behind avatar userpics and turning their real names into screenname rebuses. Dima’s artistic journey is another generation’s turn in Russian urban painting. It seems like we saw it twenty years ago during Perestroika and during the “Thaw” of the sixties. His young age can be only identified by the mature artistic skills and by the way he looks at the Soviet past, the thing that he never experienced in his real life. This is what represents true contemporary Russian art now, not pseudo-Russian pseudo-art of Old Arbat. Dima Rebus is a young artist masterly working in a watercolour technique. The essence of his unique style is in a delicate drawing and in a keen perception of the surrounding medium. Dima’s works are always filled with air and irony, two elements, that play an important role in his art. Each of his works is outstanding and intriguing. For the painter it is very crucial to show self irony, helping to step aside and not take himself very seriously: “A man who has a sense of humour is beautiful, but a man who has self-irony is even more beautiful” – Dima Rebus. Also Rebus is very famous for his talented illustrations for children’s books, and he collaborates with a number of large publishing companies and design studios, such as Total Football, Snob, Esquire, GQ and others.

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Dima Rebus, "Self-portrait with a cherry," dimarebus.com

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Diana Al-Hadid originated in Syria and was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She's very clear on what she wants to do with her work. You can find several videos about her at Art21. The video below gives some of her artistic philosophy, as well as personal background.

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-- Marge

Art and design: Christmas websites

Christmas wallpaper, iSkysoft

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Today's mission was to find some of the best non-commercial websites online in the last 2 years. I return empty-handed. If you want to buy something, be inspired with lovely Christmas templates (to buy), or go to church, you're in luck.

The recent lists of best websites mostly tout flat design anyway, which frankly I find flat. That is, without any visual interest. Perhaps the best list about Christmas in general is the Telegraph's Christmas 2015. Christmas.com may hold some treasures for you.

If you want a template for your own website, take a look at Christmas Templates 2015: A List Of 14 Best Templates For Professional Blogs And Websites. If Wordpress is your CMS (content management system) of choice, there's 10 Best WordPress Christmas themes 2015. (Note: some links at Design Maz point to discontinued themes. Go figure.) Here's a live demo of the Christmas Lights theme from TemplateMonster.

The site iSkysoft has a good list of free Christmas images. Many of the links point to wallpapers; these can be resized to be usable as smaller images, as shown here.

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Christmas wallpaper, iSkysoft

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Then there's Elf Yourself. It's up to 1.2 billion visitors and counting. With it you can take a photo with your webcam, save it to your desktop, and send it to Facebook. There are apps for iPhone and Android. (You must agree to the terms and conditions before you can operate the site options.)

-- Marge

Art: exploring Bon Exposé

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A recent post on Google+ led to my discovery of the site Bon Exposé.  In August 2012 Leodor Selenier announced their new site.

There are many delights to be found there, such as art installations, 3D graphics, graphic design, and photography. In a section called Inspiration, there's a subsection called Movies, where there are trailers and reviews of films about art and artists. "Surviving Picasso" is one I missed.

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Installation artist Janet Echelman is present; there are some striking photos.

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Janet Echelman, "Line Drawing," Bon Expose

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I particularly like the way they've handled 3D art, making the effort to assign a genre to each artist's work. One of Andrea Bertaccini's pieces is below.

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3D Hyper-Realism: Andrea Bertaccini, Bon Expose

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Another featured work is "Mog's Christmas Calamity." Here's a how-it-was-made video with an introduction by author Judith Kerr.

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If you're an artist you can request that your work be shown at Bon Exposé. Directions are available on the Submissions page.


-- Marge

The beauty trap

Hedy Lamarr, Life Magazine (1942), reddit

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As you probably know, Google is featuring Hedy Lamarr with its current doodle. Beauty and brains can be a toxic mixture. Take a look at this video to see what I mean.

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Despite her oft-repeated quote--"Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid"--when her beauty faded, she did too.

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) has video clips of films with Ms. Lamarr. The overview page features a biography, her filmography, and other points of interest.

-- Marge

Art: Zaha Hadid's flowing architectural shapes

Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid is an architect known for remarkable buildings like this one: 

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Heydar Aliyev Centre (photo by Iwan Baan), zaha-hadid.com

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You can see more views of this gorgeous construct at Zaha Hadid's site under Heydar Aliyev Centre.

What I wondered is how such a structure is built. Luckily Buildipedia has an extensive article on the Aliyev Centre's construction. Here's a photo of the central structure without the "Glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) and glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) panel (Buildipedia)" façade.

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Heydar Aliyev Centre, Buildipedia

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To get an idea of what the Centre feels like inside, take a look at this photo of one of three auditoriums.

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An auditorium in Heydar Aliyev Centre, Buildipedia

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In July 2012, Architects' Journal reported a fire that damaged the roof. Apparently some controversy surrounded the design project. The building had opened in the preceding May.

E-architect reported in 2014:

Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan has won the Design Museum Design of the Year Award 2014. Hadid is the first ever woman to win the top prize in the competition, now in its seventh year.

-- Marge

Exploring WikiArt

Every child is an artist.
The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

--Pablo Picasso

WikiArt, aka WikiPaintings, is one of the best references for learning about painters and their work I've found.  One of the most useful features is being able to see how an artist's work evolved. You can find a specific artist by name in the alphabetic list or search using the search box in the upper right corner.

Take, for example, Pablo Picasso. The page that loads when you select his name has 3 tabs: Artist; All Artworks Chronologically, and All Artworks by Alphabet. Below his self-portrait there is a slider with featured works arranged chronologically. Under the chronological tab all of his works are presented in a matrix and at the bottom of the page is a slider with all of this works by date. Picasso produced an amazing total 1127 works. Any work listed can be clicked for a slide show of larger images.

Also on the main page for Picasso is a list for access to works by style, period, series, genre, and technique. Each category opens to its own slider.

Perhaps the best known painting from Picasso's early years is his "Portrait of the Artist's Mother," painted in 1896.

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Picasso, Portrait of the artist's mother (1896), WikiArt

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In his Blue Period, he painted "The Old Blind Guitarist."

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Picasso, The old blind guitarist (1903), WikiArt

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Perhaps his best-known work of all is "The girls of Avignon," painted in 1907. It marked the beginning of his cubist period and a personal turning point. Camille Paglia in Glittering Images says that the 8 foot by 7.6 foot painting was considered "the most important painting of the twentieth century." Its original title is "The Demoiselles d'Avignon."

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Picasso, The girls of Avignon (1907), WikiArt

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This little introduction to WikiArt touches only the tip of the iceberg. According to Wikipedia:
"They claim to have reached 75,000 paintings, as of June, 2012." ... "The developers are based in Ukraine." The WikiArt Blog gives a Financial Report for 2013.

-- Marge

Gone fishin'

Not really fishing, fish avoid my hook. But it's summer and I'm easily distracted. Here are a few images to fill in the gap.

Some artists working in real studios.

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Leanne Christie working on the January painting 2014, leannechristie

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Helen Frankenthaler, photographed by Ernst Haas (1969), the Bohmerian

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Kim Marcucci, kmarcucci

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-- Marge

Question: what is the difference between art and craft?

Concept Art, Guild Wars 2

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This may seem to be a trivial question to those of you who are marginally interested in art; but a number of philosophers have pondered it. And with video games and MMOs becoming more visually sophisticated, their environs may be added to the mix. Michelle Gaugy--art gallery owner, author, art consultant--says on Quora:

 I recall that 50 years ago, this was a very clearly defined distinction. Craft was defined as objects that had function, and art was aesthetic objects without function. Period.  But since that time, the American Craft movement has advanced dramatically, and craftspeople have been creating many one-off objects that are clearly aesthetic and clearly evoke emotional responses from people in a huge variety of media.

Note that Michelle mentions uniqueness ("one-off objects") and a piece's ability to "evoke emotional responses. There's a good article on Art and Emotion at Wikipedia.

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Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night, Fine Art America

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Philosopher Dennis Dutton addresses the question directly in The Difference Between Art and Craft on his site. There are links to some interesting pieces on the front page, including an article titled Can video games be art? In his article comparing art to craft, Dutton refers to another philosopher, R.G. Collingwood. Stanford Encyclopedia has an extended entry on Collingwood's Aesthetics that is well worth reading.

Tate Gallery hosts the discussion Tate Debate: When is a craft an art?

Of all the information I browsed, this from a site about ancient Egypt (Pharaonic Egypt) seemed to me most interesting. While we talk about uniqueness and evoking emotion, absolute skill may set a person's work apart as well.

Not always in human history was a distinction made between art and craft or were artists considered a breed apart, but Egyptian artisans - like expert workers anywhere and anytime - were certainly aware of their capabilities and their own worth and proud of it.

Chief of the artisans, the draftsman Irtysen says:
I know the secrets of the hieroglyphs, the way to put together feast offerings. All magic I have prepared . Nothing goes by me unnoticed. Because I am an artisan excellent at my craft, who has become the foremost at what he has learned. I know the ratios of fluids, weigh the amount, reckon, remove, insert the tenon into the mortise so every part will be in its place.
I know how to render the posture of a man's statue, the step of a woman's statue, the wing strength of a dozen birds, the bearing of him who strikes a prisoner, the look an eye casts on someone else and also make fearful the face of the sacrificial victim, the arm of him who hits the hippopotamus, the stance of the runner.
I know how to make pigments and incrustations without letting the fire burn them, with the water being able to wash them away.
None will know this but me and my oldest son. The God has ordained that he shall practice because it is into this he has been initiated.
I have seen with mine eyes what has left his hands when he directed the work, in all precious and exalted stones, from silver and gold to ivory and ebony.

A funerary offering of a thousand loaves of bread, beer, fowl, oxen, clothing, all the good and pure things for the blessed Irtysen, true of voice, brought into the world by Idet, true of voice.

--Craftsmen and artists

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NC Wyeth,, Ore Wagon, Fine Art America-Granger

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-- Marge

Fluid stone

It's time for me to take a break, so here is some lovely artwork to feast your eyes on.

Adam Schallau: The 2nd Wave of Coyote Buttes North. Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona

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Adam Schallau, Waves of Stone

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Jody Skowronek: Fluid Stone, 2012

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Jody Skowronek, Fluid Stone, 2012

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Matthew Vogt: Paria River, Utah, 2013

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Matthew Vogt, Paria River, 2013

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Matthew Simmonds: Chapter House

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Matthew Simmonds, Sculptures in Marble and Stone

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Stein A, Rypdal, Hiking The Wave

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Stein A, Rypdal, Hiking The Wave, rypdal.net

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-- Marge

Art: murals old and new

Since the time we lived in caves, we've been drawing on the walls. Sometimes Mom gets mad, sometimes the drawings are works of art. The first cave drawings were likely made using charcoal from the fire or stone tools harder than the cave wall. As humans progressed drawing became painting on the walls.

From the Minoans to Renaissance Italians to the present, frescoes have been the preferred method. In frescoes the pigment is laid down on fresh or wet plaster. As a side note, oil paintings on cave walls have been discovered in Afghanistan that date to the  mid-7th century CE (Common Era, also Current Era or Christian Era).

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Bamiyan Oil Painting, CAIS

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In more recent times Diego Rivera held the spotlight for murals, as well as a dispute with one patron that resulted in the destruction of his work "Man at the Crossroads." Here's one of his works still available for viewing.

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Rivera Mural in the National Palace, Mexico

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Often murals are considered decorative art, as stated in the article Reassessing Artworks of Ancient Rome. Pictured in the article is the fresco below. It may have been merely decorative (or commemorative) at the time, but has with the passing of time taken on more meaning.

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The Aldobrandini Marriage, NY Times

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Murals can be political statements, certainly in artist Rivera's case. In my view, street art often qualifies as murals, although they generally are more transitory. Here's a photo essay of The 50 Most Stunning Wall Murals From Around The World. Note that some of Rivera's pieces are included. The image below appears to me to be a statement some might call political.

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Berlin art at Oberbaumbrucke Bridge, The Scenic Sidewalk

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-- Marge

Art: flowing ink

ink wash, Marco Polo TV series, Mill+

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For an artist ink can be both satisfying and frustrating to work with--not to mention the inevitable ink stains and stained fingers. Then you get into ink washes, and things really get unpredictable. But when your ink project works, life is wonderful.

This video by artist Margaret Evans gives an idea of one technique for an ink wash.

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Another ink technique is this one, demonstrated by Leonardo Pereznieto.

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Which brings me to the topic being featured today--Mill+'s stunning work (Mill Channel) on the title sequence for Netflix's new series Marco Polo.

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Unfortunately the title sequence has been blocked on YouTube, but you can watch it on Vimeo, The Mill+ has an informative blog entry about this project.

-- Marge

Suspended leaps, controlled spins

Sergei Polunin-David LaChapelle, "Take Me to Church" by Hozier, YouTube

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A video of Sergei Polunin dancing, directed by David Lachapelle, crossed my radar the other day.

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The sheer athleticism of danseurs (male ballet dancers in French; in Italian it's ballerino, as opposed to ballerina), is to me a wonder to behold. Beatifully controlled, visually exciting athleticism.

I know of two other well-known dancers in this discipline: Nureyev and Baryshnikov. Nureyev is most often seen dancing with Margot Fonteyn, as seen below in Les Sylphides, Waltz No. 7.

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Baryshnikov's leaps amaze. For seconds he seems suspended in the air.

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As an aside, I include this video because of the dramatic, well-designed sets. The music is nice, too.

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Any post about ballet would be lacking if the amount of hard, sweaty work that these finished, fairytale productions require weren't mentioned. If you get a chance and the dancemaster permits, visit a local ballet studio to see what I mean. Here's a sneak peak at rehearsals for "The Nutcracker" by the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

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If ballet looks to you like it could be a good way to exercise, there's a series of workout DVDs produced by the New York City Ballet and available at Amazon. You can preview a DVD here.

-- Marge

Art: some 2D animation for inspiration

Asuka Langley Soryu, sampaikini

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There are so many ways to approach animation (a discipline/art form I'm trying to learn), that I find myself turning to works that I like for inspiration. In animation there's not only the artwork, but also storyline, voice, music, camera angles, and--maybe most important--motion and timing.

This one's my odds-on favorite. I love the sketchy, yet fluid style, transitions, now-you-see-it-now-you-don't effects and the song is lovely, too.

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This one has a similar story, but very different style. Again I'm attracted to the wispy effects.

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The backgrounds are really, really good in this film. And the story is fun--it reminds me of questing in an MMORPG.

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This last film is a collection of scenes from a Japanese animated television series called "Neon Genesis Evangelion." In most of the animé/manga films I've seen the artwork is outstanding. If you'd like to get an idea of how dedicated its fans can be, here's a page listing the author's top ten favorite characters. The page will also give you an idea of the wide range in artistic styles. Keep in mind that some animé can be pretty riské by America's prudish standards.

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To play these videos in sequence the playlist is available on YouTube.

-- Marge

When art lost its way

Marcel Duchamp, "Fountain" (1917), Tate

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The art movement called Dada produced some works that challenge the viewer's sensibilities, but for good reason.

Dada was an informal international movement, with participants in Europe and North America. The beginnings of Dada correspond to the outbreak of World War I. For many participants, the movement was a protest against the bourgeois nationalist and colonialist interests, which many Dadaists believed were the root cause of the war, and against the cultural and intellectual conformity—in art and more broadly in society—that corresponded to the war. 

Many Dadaists believed that the 'reason' and 'logic' of bourgeois capitalist society had led people into war. They expressed their rejection of that ideology in artistic expression that appeared to reject logic and embrace chaos and irrationality. For example, George Grosz later recalled that his Dadaist art was intended as a protest "against this world of mutual destruction." 

According to Hans Richter Dada was not art: it was "anti-art." Dada represented the opposite of everything which art stood for. Where art was concerned with traditional aesthetics, Dada ignored aesthetics. If art was to appeal to sensibilities, Dada was intended to offend. (Wikipedia)

The aftermath of World War I presented

drastic political, cultural, and social change across Europe, Asia, Africa, and even in areas outside those that were directly involved. Four empires collapsed due to the war, old countries were abolished, new ones were formed, boundaries were redrawn, international organizations were established, and many new and old ideologies took a firm hold in people's minds.

Years later, Dada artists described the movement

as "a phenomenon bursting forth in the midst of the postwar economic and moral crisis, a savior, a monster, which would lay waste to everything in its path... [It was] a systematic work of destruction and demoralization... In the end it became nothing but an act of sacrilege." (Wikipedia)

Perhaps the best known artists active in the Dada movement are Marcel Duchamp and Max Ernst. Dadaism resolved into surrealism, which aimed to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality (André Breton)." Often works produced by Dada artists are assigned to surrealism.

More information about Europe after WWI can be found at HowStuffWorks, the history section. And, as a challenge to the usual way of looking at history, here's an article on the cycles of the slower-moving planets, titles "History and the cycles of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto." (Hint: search the page on 'WW1' and '1917'.)

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Max Ernst, "The Elephant Celebes" (1921), Wikipedia

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-- Marge