Principles of Modernism: Freeing the Brushstroke

Claude Monet, Detail of Water Lilies with Clouds, 1903

Collection of Musee de L'Orangerie

Monet's Water Lily series is an example of modernism

examining the traditional artists' tools

in new ways.

Rafael, detail of Our Lady of the Rosary, 1504

Painters apply color with a brush using individual strokes

to create the illusions of three-dimensionality, texture and

form. Rafael's brushstrokes are evident in this detail from

a Madonna and child painting. 

Modernism gave the brushstroke more prominence.

Claude Monet's brush strokes are as important as the image illusion,

as are Vincent Van Gogh's.

and Pablo Picasso's,

(detail of a foot from Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art)

Roy Lichtenstein, Brushstroke Still Life with Lamp

Lichtenstein carried the glorification of the brushstroke

to extremes in his 1960s "Brushstroke" series.

All of which partially explain this modern style of

textile, exemplified by the trend-setting firm of  Britain's David Whitehead. Ltd.

in the 1950s,

Jane Daniels for David Whitehead, Ltd.

Bark cloth prints

style evident in the drapes, dress prints ,etc.

from the 1940s on (see Monday's Dorothy Draper plaid)

...trickling down to a category of feedsack

Lichtenstein's irony has nothing on this tulip and brushstroke feedsack.

Smart combination of brushstroke and woven

Here's a brushstroke print with classical columns next to a Davy Crockett

print in a quilt from the 1950s

And a new look in a brushstroke print:

Tritex Brushtroke print in Picasso Pink