Alfred H. Barr, Cubism and Abstract Art, 1936 [Cover of the book] New York The Museum of Modern Art, New York
What will be considered the thesis, antithesis and synthesis in the Barr diagram?
To begin with, we will take as a basis the definition of these concepts.
A thesis is also the main idea, opinion, or theory of a speaker or writer, who then attempts to prove it. Thesis Dictionary Cambridge https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/thesis (Accessed 17.01.2020)
In formal argument, the antithesis is the opposite of the thesis (= the main idea). Antithesis Dictionary Cambridge https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/antithesis (Accessed 17.01.2020)
Synthesis - the mixing of different ideas, influences, or things to make a whole that is different, or new Antithesis Dictionary Cambridge https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/antithesis (Accessed 17.01.2020)
So these concepts can be illustrated by the following examples.
Paul Cézanne (thesis), standing apart from the Impressionists, Georges Seurat (antithesis) sought to deduce the essence of the subject in reality and Pablo Picasso (cubism) as a synthesis.
Paul Cézanne, (1866) Louis-Auguste Cézanne, the Artist's father, Reading “L'Evenement” [Oil on canvas] At: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/cezanne-paul/ (Accessed 20.01.2020)
Georges Seurat, Study for A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884–85, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [Oil on canvas] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurat#/media/File:Georges_Seurat_034.jpg (Accessed 20.01.2020)
Paul Cézanne had a mold, heavy strokes and many layers of paint, and Georges Seurat (neo-impressionism), the air points of the paint located close to each other, but not in shape, but in the sense of an air-space perspective. Near the work, a feeling of a color mess was created, but objects appeared at a distance.
Cézanne questioned the usage of perspective in the painting this prompted Picasso to experiment with form and the use of Seurat's muffled, dull colours can be seen in Picasso's works.
Pablo Picasso 1909–10, Figure dans un Fauteuil (Seated Nude, Femme nue assise), oil on canvas, 92.1 × 73 cm, Tate Modern, London. [Oil on canvas] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso#/media/File:Pablo_Picasso,_1909-10,_Figure_dans_un_Fauteuil_(Seated_Nude,_Femme_nue_assise),_oil_on_canvas,_92.1_x_73_cm,_Tate_Modern,_London.jpg (Accessed 20.01.2020)
Next, Picasso (thesis) cubism and Wassily Kandinsky (abstract art) antithesis, as a synthesis of Dadaism and Marcel Duchamp.
Picasso worked with the form and interpreted it not from what he saw, but from the perceived. While Kandinsky in 1911 deprives the form of recognition, his works do not bear any references to the natural world.
Wassily Kandinsky 1913 Composition 6, [Oil on canvas] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky#/media/File:Vassily_Kandinsky,_1913_-_Composition_6.jpg (Accessed 20.01.2020)
And as a synthesis, we can imagine Duchamp with his work urinal. Now all attempts to search for the perceived or the real come down to the concept of endowed meaning.
Marcel Duchamp 1917 Fountain, photograph by Alfred Stieglitz [Object] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp#/media/File:Marcel_Duchamp,_1917,_Fountain,_photograph_by_Alfred_Stieglitz.jpg (Accessed 20.01.2020)
Further Duchamp as a thesis, Constantin Brancusi (antithesis) and Jeff Koons as a synthesis.
Constantin Brancusi, Between 1915 – 1916 Princess X [Sculpture] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_X#/media/File:Princess_X.jpg (Accessed 20.01.2020)
What my art is aiming at, is above all realism; pursue the inner hidden reality, the very essence of objects in their own intrinsic fundamental nature: this is my only preoccupation.— Constantin Brâncuși[2] (wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_X (Accessed 20.01.2020)
The ready-made works of Duchamp changed the meaning of objects used in everyday life, and the sculptures of Brancusi tend to show the essence of a familiar phenomenon through an abstract form, in other words, Duchamp changed the meaning of the object, and Brancusi gave to a known meaning a new form.
Jeff Koons, Balloon Dog (Magenta), 1994–2000, mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating, (307.3 × 363.2 × 114.3 cm), François Pinault Foundation. [Sculpture] At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Koons#/media/File:Jeff_Koons_-_Balloon_Dog_(Magenta).jpg (Accessed 20.01.2020)
As a synthesis of the historical era and the influence of these two artists, you can bring an example of Jeff Koons. Here, ready-made art is mixed with conceptualism and the meaning of the original object seems to contain the previous form, but it creates a new object.
Bibliography and references
1. Alfred H. Barr, Cubism and Abstract Art, 1936, New York The Museum of Modern Art, New York
2. Clement Greenberg, Art and Culture critical essays, p. 3, 1961, Beacon press Boston
3. Hallward P., (2006) OUT OF THIS WORLD: Deleuze and the Philosophy of Creation. Verso
4. Deleuze Gilles (1994) Difference and Repetition, Columbia University Press
5. Olkowski Dorothea (1999) Gilles Deleuze and the Ruin of Representation, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS At: https://b-ok.cc/book/1064380/515ad9 (Accessed 16.01.2020)
6. The Art Story, Paul Cézanne https://www.theartstory.org/artist/cezanne-paul/ (Accessed 20.01.2020)
7. The Art Story, Seurat Georges https://www.theartstory.org/artist/seurat-georges/ (Accessed 20.01.2020)
8. The Art Story, Pablo Picasso https://www.theartstory.org/artist/picasso-pablo/ (Accessed 20.01.2020)
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