An informative and amusing evening was enjoyed by Society members on the Modern Art Demystified tour at the Tate Modern with Caroline Piper. We explored 20th century art movements from fauvism, to abstract art, cubism, surrealism and pop art. We puzzled over Braque’s cubist painting of “Clarinet and a Bottle of Rum on a Mantlepiece” and I think we all saw the scene in our mind’s eye eventually. We laughed at Salvador Dali’s “Lobster Telephone” and explored our unconscious minds with his dream paintings before taking a moment of quiet contemplation staring at Mark Rothko’s dark and emotive Seagram Murals. Highlights included trying to interpret Joseph Beuys’ huge installation “Lightning with Stag in its Glare” and theorising over the significance of the “turd-like” bronze primordial animals in the sculpture. The photos show the group in front of the game-changing work of modern art by Duchamp called “Fountain”. Duchamp introduced the “readymade” object as a work of art, in this case a humorous work using a men’s urinal, and modern artists have used readymades ever since.
Organised by Caroline Piper and Dave Hughes