Monday, April 2, 2012

The Bigger Picture.

Mary Wigman grew up during the industrialization of Europe, which was a major influence on her creative voice. There were new possibilities to look forward to and explore during this time that had never been offered before.  Many different art forms were embracing this idea of new possibilities to expand the repituare of work. For instance, cubism, a visual art form went outside the box from the usual portraits and landscapes done. Below is an example of cubism by Pablo Picasso.
    

As you can see the industrialization caused shifts within the artistic world.
Another event that was a major influence of Wigman's initial theory of dance would be WWII 1939-1945. During this time we was forced to close her school in Dresden and fire all her Jewish dancers, but allowed to teach a small amount of students in Leipzig, Germany. Here she performed solo work in private, due to Nazi rule.
There were many dramatic adjustments in Germany at the time and her life, such as, Industrialization of Europe, WWII, and the disapproval of her parents. These were all contributing factors to her work and movement quality.
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4 comments:

  1. Paul Taylor 12'April 3, 2012 at 11:19 AM

    I think that this was a very influential period of time for many artists. WWII especially informed a wave of change in dance. I would like to know more specifically about how these historical influence can be seen in some of her works to further illuminate this idea. In terms of cubism as mentioned here, do you think that informed her work at all? Cubism seems to be something that Laban would study or be drawn to because of all of the spatial pulls and shaping in the art.

    -written by Allie Rick

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  2. sarah kindApril 5, 2012 at 9:55 AM

    I agree with Allie on many of these aspects, and can relate with the information i've learned about Martha Graham on an equal level. The war especially, made an impact on not only art, but the entire world. I know that Martha as well, refused to choreograph for the Olympics during this time because of certian events to her colleuges, and this is a perfect example. The cubism art movement was also influential to Martha as well, which you can see through her sharp, angular movement. I agree with Allie however, I can see the coorelation between Laban and the cubism, and would like to see how it directly informed her work.

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  3. Dani Koeck & Samantha PatrickApril 8, 2012 at 4:23 PM

    In response to both of these comments, Cubism was very influential in Wigman's work because of Laban's concept of spatial pulls in movements. Her movement was very specific, direct, and full of shape. Cubism is an art form that consists of angular shapes and lines. Here you can see the lineage of cubism that had influenced Labans methods and how Wigman understood them.

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  4. Kao&BrennaApril 9, 2012 at 11:00 AM

    I enjoy hearing about the progression of Wigman's ideas of movement, from her work with Laban to her breaking away to a more absolute way of moving. I would like to know more about her idea of absolute movement. Does this have to do with improvising or is it based more on a physical sense of freedom as opposed to mental? Also I know she worked alot with masks and I am curious if this is somehow tied to the WW and the nazis. Is there a connection between the two?

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