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Artists You Should Know: Modern

Lists, facts, dates, links, and more, organized by period/movement

Notable Modern Artists (1880-1970)

If you wish to be generally familiar with art history, here is a short list of artists you should know from this period.

Name

Birth

Death

Nationality

Movement(s)

Primary Medium

Representative Works

Cézanne, Paul
 ND553 .C33

1839

1906

French

Post-impressionism Painting The House of the Hanged Man
Study: Landscape at Auvers
The Card Players

Chagall, Marc
 ND699 .C5

1887

1985

Russian-French

Cubism
Expressionism
Painting
Stained Glass
I and the Village
The Fiddler
White Crucifixion

Dali, Salvador
 ND813 .D3

1904

1989

Spanish

Cubism
Dadaism
Surrealism
Painting The Persistence of Memory
Soft Construction with Boiled Beans
The Face of War

Duchamp, Marcel
 ND553 .D774
 N6853 .D8

1887

1968

French-American

Dadaism
Cubism
Surrealism
Painting
Sculpture
Fountain
Nude Descending a Staircase
Étant donnés

Gauguin, Paul
 ND553 .G27

1848

1903

French

Post-impressionism Painting Vision of the Sermon
Where Do We Come From? What Are We?
 Where Are We Going?
Tahitian Women on the Beach

Hopper, Edward
 ND237 .H75

1882

1967

American

Realism Painting
Printmaking
Nighthawks
Automat

Kandinsky, Vassily
 ND699 .K3

1866

1944

Russian

Abstract Expressionism Painting Der Blaue Reiter
On White II
Composition VII

Matisse, Henri
 ND553 .M37

1869

1954

French

Fauvism
Impressionism
Modernism
Painting
Sculpture
Woman with a Hat
Still Life with Geraniums
Red Studio

Munch, Edvard
 ND773 .M8

1863

1944

Norwegian

Expressionism
Symbolism
Painting The Scream
The Sick Child
The Mystery of a Summer Night

O'Keeffe, Georgia
 ND237 .O5

1887

1986

American

American Modernism Painting Cow's Skull with Calico Roses
Jimson Weed, 1936

Picasso, Pablo
 ND553 .P5

1881

1973

Spanish

Cubism Painting
Sculpture
Drawing
Guernica
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
The Old Guitarist
Three Musicians

Pollock, Jackson
 ND237 .P73

1912

1956

American

Abstract Expressionism Painting No. 5, 1948
Convergence 1952
Lavender Mist

Renoir, Auguste
 ND553 .R45

1841

1919

French

Impressionism Painting Bal du moulin de la Galette
The Bathers
Luncheon of the Boating Party

Rodin, Auguste
 NB553 .R7

1840

1917

French

Impressionism
Modernism
Sculpture

The Thinker
The Kiss
The Gates of Hell

Rothko, Mark
 ND237 .R725

1903

1970

American

Abstract Expressionism
Color Field
Painting White Center (Yellow, Pink, and Lavender on
 Rose)
Orange, Red, Yellow
White and Greens in Blue

Rousseau, Henri
 ND553 .R67

1844

1910

French

Post-Impressionism
Primitivism
Painting Surpris! (Tiger in a Tropical Storm)
The Sleeping Gypsy

Warhol, Andy
 N6537 .W28

1928

1987

American

Pop Art Painting
Printmaking
Campbell's Soup Cans
Marilyn Monroe

Whistler, James McNeill
 ND237 .W6

1834

1903

American

Tonalism Painting Whistler's Mother (Arrangement in Grey and
 Black, No. 1)
Nocturne in Blue and Silver

Modern Artists (1880-1970)

If you are a student of Art or Art History, here is a more detailed list of artists you should know from this period.

Name

Birth

Death

Nationality

Movement(s)

Primary Medium

Representative Works

Beuys, Joseph
 N6888 .B463

1921

1986

German

Fluxus Sculpture
Performance Art
How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare
7,000 Oaks

Boccioni, Umberto
 N6923 .B587

1882

1916

Italian

Futurism Painting
Sculpture
Unique Forms of Continuity in Space
The City Rises

Bourgeois, Louise
 NB237 .B72

1911

2010

French-American

Confessional Art Sculpture
Painting
Installation Art
Maman
Destruction of the Father
Fillette

BrâncuČ™i, Constantin
 NB933 .B7

1876

1957

Romanian

Modernism Sculpture Bird in Space
Sleeping Muse

Braque, Georges
 ND553 .B86

1882

1963

French

Cubism
Fauvism
Painting
Printmaking
Sculpture
Man with a Guitar
Still Life with Chandeliers

Cassatt, Mary
 ND237 .C3

1844

1926

American

Impressionism Painting The Child's Bath
Afternoon Tea Party

Cézanne, Paul
 ND553 .C33

1839

1906

French

Post-impressionism Painting The House of the Hanged Man
Study: Landscape at Auvers
The Card Players

Chagall, Marc
 ND699 .C5

1887

1985

Russian-French

Cubism
Expressionism
Painting
Stained Glass
I and the Village
The Fiddler
White Crucifixion

Dali, Salvador
 ND813 .D3

1904

1989

Spanish

Cubism
Dadaism
Surrealism
Painting The Persistence of Memory
Soft Construction with Boiled Beans
The Face of War

Duchamp, Marcel
 ND553 .D774
 N6853 .D8

1887

1968

French-American

Dadaism
Cubism
Surrealism
Painting
Sculpture
Fountain
Nude Descending a Staircase
Étant donnés

Ensor, James
 ND673 .E6

1860

1949

Belgian

Expressionism
Symbolism
Painting
Printmaking
The Rower
The Entry of Christ into Brussels

Gauguin, Paul
 ND553 .G27

1848

1903

French

Post-impressionism Painting Vision of the Sermon
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Tahitian Women on the Beach

Giacometti, Alberto
 NB553 .G4
 N7153 .G47

1901

1966

Swiss

Surrealism
Expressionism
Sculpture
Painting
Three Men Walking, II
Head of a Man on a Rod

Höch, Hannah
 TR685 .L38

1889

1978

German

Dadaism Photomontage Cut with the Kitchen Knife through the Beer- Belly of the Weimar Republic

Hopper, Edward
 ND237 .H75

1882

1967

American

Realism Painting
Printmaking
Nighthawks
Automat

Kandinsky, Vassily
 ND699 .K3

1866

1944

Russian

Abstract Expressionism Painting Der Blaue Reiter
On White II
Composition VII

Klee, Paul
 ND588 .K5

1879

1940

German-Swiss

Expressionism
Primitivism
Surrealism
Painting Ad Parnassum
Death for the Idea
In the Quarry

Klein, Yves

1928

1962

French

New Realism Painting
Performance Art
IKB 79
Monochrome and Fire

Klimt, Gustav
 ND511.5 .K55

1862

1918

Austrian

Symbolism
Art Nouveau
Painting The Kiss
Danaë

Magritte, René
 ND673 .M35

1898

1967

Belgian

Surrealism Painting The Treachery of Images
The Human Condition
The Pilgrim

Malevich, Kazimir
 ND699 .M285

1879

1935

Russian

Suprematism Painting Black Square
White on White

Matisse, Henri
 ND553 .M37

1869

1954

French

Fauvism
Impressionism
Modernism
Painting
Sculpture
Woman with a Hat
Still Life with Geraniums
Red Studio

Munch, Edvard
 ND773 .M8

1863

1944

Norwegian

Expressionism
Symbolism
Painting The Scream
The Sick Child
The Mystery of a Summer Night

Nevelson, Louise
 NB237 .N43

1899

1988

American

Modernism
Feminisim
Sculpture Dawn's Wedding Feast
Mrs. N's Palace

Noguchi, Isamu
 NB237 .N6

1904

1988

American

Biomorphism Sculpture
Landscaping
Black Sun
Moerenuma Park, Sapporo, Japan

O'Keeffe, Georgia
 ND237 .O5

1887

1986

American

American Modernism Painting Cow's Skull with Calico Roses
Jimson Weed, 1936

Picasso, Pablo
 ND553 .P5

1881

1973

Spanish

Cubism Painting
Sculpture
Drawing
Guernica
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
The Old Guitarist
Three Musicians

Pollock, Jackson
 ND237 .P73

1912

1956

American

Abstract Expressionism Painting No. 5, 1948
Convergence 1952
Lavender Mist

Rauschenberg, Robert
 N6537 .R27

1925

2008

American

Abstract Expressionism
Neo-Dada
Painting
Assemblage
Monogram
White Painting

Renoir, Auguste
 ND553 .R45

1841

1919

French

Impressionism Painting Bal du moulin de la Galette
The Bathers
Luncheon of the Boating Party

Rivera, Diego
 ND259 .R5

1886

1957

Mexican

Mexican Muralism Painting
Murals
Man at the Crossroads / Man, Controller of the Universe
En el Arsenal

Rodin, Auguste
 NB553 .R7

1840

1917

French

Impressionism
Modernism
Sculpture

The Thinker
The Kiss
The Gates of Hell

Rothko, Mark
 ND237 .R725

1903

1970

American

Abstract Expressionism
Color Field
Painting White Center (Yellow, Pink, and Lavender on Rose)
Orange, Red, Yellow
White and Greens in Blue

Rousseau, Henri
 ND553 .R67

1844

1910

French

Post-Impressionism
Primitivism
Painting Surpris! (Tiger in a Tropical Storm)
The Sleeping Gypsy
Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de
 ND553 .T7

1864

1901

French

Post-Impressionism
Art Nouveau
Painting
Printmaking
Moulin Rouge series
Hangover
In Bed

Warhol, Andy
 N6537 .W28

1928

1987

American

Pop Art Painting
Printmaking
Campbell's Soup Cans
Marilyn Monroe

Whistler, James McNeill
 ND237 .W6

1834

1903

American

Tonalism Painting Whistler's Mother (Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1)
Nocturne in Blue and Silver