The Art World in 1900

1900 was the year when Rudolf Laban’s family finally allowed him to study art in Munich.  It was a terrific year to enter the European art world for the following reasons:

  • The great European art academies were still functioning, preserving the knowledge and skills of three-dimensional lifelike representation in painting and sculpture.
  • The late 19th and early 20th century was a period of innovative movements:  Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Fauvism, Futurism, Expressionism, Cubism, Dada….
  • The art world was international.  Within Europe, artists from different countries traveled and exhibited widely.  Moreover, there was a strong interest in non-European art from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
  • The dividing line between the fine arts and applied arts was being blurred.  Art was becoming more democratic.

Laban was right in the middle of all this – studying at the art academies in Munich and Paris, while witnessing innovative theories and practices of Art Nouveau, Expressionism, and Dada.

This immersion in the visual art world had a big impact when Laban turned his eyes to dance.  Find out more in the next blog.