Between about 1920 to 1930, new artistic movements in European 【M1】__

art were making themselves felt in the United States. American

artists become acquainted with the new art on their trips to Paris and

at the exhibitions in the famous New York gallery 291 (named with 【M2】__

its address on Fifth Avenue) of the photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

But most important in the spread of the modem movement in the

United States was the sensational Armory Show, in which the work of 【M3】__

many of the leading European artists were seen along with that of a

number of progressive American painters. Several of the American

modernists who were influenced by the Armory Show found the

urban landscapes, especially New York, an appealing subject.

Comparing with the realist painters, the American modernists were much

removed from the actual appearance of the city. However, both the

painters of the Ash Can School and the latter realists were still tied 【M4】__

to 19th century or earlier styles, while the early modernists shared

with the international breakthroughs of the art of the 20th century. 【M5】__

Cubism brought about a minor revolution in Western painting, 【M6】__

which overturned the rational tradition that was built upon since the【M7】__

Renaissance. In Cubism, natural forms were broken down analytical 【M8】__

into geometric shapes.

No longer a clear differentiation made between the figure and 【M9】__

the background of painting: the objects rep-resented and the surface

on which they were painted be-came one. The Cubists abandoned

the conventional single vantage point of the viewer, and objects

depicting from multiple viewpoints were shown at the same time. 【M10】__

【M1】