Fall Term
Friday, Sept. 11, 2015 to Friday, Nov. 13, 2015
MORNING - 9:50 am. to 11:50 am.
Course A
Co - Chairs: Mike Antoniadas
Bruce Mc Callum
Course Director: Dr. Julia Zarankin lectures to later life learners at the University of Toronto, St.
Michael's College and George Brown College. She is a writer, writing coach
and is an avid birder.
GREAT EUROPEAN CITIES in the AGE of ANXIETY
This course will explore how great European cities embraced wildly experimental and avant-garde art
as a response to a generalized feeling of anxiety on the eve of World War I. Stops on our tour include
Vienna, Budapest, Paris, London, Milan, Berlin, and St. Petersburg and will culminate at the Armory
Show in New York City (1913), when modern European art took North America by storm. We will
draw connections between urban development, architecture, literature, visual arts, and music.
1. Sept. 11: Introduction: Why Anxiety?
We will begin with an historical introduction to the highly anxious socio-political climate in European
cities on the eve of World War I. How did the arts respond to the historical moment? We will explore
how the political situation influenced and perhaps even set the stage for an era of extraordinary artistic
experimentation in the great European capitals.
2. Sept. 18: St. Petersburg
We begin our European travels in Russia. In the twilight of the Romanov dynasty, St. Petersburg is a
tumultuous place at the turn of the 20th century. We will explore the changing face of the city as it
enters the modern, industrial age as well as the emergence of the avant-garde, which ultimately took
Europe by storm. Topics include the rise of futurism, cubo-futurism, suprematism, and revolution.
3. Sept. 25: Paris
We will visit Paris, the city that is hailed as the birthplace of the modern. We will examine the city’s
radical transformation by Baron Haussmann in the 19th century, and how this new, glittering,
spectacular urban capital became the stage for some of the most enduring modern art movements of
the day including impressionism, symbolism, pointillism, and cubism.
4. Oct. 2: Paris (part 2)
We will continue our travels through Paris by exploring the different artistic communities of expats in
the city and how they contributed and altered the cultural climate in the capital. We will focus on
Diaghilev’s extraordinary Ballets Russes, an avant-garde dance troupe that emerged from of a spirit of
artistic experimentation and collaboration, and the shocking premiere of Nijinsky’s Rite of Spring in
1913.
5. Oct. 9: Milan
Our journey takes us onward to Milan, the industrial hub of Italy, a city considered both “traditional
and futuristic.” Milan was the birthplace of futurism, one of the 20th century’s most influential artistic
movements. Led by Marinetti, Futurist artists called for a new aesthetic language based on industry,
war, and the machine. We will examine how Futurist movement ultimately took Europe by storm.
6. Oct. 16: London & Glasgow
We will divide our time between London and Glasgow as we explore the birth of the avant-garde in
the British Isles. Birthplace of Scottish modernism, Glasgow was transformed by the work of visionary
art nouveau architect Charles Mackintosh. In London, we will examine how the Bloomsbury Group
altered our expectations of literature, and paved the way for such expat experimentalists as Ezra Pound
and T.S. Eliot.
7. Oct. 23: Vienna
It is no coincidence that Freud’s groundbreaking discoveries about human psychology, psychoanalysis
and hysteria took place in Vienna. The capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is a paradoxical place:
the city bubbles with energy, balls, waltzes and cafés, but behind the veneer we will encounter an
anxious, highly neurotic Viennese individual. We will examine the vibrant cultural climate in Vienna,
including café culture, Klimt and the Secession movement, Wiener Werkstætte, Mahler, Schoenberg.
8. Oct. 30: Budapest
From Vienna we’ll travel to the other Austro-Hungarian capital, Budapest. The city—partially rebuilt
based on the model of Paris—is also an exemplary parade of art nouveau architecture. We will
examine how the urban developments in the majestic city, including the very first modern subway (the
Metropolitan line), the largest synagogue outside of North America, and the opera house, shaped such
avant-garde creative geniuses as Ödön Lechner and Bela Bartok, among others.
9. Nov. 6: Berlin
How did Berlin transform from a provincial Prussian city into a metropolis of technological wonders,
a hotbed of experimental art and life in the span of half a century? We will explore the urban
transformation of Berlin, including the technological and architectural feats, and the way the city
provided fertile ground for avant-garde movements such as German Expressionism.
10. Nov. 13: New York City: Armory Show
Our series will end with a jaunt across the Atlantic, in New York City, when European modern art
appeared in North America for the first time. We will visit the Armory Show (1913), which is regarded
as one of the most influential events in American culture. Almost all the artists we have encountered in
the previous nine lectures were exhibited in New York City for the first time at the Armory show. We
will explore how the International Exhibition of Modern Art paved the way for modern artistic
experimentation in North America.