Modernism
1900 -1930
Definition of Modernism
Rather than an artistic style, modernism was
a rebellious state of mind that questioned all
artistic, scientific, social, and moral
conventions.
Characteristics:
Challenging Conventions
1. by embracing nihilism
2. by rejecting every system of belief
3. by believing in the self-sufficiency of
each individual work of art
4. by adopting primitivism
5. by exploring perversity
6. by focusing on the city rather than nature
Nihilism: The Belief in Nothing
• Modernists viewed the world, and
especially human existence, as being
meaningless.
• Modernists rejected the belief that morality
and organized religion provided the means
for social evolution and/or the betterment
of man.
Rejection of all Systems of Belief
• Modernists questioned all accepted
systems:
– the sciences
– political/social/economic paradigms
– the arts, especially the Academy
Self-sufficiency of a Work of Art
• Art was not to be judged on the old
standard of mimesis, the literal
representation of reality.
• Art needed to be judged on an individual
basis.
• Art should be judged on the basis of how
well an artist is able to communicate the
purpose of the work as well as the
relationship between meaning and form.
Modernists Rebelled Against the
Dictates of the Academy
• Each country had its
Academy, an institution
that judged what was
proper and what was not
in the depiction of reality.
• The Academy saw its
task as the education of
artists in the practice of
an idealizing art in the
classical (or classicizing)
tradition.
• The Academy was a
school as well as a
regulatory body.
William-Adolph Bouguereau.
Dawn (1875). Oil on canvas.
Judges of the French Academy in 1903
What Was Acceptable?
Gustav Klimt. Idylle (1884). Oil on canvas.
• Goal of the artist was to achieve perfection
through the following:
– a highly polished style
– use of historical or mythological subject matter
– a moralistic tone
The Modernist Artist
• systematically and
deliberately developed an
art that testifies to all that
is strange, unknown, and
unlabeled in the self
• created a new language
of images that described
the inexpressible
• expected the
viewer/reader to interact
with the work
Pablo Picasso. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
(1907). Oil on canvas.
Primitivism
• Modernists rejected
technology and the
rigidity of society and
its institutions.
• Modernists embraced
the natural primal
roots of primitive man.
• Modernists embodied
the pursuit of
personal and artistic
freedom.
Pablo Picasso. The Dryad
(1908). Oil on canvas.
Perversity
• Modernists explored
the uncivilized nature
of man.
• Modernists suggested
that being “civilized”
was merely a veneer
that quickly vanishes.
Emile Nolde. Saint Mary of Egypt :
Among Sinners (1912). Oil on canvas.
Focus on the City
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Street in Dresden
(1907). Oil on canvas.
• Modernists shifted away from nature.
• Modernists explored the city as a place of lonely
crowds and marginalized individuals.
Forces that Shaped Modernism
• technology and the new science
• the new philosophical paradigms
F.H. Bradley
Alfred Whitehead
Albert Einstein
• the new psychological paradigms
Sigmund Freud
Carl Jung
Henri Bergson
• the new geo-political paradigms
Technology and the New Sciences
• generated optimism
• created dynamic
industrial and urban
growth
• accelerated the way life is
experienced
• shrank distances through
new communication and
transportation systems
Switchboard operators
The Modernist Philosophical
Paradigms
The New Perception of External
Reality
Relativity: Space, Time and Light
• Modern thinkers broke with the belief in
classical mechanics.
– Newton had asserted that space and time
were absolute.
– Modernists, on the other hand, questioned
objective reality.
• Instead, the modernists embraced
subjectivity.
– Observations about reality are observerdependent.
F. H. Bradley: Appearance and
Reality
• Reality is not
absolute.
• An object’s
appearance varies
depending on from
what angle it is being
viewed.
• To really understand
an object, one has to
view it from several
points of view.
Alfred Whitehead: Process and
Reality
• Reality is not static but in a
state of flux, always in the
process of becoming.
• No object exists in a vacuum—
rather “there is no element
whatever which possesses this
character of simple location.”
• Each object is relevant to its
surroundings in that it is in the
process of becoming another
object.
• Matter, space, and time are all
interrelated.
Alfred Whitehead (1861-1947)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) revolutionized the way that modern man
experienced reality.
Albert Einstein: The Special
Theory of Relativity
• Space and time are
relative; only the
speed of light is
constant.
• There is no such thing
as a favored point of
view.
• Color is relative.
• A universal present
moment does not
exist.
Clocks positioned farther away from the
mass of the earth run faster than clocks
closer to the earth.
Albert Einstein: The Special
Theory of Relativity
• Only “local” time
exists.
• Moving clocks run
slower than stationary
clocks.
• Two perfectly
synchronized clocks
would differ according
to their respective
speeds.
Clocks positioned farther away from the
mass of the earth run faster than clocks
closer to the earth.
Albert Einstein: The Special
Theory of Relativity
• Time slows as one
approaches the speed of
light.
• The present moment
expands from a narrow
sliver until it
encompasses both the
past and the future.
• At light speed, time
ceases to change
because it contains all
change.
Albert Einstein: The Special
Theory of Relativity—Speed Dilates
Time
A train moving away from a clock tower
at 5 mph. After a minute passes, the
observer on the train notes that the time
on the clock is 12:01.
A train moving away from a clock tower
at the speed of light. After a minute
passes, the observer on the train notes
that the time on the clock remains 12:00
o’clock.
Albert Einstein: The Special
Theory of Relativity
View of a house from a train
traveling past it at 5 mph
View of a house from a train
traveling past it at 93,000 miles
per second
Albert Einstein: The Special
Theory of Relativity
Traveling at the speed of light:
• Creates the illusion
that perspective has
flattened
• Space between
objects is truncated
• Figures begin to look
two-dimensional
An infinitely thin slice of compressed
countryside as seen from the side windows
of a train traveling past it at the speed of light
the Modernist Psychological
Paradigms
The New Perception of Internal
Reality
Sigmund Freud
• expanded the definition of
sexuality
• defined the major
components of
personality
• created a dynamic
psychology based on the
interaction of the id, the
ego, and the superego
• defined the importance of
the unconscious
• created psychoanalysis, a
science that uncovers the
personality’s secrets
Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)
Carl Jung
• based psychology on the
collective unconscious,
the inherited memories
of the race
• developed archetypes to
explain human behavior
• explained how
archetypes are expressed
in fairy tales, myths, and
artistic endeavors
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Henri Bergson
• defined human
experience through
duration, psychological
time consisting of the
constant flow from the
past into the future rather
than a succession of
chronological instants
• believed that reality is a
past that constantly
becomes something new
• held that intuition is the
most trustworthy guide to
understanding
Henri Bergson (1859 – 1941)
The New Global Economy
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industrialization
social and psychological fragmentation
alienation
class warfare
economic interdependence
colonialism
cultural cross-fertilization
nationalism
war