Modernism lesson 1

Modernism and post modernism

A2 Media StudiesCritical Perspectives in Media

Lesson Objectives

• To be introduced to a new unit - post modernism.

• To understand some new terms - Modernism and Postmodernism.

Modernism• Modernism - A style/movement in the Arts

(Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Literature, Poetry etc.) that challenged traditional and classical forms.

• We might think of this as beginning in the late 1800s. Roughly occurred between 1875 and the mid-1900’s

• Put very simply, the argument is that artists etc. believed that Art needed to change to reflect the change in society - which was becoming more modern, industrial, secular (non-religious) and rational (ideas based on reason and science as opposed to religion).

Modernist art and architecture - what features

do they have in common? Do you like it?

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Modernist art challenged the realism and illusion of the

romantic era and was often ‘abstract’

•.

John Constable(Romanticism)

Pablo Picasso (Modernism)

Modernist art - what views do you

have on it?

•.

Modernism is self conscious and led to experimentation - artists’ paintings draw attention to themselves and the materials used ie the blob of paint. - E.g. Jackson Pollock

Modernist architecture

• This skyscraper, the Seagram Building in New York (1956–1958 by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's), (right) became the archetypal modernist building.

• What are the main differences between modernist architecture on the right and what came before it? (above left)

• Why was modernist architecture designed in this way?

Modernist architecture

• Modernist architects and designers believed that buildings should be practically designed - as opposed to decorative Churches or cathedrals in the past

• Modernist designers typically rejected decoration in design, preferring to emphasise the materials used and pure geometrical forms.

Modernist literature

• Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism - characterised by writing that was utopian, positive and reflected great developments in the field of political theory, philosophy and psychoanalysis.

• After WW2, the writing reflected disillusionment and a lack of trust in government and religion, and displayed the fears of a darker side of humanity. (eg T S Eliot’s Wasteland)

• TS Eliot - poet

• EM Forester - novelist

• James Joyce - novelist and poet - Ulysses and Homer’s Odyssey

• D H Lawrence - novelist, poet, playright - Lady Chatterley’s lover

Modernism• Some argue we moved on to the

postmodern age - from the period following the end of the 2nd World War. This is contentious though - many critics and academics would argue that postmodernism is just a late stage of modernism.

• You’ll see why when you understand what the characteristic/features/techniques of modernism are.

Modernism• Self-conciousness/self-reflexivity.

• Alternative ways of thinking about representation - rejecting traditional approaches.

• Rejection of realism.

• Experimentation.

• Fragmentation in form and representation.

• Modernism challenged the status quo.

• Modernism retained a belief that rationality and reason were the key to progress.

Modernism• Self-reflexivity.

(drawing attention to itself as art)

Rejecting traditional ideas about realism and

experimenting with representation.

Task:• Write up on your blog the time period when

modernity existed and some descriptions of what kind of movement it was and how it featured in the Arts.

• Homework: Add 3 extra examples (each with images) to your blog, of modernist art, architecture and novels (which aren’t in this handout.)