Modernism is what I plan to learn about and understand on Thursday when we discuss it!

-- a student response on a quiz asking “What do you know about Modernism?”

Modernism was a movement which included art and literature, German DADA

movement, Picasso’s cubism, etc. Literature was exploring how the

modern way of life was negatively affecting mankind.-- another student

Modernism is a form of writing where the individual is alienated from society.

-- student

Modernism is when literature and poetry begin to sound more straight forward, like everyday language. It is more realistic,

as opposed to literature from the 19th century, which was more

poetic and pleasant.-- a student

Modernism is literature that was written at the end of or just after World War II and

was a response to the shock and horror that had come out of the war and the

first use of the atom bomb.-- a student

What mistake is being made? Confusing World War I with World War II?

Modernism is a style that flourished in the early 1900s and was characterized by a broken or at least not traditionally

coherent or linear writing style. This style was supposed to more closely resemble life

itself, which is rarely simple or coherent.-- a student

Modernism is a collection of new ideas, a counter-culture reaction to a

conservative society. Modernism had a sense of futility, a questioning of norms.

-- a student

Modernism is a time of crisis, where the truth is questioned, where there is

fragmentation found in literary works – or an attempt at clarity in the face of real-world

fragmentation. A yearning for wholeness and unity is also reflected in literary works.

-- a student

This begins my comments:

Modernity begins in the 17th century with the rise of scientific thinking and

rationality, with the Enlightenment.

It is not a sudden dawning of a new era, but a force or influence in Western civilization that grew gradually, but which coalesced the

most visibly by the end of the 1800s.

Modernism is the aesthetic response to modernity – painting, literature, architecture.

It is given a “starting point,” which some say was the Armory Show of 1913 in New York City, an annual exhibition

of new artists.

It included a famous work by Marcel Duchamp…

Marcel DuchampNude Descending a Staircase

1912

Modernity

“Human rationality will predominate, subordinating irrationality, custom, and

superstition, with the efficacy to plan for and attain progressive improvement in

all social institutions through the free exercise of will….

Humans have the ability to understand nature as it is – real, solid, and lawfully

dependable – which diminishes dependence on theological or transcendental concepts.”

Preface to ModernismArt Berman

In this sense, modernity is optimistic. It produces cures for diseases. It liberates people from oppression

and superstition. It increases understanding of the human mind,

making possible greater personal fulfillment.

Advances in technology are made possible by modernity. Among these new technologies

are transportation advances – ships, trains, planes, etc. These make possible great travel,

trade, the opening of new markets, the availability of new products, exploration, colonization, war, large and sudden migrations.

Machines seem to dominate modernity. For instance, machines alter manufacturing, so that

factories replace home-based craftsmen. Factories make for large cities. Large cities make

for economic opportunities. Large cities mean people leave the countryside. These migrations

upset families and loosen the hold of tradition and conformity on those who migrate.

Modernism simultaneously celebrates the “advances” of modernity and critiques them.

“Artistic innovation, creativity, exuberance, and insight into the human condition are to

act as a critique of modernity and as a social, political, and aesthetic

corrective to it….

Modernism is, however, also intended to advance modernity, in particular its optimistic belief in material, social, and

intellectual progress….

It rejects the social and commercial values of a conservative and complacent middle class,

and it abhors the way the middle class defines value in commercial

and monetary terms.”

Preface to Modernism

(And yet the modernist artist is frequently dependent upon that middle class – Who buys the most books? Who sees the most plays?

Who buys the most paintings?)

In the following image, note how the artist has presented something that could qualify as fragmented, but it is not pessimistic. It

attempts to capture the excitement of modern life. The artist attempts to create a new style

to depict a new reality. It breaks previous assumptions of what makes “good art”; it

doesn’t follow normal definitions of “beauty.”

Joseph StellaThe Battle of Lights, Coney Island

1913

In this famous piece, the artist renews that challenge to conventional definitions of “art.”

This is “found art,” something found in a real-world setting that is minimally

manipulated by the artist. It doesn’t even require technical skill. It also demonstrates

Modernisms playfulness, while perhaps communicating some pessimism or

cynicism.

Marcel DuchampFountain, 1917

Modernist architecture was not nearly so playful or exciting. It was more of a science, coolly rational. It created

“machines for living,” a phrase used to describe a home. It defied previous notions

of “beauty,” but by getting rid of “artifice” and “prettiness.” Architecture would not get

chaotic or “fun” until Postmodernism.

Gropius HouseBoston, Mass.

The most extreme example of modernism’s critique of modernity is the “sudden onset of insecurity and even dread … as it becomes

apparent that science and economics cannot cure the ontological loneliness following upon

God’s, or the soul’s, obsolescence.”

Preface to Modernism

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all convictions, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

From “The Second Coming”William Butler Yeats, 1921