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?

•search

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.)