Today’s Essential Questions What characteristics are inherent in Modernist texts? (art, poetry, novels) How is modernism a reaction to romanticism? What is art?
In your table groups, discuss: What is art? Why is art made? How do you know when something isn’t art?
Rough Progression of European Literary Eras Bible-focused literacy Dante: Formal writing in vernacular about religion (1300s) Renaissance: Shakespeare (1600s) Celebration of collective understanding and literacy Focus on Christianity and humanity Enlightenment (late 1700s) Erudite focus on reason, reality Romanticism (middle 1800s) Focus on the ideal and a return to nature Modernism (early 1900s) Lament for the loss of meaning a modern world
Rough Progression of Western Painting Trends “Madonna and child” circa 1230 B. Berlinghieri Raphael’s “School of Athens” 1510 Picasso’s 1912 Les Demoiselles D’Avignon Friedrich’s “Wanderer over a Sea of Clouds” 1818 Pollock’s 1947 “Lucifer”
Modernism: Characteristics Themes/Ideas Literary Techniques Disjointed narratives Lack of central heroic figure Pessimism about human nature Focusing on inner world of reality, not outer Fragmentation, juxtaposition of events, narrators, etc. “Open” endings; lack of resolution Intensive use of allegory, metaphor, allusion, symbol Questioning the reliability of any individual’s experience/perspective Critiquing traditional cultural values Mourning the loss of meaning and hope in the modern world exploration of how this loss may be faced
In your table groups, discuss: Compare and contrast romanticism and modernism. How is modernism a reaction to romanticism?
Introduction to Modernism Yves Klein Blue
Modernism: Texts For tomorrow, print out the packet attached to my website. Modern Art in today’s lecture “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” “The Wasteland” (excerpt) Eliot, 1920-25 poetry “The Hollow Men” “Tradition and the Individual Talent” Eliot, essay
[Pedantic Distinctions Between] Genres of Modern Art Cubism: Pablo Picasso Expressionism: Edvard Munch Futurism: Umberto Boccioni Supremitism: Kasimir Malevich Dada: Michel Duchamp Kinetic Art: Alexander Calder Surrealism: Salvador Dali
Pablo Picasso “the father of cubism”
“Ma Jolie” by Pablo Picasso, 1911-1912
“Guernica” by Pablo Picasso 1937
Expressionism
“The Scream” Parody
Suprematism– Kasimir Malevich His work was suppressed in Soviet Russia in the 1930s and remained little known during the following two decades. The Stalinist regime turned against forms of abstraction, considering them a type of “bourgeois” art, that could not express social realities. Eight Red Rectangles, 1915
Suprematism– Kasimir Malevich The style of severe geometric abstraction with which he is most closely associated, Suprematism, was a leading force in the development of Constructivism, the repercussions of which continued to be felt throughout the 20th century. Russian painter, printmaker, decorative artist and writer of Ukranian birth. One of the pioneers of abstract art, Malevich was a central figure in a succession of avant-garde movements during the period of the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917 and immediately after. The style of severe geometric abstraction with which he is most closely associated, Suprematism, was a leading force in the development of Constructivism, the repercussions of which continued to be felt throughout the 20th century. His work was suppressed in Soviet Russia in the 1930s and remained little known during the following two decades. The reassessment of his reputation in the West from the mid-1950s was matched by the renewed influence of his work on the paintings of Ad Reinhardt and on developments such as Zero, Hard-edge painting and Minimalism. Black Square, 1923
“Glass Painting with Sun” by Wassily Kandinsky
“The Street Enters the House” by Umberto Boccioni, 1911
Dada & Kinetic art
“East Wing Mobile” by Alexander Calder, 1976
Spanish Surrealists
“Harlequin's Carnival” by Joan Miro, 1924-1925
“The Persistence of Memory” by Salvador Dali, 1931
Post-modern art
Today’s Essential Questions What characteristics are inherent in Modernist texts? (art, poetry, novels) How is modernism a reaction to romanticism? What is art?