1. Warm-Up Q: Who were the “Lost Generation”
Warm-Up Q: Who were the “Lost Generation”? How did the effects of WWI influence people’s perspective on the world?
The Son of Man – Rene Magritte

2. Post WWI Art
“Along with millions of idealistic young men who were cut to pieces by machine guns and obliterated by artillery shells, there was another major casualty of World War I: traditional ideas about Western art”.
(Reed Johnson, Los Angeles Times)

3. Themes in Early Modern Art
Uncertainty/insecurity.
Disillusionment.
The subconscious.
Overt sexuality.
Violence & savagery.

4. Edvard Munch: The Scream (1893)
Expressionism
Using bright colors to express a particular emotion.

5. Franz Marc: Animal Destinies (1913)

6. Gustav Klimt: The Kiss (1907-1908)

7. Henri Matisse:
Open Window (1905)

8. Georges Braque: Violin & Candlestick (1910)
CUBISM
The subject matter is broken down, analyzed, and reassembled in abstract form.
Cezanne  The artist should treat nature in terms of the cylinder, the sphere, and the cone.

9. Georges Braque: Still Life (1929)

10. Picasso: Studio with Plaster Head (1925)

11. Paul Klee: Senecio (1922)

12. George Grosz Grey Day (1921) DaDa
Ridiculed contemporary culture & traditional art forms.
The collapse during WW I of social and moral values.
Nihilistic.

13. The Pillars of Society (1926)
George Grosz
The Pillars of Society (1926)

14. Salvador Dali: Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War), 1936
Surrealism
Late 1920s-1940s.
Came from the nihilistic genre of DaDa.
Influenced by Freud’s theories on psychoanalysis and the subconscious.
Confusing & startling images like those in dreams.

15. Salvador Dali: The Persistence of Memory (1931)

16. A Worldwide Depression

17. American Money European Money
Life in the 1920s (Review)
Rebuilding Euro. Nations
Every major Euro. Nation was bankrupt after the war
Relied on loans ($$) from the US
American Money European Money

18. Postwar Europe Rise of new democracies – end to absolute monarchs
Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary
Problem: Little experience with representative gov’ts
Too many pol. groups
Coalition gov’t – temporary alliance of pol. parties within a gov’t
no strong leadership, no long-term goals

19. Weimar Republic Recall: What were the “humiliations” of the TofVer.?
Germany’s demo. gov’t, est. 1919
Major weaknesses from beginning
Lack of demo. tradition
Several major parties and many minor parties
Germ. ppl blamed WR for defeat in WWI and TofVer. humiliation

20. Weimar Republic TPS: How would you feel if your $$ became worthless?
Inflation Causes Crisis
Germ. had not increased wartime taxes
To pay for the war, Germ. printed $$
Paper $$ loses value
TofVer. – war debt
Print more $$ to pay off debt, loses value again
Germ. ppl needed more $$ to buy basic goods – inflation
Recovered from inflation with help from int’l committee
Dawes Plan (1924) – provided $200 mil. loan from US to Germ.
Kellogg-Briand peace pact (1928) – pledged to “renounce war as an instrument of national policy”
No means to enforce the treaty, relied on the League of Nations

21. Great Depression
TPS: Why did the Great Depression in the US turn into a global depression?
US Flawed Econ.
Uneven distribution of wealth
Over production by busi. and agri.
Lower demand for consumer goods
Oct. 29, 1929 – NYSE (US Stock Market) crashes
Ppl could not pay $$ owed, busi. failed, banks closed
By 1933, ¼ of all Am. Workers had no jobs
Am. Investors withdrew their $$ from Eur.
Am. stopped buying European goods – imposed high tariffs (taxes) on imports instead
Dependence on Am. $$, Germ. and Austria were hit hard
In Asia, value of exports fell by ½
In Latin Am., prices collapse for products (sugar, beef, copper, etc.)

22. World Confront the Crisis
Britain
France
Scandinavia
Rise of Fascism
Fascism – new militant, political mvm’t that emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to its leader
Summary Q: What problems did the collapse of the Am. econ. cause in other countries?
Britain
Brit ppl elected a coalition (National Gov’t), High protective tariffs, Increased taxes, Regulated currency, Lowered interest rates to promote econ. growth
Result: Slow and steady growth – avoided pol. extremes and preserved demo.
France
Econ. crisis led to political instability
1936 – The Popular Front formed, Passed reforms to help workers, Price increases and high unemployment
Preserved democratic gov’t
Socialist Gov’ts Form
Scandinavia built recovery programs through existing cooperative community action
Public works projects, Raised pensions, increased unemployment benefits, gov’t subsidies, Taxed all citizens
Rise of Fascism
Many lost faith in democratic gov’t, Move towards extreme gov’t system – fascism
Fascism – new, militant pol. mvmt that emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to its leader