Modernism vs Postmodernism Essay

Igor Stravinsky makes for a first-class example of differences and similarities between neoclassicism and modernism. Modernism is defined as “A term used in music to denote a multi-faceted but distinct and continuous tradition within 20th-century composition”1, while neoclassicism may be defined as “A movement of style in the works of certain 20th-century composers, who, particularly during the period between the two world wars, revived the balanced forms and clearly perceptible thematic processes of earlier styles to replace what were, to them, the increasingly exaggerated gestures and formlessness of late Romanticism”2 By not only comparing his works to others but within his own body of work the two movements can be better

Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it

question John Berger, critic of art and author of the Ways of Seeing, raised in his essay, and it is

Despite the years of training and involvement an artist must have whilst learning the proper techniques and developing “an understanding vision,” the artist may claim no responsibility for the work itself. For, throughout the process, the artist must have placed distance between themself and their work. Never fully interacting with the materials, the artist’s role rests as that of an acutely perceptive spectator. Witnessing colour interactions and rendering them, the artist acts as a mere vessel for the subject

Furthermore, realist and constructivist arguments against Post-Modernism are weak, unstable, and are easily shut down when closely analyzing post modernist views. Within realism, the sole criticism of Post-Modernism is that the belief is that an anarchic system leads them to conclude that power politics is the only way to conduct world politics in order to survive. However, this belief is myopic and leads to policy changes that will make war more probable. Post-Modernism invalidates realism because it details that actors are missing, states are not unitary and thus not rational, instead they are abstract, as described previously, and therefore national interest does not exist (Nabers 2009, pg.198). Also, Post-Modernism believes, unlike realism, that power is measured, mostly, through tangible means, not relative to that of ideas, norms, words, etc. Additionally, Post-Modernism entails that realism is a self-fulfilling prophesy. If people expect war, prepare for war, spread the threat of war, war is more likely to occur, which reinforces the original fear of war. This exonerates previous accusations of Post-Modernism, because it details realism’s predictiveness within its own theory and does not account for other measures. Moreover, constructivism, on the other hand, seeks to dismantle post modernist views by focusing more so on, ‘intersubjective creations,’ in international relations. Constructivism, like Post-Modernism, sees states bound by predetermined factors, but

There has been an ongoing debate throughout history as to whether or not an artist’s work should be judged separately from their personal life. Art in general is assigned specific meaning in today’s society that may or may not actually suit the art itself. Pair that practice with the strict scrutiny of people in today’s time, and there is a ruining of art culture, as well as the perception of the artist’s brilliant work. All people, put under strict scrutiny, will not be able to live up to today’s societal expectations. Because of this, art will lose its meaning, due to the fact that many artists are not the epitome of perfection. This leads me to say that art must be judged separately from the artists themself.

Art has been a part of history before Christ was born and along the flow of time different styles and movements revolutionized what art means to the creator and audience. On the flow of time one of the branches that stood out in style, color, and expression through repetition was Impressionism. An artist that helped revolutionize Impressionism in his time was Oscar-Claude Monet, but the piece that stood out was the “Mouth of the Seine at Honfleur.”

At its inception, modernist art was shocking and evocative to the traditional “academic exceptions of artwork.” Unlike much of the artwork that came before, modernist paintings sought to engage the audience for the first time and inspired new ideas. This form of art was critical of society and represented a new pathway for artists to explore their intellect and creativity. Artists broke the “norms” of what was not allowed previously in art. In the past, traditional academic expectations for art where governed by rules that the artist had to follow. Art was produced for the rich and powerful, whether they came from the church or were simply wealthy members of government. With the rise of modernist art though, artists began to make “art for the sake of art” (Barrett, 20).

“Painting picture by picture, I followed the impressions my eye took in at heightened moments. I painted only memories, adding nothing, no details that I did not see. Hence the simplicity of the paintings, their emptiness.” -Edvard Munch

In this paper, I will discuss the form, content, and subject matter of three different paintings. Each of the paintings represents the following: representational painting, abstract painting, and a portrait. The paintings I have chosen are: Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks 1942, Wassily Kodinsky’s Colour Studies: Squares and Concentrentic Circles 1913, and Pablo Picasso’s Self-Portrait 1907.

The road to recovery and total deliverance can be found within the truth, all truth originates with God. Everything about God encompasses truth because He is the truth, “ God is true ( or faithful) to his word and in his activities and attitudes” (61). One of the fallacies concerning a postmodern view of truth lies in the fact that it seems to have a beginning and an end whereas authentic truth found in God is eternal, “ In the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God” (NLT Jn.1:1). From these verses, it becomes clear that truth is absolute, universal, and God is the source of all truth. Anything outside of God becomes twisted and complicated before Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the Garden of

In his text entitled “Modernist Painting”, Greenberg focuses on the development of painting between the 14th and 19th century and emphasizes on what distinguishes Modernist painting from previous forms of painting, particularly those of the Old Masters. Greenberg begins by relating Modernist art to Kantian philosophy claiming that, the same way Kant used reason in order to examine the limits of reason, Modernist art is when art became self critical because it uses the technique of art to draw attention to its status as art. Indeed, he explains how without this self-examination similar to that of Kant’s reflection on Philosophy, art would’ve been “assimilated to […] therapy” like religion, because

Post-impressionist paintings under the “IT’ theory alone were not considered art. To be able to accept post-impressionist paintings as art then required, “a revolution in taste.” The artworld, as Danto would agree needed to bring a new theory in order to

The art is unreflective and gestures towards higher thought, but does not achieve it. Morton says this is because Hegel is “simply unable to see the spiritual content of non-European art.” The Classic Phase is a sweet spot in which objects and spirit appear to perfectly coincide in beautiful symmetry. Hegel relates it to Greek art. It collapses when humans begin to know too much. We arrive at forms that communicate despite the artist or begin having awareness of inner infinitude. The Classical Phase collapses into the Romantic Phase, in which, the art’s content outstrips its substance and infinite inner space is opened up. Hegel says this is the end of art, but Morton sees it as the beginning. When the nonhuman, objects, begin to speak for themselves. Consciousness, no longer a void, but a “substance”, is the great discovery of the Romantic Phase. Hegel’s theory ends at phase three, Morton adds phase four, the Asymmetric Phase, as an amendment to Hegel’s theory. In this phase, art’s content surpasses its substance through increasing knowledge about reality through science, but the substance of art can also surpass the content. Morton calls this revenge of the objects. Morton’s Theory contains many parallels to Hegel’s. Phase one, Symbolic, is similar in that objects have enormous power and clarity. However

Modernism, in literature, can be seen as a shift in focus to the unassociated introspective reflection of characters in such texts as Go Tell It On The Mountain, by James Baldwin, Miss Lonelyhearts, by Nathanael West and The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. This is a revision from the previous focal point of exterior events and places in correlation with the character’s reflections. Emphasis is placed on review upon feelings and thoughts, and even conversations with oneself, as opposed to the more directly event-driven reflections in texts of the pre-modernist era.