Modernism is a term that refers to the way artists moved away from traditional representations of reality during the early 1900s. It refers to changes that came with abstraction, leading to distortion or excessive exaggeration of colour, shape, and space for expressive purposes. It changed the way artists saw and how their audience saw the works or images they created. It had occurred because the world in which we lived began to change dramatically. In this essay, it will discuss the cultural influences such as the world war 1, the industrial revolution and world war two that the world had in the movement of modernism and the art movements.
World War 1 impacted the Impressionism art movement by a mass number. In a way, it was a real change from happy and bright beautiful paintings of people in Paris but to the brutality of the world, which was a new way to create art as artists were always trying to break new
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It was a time full of grief, loss of identity and trauma for most. It was a significant influence on artists as it changed the way artists look at art, and it was more about thinking and what emotions you had to the art piece. One art movement that made people question during this time was abstract expressionism which was divorced from traditional, meaning just because it wasn't a full painting with people or something symbolical a simple piece of artwork for, e.g., the colour black could represent something very significant meaning "simple expression of a complex thought." An example of an artist that suggests this term is Mark Rothko he states "If you are only moved by color relationships, you are missing the point. I am interested in expressing the big emotions - tragedy, ecstasy, doom.". Mark Rothko suggests that he doesn't just see the painting as a picture, he sees it in more depth than that, there are more feeling and more questioning on what the art is trying to
Though the start of the modernisation may trace back to the beginning of Industrial Revolution. “Modernism in the design world did not exist in a fully developed form, until well after First World War.” (Wilk, 2006) Causing the great loss of lives and other countless damage to the world, it reshaped many people’s way of thinking the world. With the inspiration of early avant-garde movement, the modernism began to emerge advocating an utopian future and shared certain core principles by various styles of modernists: rejecting the past and applied ornament; forms follow function, a preference for
Before the war, art commonly featured the Victorian era. The paintings look very realistic before the war. After the war, the Dada movement swung in. Introducing styles of art like cubism, surrealism, and abstract art. A common theme between surrealism and cubism is that both types of art are about distorted reality. This is an effect that World War 1 had on art and people. World War 1 made people question many things (a reason why they called themselves “The Lost Generation”) about their life and what was real. Their reality became distorted, which transferred to their art. This is a major difference between before the war and after. Because before the war, ballets and new innovations were being created. During the war, people were dying or getting amputations. As the war continued lives were ended for no particular cause. Another death was another statistic. This really messed people up, twisting their sense of reality and sanity. Because art is a form of expression, artwork had a drastic change due to the events of World War
Modernism is a set of cultural arrays and tendencies of associated cultural movements in a changing society. It is believed to originate from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western civilization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the years following World War1. Modernism involves breaking from the past set of established rules, traditions and conventions in search of new forms of expression and man's functions. New ideas in politics, psychology and philosophical theories are the main factors that led to a search for new modes of expression. Characterized by social change, industrialization, and advance in science and fueled by metropolitans and technological developments.
“The year 1900 ushered a new era that changed the way reality was perceived and portrayed” (History of Modernism). Modernism changed the way of life and how people adapted to the changes
‘Modernism’ is derived from ‘modo’, a Latin word which means “just now”( Philosophy Basics. n.d.). Modernism, in its broad explanation includes the different movements related to art in the Europe, initiating from the end of the 19th century till the beginning of 20th century (Design History Mashup, Philip S. , 2008). These latest European movements developed to reject the conventional arts of the previous times. The public, who showed initial controversy to the new ideas, gradually acknowledged them. A major portion of these European movements and the public and political protests were
Art shows the perspective of those responding to emotional and traumatic life experiences by…giving visual of events that happened during World War 1 or poetry to trigger the minds of the audience who dont understand it. In the art piece The Twins was made in 1916 by Robert W Service), it shows how the art piece was made in the middle of war when soldiers were being drafted to help defeat enemy. It was showing how people were trying to show nationalism by joining war and other decided not to do. It also shows how many people risked their lives during World War 1 even though their family members didn't care. The second art piece is called Blood and Iron” (1916) Charles Ernest Butler. In the description box it says “The work shows no obvious hero to resolve the chaos and destruction.
This was the first time most people were exposed to such a serious level of horror and pain. Writers could no longer relate to the sense of romantic optimism. The modernism movement itself is based not upon history or the events of the time, but on the alienation, loss, and despair so deeply rooted in the minds of everyone affected by World War I.
World War II was a war that was forever etched in history as a result of it destruction and overwhelming body count. But who would have thought that this war would have found a way to impact art before it’s time. Before Hitler rose to power, he used the civil war in Spain around 1936 as his personal field test. In response, arts took to their trade to cope with their frustration and express their opinions. Then as war was on the verge of beginning, Hitler stole modern art from Jewish artists and put them in his own show. His show was titled “Degenerate Art,” and it portrayed the artist as demented people who were a hindrance to society. He felt sane people were incapable of producing such abstract art. He went on to sponsor another
After the first world war, art changed drastically from the art that preceded the war. People had not experienced anything like WWI before, so this was a huge point of interest for artists. Art turned to a more current state, People began to realize the deception involved with the government and military and used art as a platform to express their feelings and beliefs. Modernism. Times were changing, and industry was rising, creating more accelerated art based on trauma and reality.
During the years before World War I, European countries were involved in an educational, psychological, and social upheaval. Communism was on the rise and great thinkers like Sigmund Freud provided theories that led everyday citizens into the psyche. European society was unstable, as well as the artistic foundations that were weaved into the fabric of European society. The introduction of new ideas such as Cubism and atonal music gave way to even more radical approaches to art. Radicals with nihilistic notions who occupied the extremes of political and social views led way to a new type of artist. These artists criticized the deeply rooted concepts of art and even attacked the idea of art itself. These new artists appealed to the irrational
Modernism was a movement that was developed during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Modernism developed due to the changes happening in societies at the time. Around the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century there was a rise in the industrial society’s where there were advancements in technologies and machines, and a rapid growths in cities. This lead to a change in cultural trends and philosophies, which is known as modernism. Modernism was well known for the rejection on traditional way, such as the arts and beliefs. It rejected the idea of realism and religious beliefs. During these years modernism could be distinguished by two aspects, High and Low Modernism.
The mistrust of the world which is at the center of modernism can be attributed to the world wars and the psychological effect that it had on the individual. The horrors and violence altered public perceptions of life, a change that is evident within writers of the time period. The focus of writing shifted from the outward world to inner thoughts and feelings and overall representation of an individual’s stream of consciousness which are themes associated with modern text. In “Impact of Modernism”, focuses on the idea that world needed new outlets for expression and in finding them rejected the tradition that was already there with the quote, “Many modernists believed that by rejecting tradition they could discover radically new ways of making art.” (Impact) .The world no longer had the beauty it once did so a a discovery of new arts were needed. The mind of an individual became that new found inspiration and beauty that modern writers needed and for that reason it was one of the main focuses of modern
It is the new decade after the end of world war two and modernism is a well-established
“Modern painting, breaking through old conversation, has released countless suggestions which are still waiting to be used by the practical world.”(Gropius) The birth of modernism and modern art goes back to the Industrial Revolution, a period that lasted from the 18th to the 19th century, in which rapid changes in manufacturing, transportation, and technology profoundly affected the social, economic, and cultural conditions of life in Western Europe, North America, and eventually the world. Before the 19th century, artists created art pieces for wealthy people and institution places like the church where they can create art works about storytelling of religious or mythological scenes . These arts were there to instruct the viewers.However, this changed when during the 19th century many artists began to create works that were about people, places, or ideas that interested them, and of which they had direct experience. With the popularization of the idea of a subconscious mind, many artists began exploring dreams, symbolism, and personal iconography as avenues for the depiction of their subjective experiences.Challenging the notion that art must realistically depict the world, some artists experimented with the expressive use of color, non-traditional materials, and new techniques and mediums.
What further contributed to the rise of modernism was the First World War, which shell-shocked many. People lost their sense of certainty and it made them change their points of views. It made modernists question civilisation. This is seen in T.S Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland” which questions