Economics, Modernism, Technology, Disillusionment

Economics

Inflation Unemployment Failure of National Economies Decline of Capitalism/Rise of

Communism Overproduction

Economics “in the years between

WWI and WWII Germany’s economy experienced hyperinflation (extreme devaluation of money) that caused panic and uncertainty towards the future. Money had lost so much value that it was used as kindling and...was litter on the street.”

Economics

GERMANY: Why might

Germany’s economy be in shambles following World War I?

Discuss with your neighbor

Economics

Hyperinflation Super-intense inflation

Inflation Prices increase, while

the value of money decreases

Reparations ruined Germany’s economy. France and Britain

relied on Germany’s payments to back U.S. loans

Economics

Britain slow to recover Out of date factories Deeply in debt

France recovered relatively fast Thanks to reparations

and gaining territories

In Europe unemployment seemed to remain an issue

Modernism

Jazz Changing Social Classes Loosening of Victorian Ideals Speakeasies Changing Role of Women

Flappers Suffrage

Modernism—Django Reihardt

Modernism

Django Reihardt Often regarded as one of the greatest

guitarists Important to European jazz Developed new style of jazz

Hot jazz Today often referred to as, “Gypsy Jazz”

Modernism

Why did these changes happen in the United States following World War I?

Discuss!

Modernism

United States emerged as the leading economic power

United States loans to European countries helped recovery

Middle-class Americans celebrated Americans go on

spending spree Relatively easy access

to credit Women right to vote

Technology

Popular Media Radio, Movies, and the Automobile

Radioactivity and the Theory of Relativity

Popular Technology Electricity, Toaster, and Telephone

Psychoanalysis Impact of WWI Advancements

“Back in...1905, the family who cued up a record for the first time heard performers they could not see and music they could not normally bring into their homes. They could listen to that music over and over again. And they were the ones to decide what they wanted to hear, when they wanted to hear it, and who they wanted to hear it with.”

-Mark Katz, Capturing Sound

Disillusionment

Disillusionment-a feeling of disappointment when things aren’t as good as they should be

WWI deaths and injuries

Shell shock

Lost generation

Surrealism DaDa—art movement born from the horrors of WWI, from

Europe Rise of The State vs. the Individual

Loyalty to the state (Mussolini in Italy)

Disillusionment

“Fountain” by Marcel Duchamp

What is this? Is this art?

Why is this not in the Modernism category?

Disillusionment “Duchamp has been compared to Leonardo

da Vinci, as a profound philosopher-artist. But there is also a comparison to be made with Buster Keaton, another handsome deadpan clown whom Duchamp somewhat resembled. He valued humor, telling a New York newspaper that, “People took modern art very seriously when it first reached America because they believed we took ourselves very seriously. A great deal of modern art is meant to be amusing.”

-Martin Gayford, The Telegraph (U.K.), 2008

Musicians by Pablo Picasso

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?