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Modernism:Rejecting the Past

AVI 4M1

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The Backdrop:1900:

machines = good;

humans were improving;

Europe dominated the world;symbols of progress such as the Eiffel tower, the

automobile and the airplane created hope for abright future.

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By 1918:machines and old ways of thinking had

slaughtered a generation (W.W. I, The Great War)a golden future of prosperity had turned into a

suicidal future of violence (more people have been

killed by war in the past 100 years than in all the

preceding 10 000 years combined!)

industrialization brought prosperity for some but

pollution and urban poverty for many more.

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There was a

loss of innocence

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To the Avant Garde,old ways =hypocrisyanddeath

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Societys only hope lay in

new directions

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new is good!

old is bad!

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Modernism

ExpressionismCubism

Dadaism

Futurism

Constructivism

DeStijl International

StyleBauhaus

Various Expressionist

movements

Surrealism

Abstract

Expressionism

Colour Field

Modernism is an umbrella term for many different styles

All of these styles, and more, are referred to as Modernism.

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Modernism has no single, recognizable visual style:

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Modernism has no single, recognizable visual style:

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Modernism has no single, recognizable visual style:

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Modernism has no single, recognizable visual style.

However, there are key characteristics of Modernist art.

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Key characteristic #1: Shock of the New

- Shock = good.

New = good.

- the breaking of rules

to create new visions

- extreme reactions toprevious trends

-traditional media was

used in new ways

Picasso, Les Demoiselles

dAvignon, 1907

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Key characteristic #1: Shock of the New

- acceptance of newmedia, such as

photography and

motion pictures, as

equals to old

established media.

Rodchenko, Girl with Leica 1934

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Key characteristic #2: Abstraction is Essential

- all progressive art (that is,

good art) employed someform of abstraction, or

distortion of reality.

This was a break from 500

years of tradition in WesternArt.

Boccioni, Elasticity, 1912

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Key characteristic #2: Abstraction is Essential

Modernists took different

approaches to abstraction:

-Emotional, or expressive

abstraction

- employed in all the various

kinds ofExpressionism

Dix, War Cripples Playing Cards, 1920

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Key characteristic #2: Abstraction is Essential

Modernists took different

approaches to abstraction:

-Intellectual abstraction

- used in Cubism

Gris, Portrait of Picasso, 1912

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Key characteristic #2: Abstraction is Essential

Modernists took different

approaches to abstraction:

-Psychological abstraction

- used in the work of the

Dadaists and the Surrealists

Dali, The Burning Giraffe, 1936-37

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Key characteristic #3: The Cult of the Genius-artists, and the artists alone,

knew the truth of their own

artwork and its importance.

-Bourgeois society was too

static, too old, too stale to

appreciate Modernism.

Picasso in his studio, 1907?

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Key characteristic #3: The Cult of the Genius

- artists began to see themselves as so avant-garde that they

were separate from the rest of society

Dadaist Handbill,

Tristan Tzara

-there was an

increasing

importance on

theories and

manifestos toexplain the art

-all new art had

to have atheory.

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Key characteristic #4: Honesty of Materials

Matisse, Sorrows of

the King, 1952

- the materials from which one makes art should be visible and

themselves, not pretending to be anything else

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Key characteristic #4: Honesty of Materials

Raphael, Portrait of a Young Woman

with a Unicorn, 1505

Since the Renaissance,

artwork strove to be a

window onto the world

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Key characteristic #4: Honesty of Materials

Pollock, Lavender Mist, 1950

- with Modernism, a

painting is not a

window onto the

world but merely

paint on canvas;

thats honest.

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Key characteristic #4: Honesty of Materials

Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1935

Modernist architecture

was the same: little or

no decoration to hide

the integrity of

materials

- concrete looks likeconcrete, wood looks

like wood, glass looks

like glass, etc.

These 4 characteristics of Modernism applied to all art forms

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These 4 characteristics of Modernism applied to all art forms:

Fine art:

Stella, Brooklyn

Bridge, 1941

These 4 characteristics of Modernism applied to all art forms

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These 4 characteristics of Modernism applied to all art forms:

Fine art:

Dance:

Dancers from Stravinskys

Rite of Spring, 1913

These 4 characteristics of Modernism applied to all art forms

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These 4 characteristics of Modernism applied to all art forms:

Fine art:

Dance:

Music:

These 4 characteristics of Modernism applied to all art forms:

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These 4 characteristics of Modernism applied to all art forms:

Fine art:

Dance:

Music:

Film:

Still from Eisensteins

Battleship Potemkin, 1925

These 4 characteristics of Modernism applied to all art forms:

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These 4 characteristics of Modernism applied to all art forms:

Fine art:

Dance:

Music:

Film:

Design: Marienetti, FuturistManifesto, Blast, 1915

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Modernism surrounds

us today and is still

influences artists,designers and

architects.

Mies van der Rohe, Toronto

Dominion Centre, 1967