POSTWAR SOCIAL CHANGE

Changes in Society After WWI Jazz Age

The 1920s saw the creation of Jazz musicAfrican American musicians combined

Western harmonies with African rhythmsThe use of improvisation allowed for endless

subtle variations in rhythm and beatSpawned such famous musicians as Louis

Armstrong and Duke Ellington

Women’s Lives The time after WWI saw the disillusionment

of many young peopleWomen began to reject the strict morals of the

Victorian EraLiberated young women, flappers, shocked with

their short skirts, bobbed hair, and bright red lipstick○ Flappers were the minority

Labor saving devices gain popularity○ Washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and

canned foods lighten women’s burdens

Women’s Rights ActivistsMost women saw limited progress during the

postwar era○ Forced to leave the jobs they held during the war

Women began to stand up for their right through the use of picketing and protests○ Jane Addams○ Margaret Sanger

Women gained suffrage in most Western countries ○ Women like Lady Nancy Astor and Miriam

Ferguson held public office

Reactions to the Jazz Age Not everyone approves

Prohibition takes place in America○ A ban on alcoholic substances○ Explosion in crime

Speakeasies run by the mafia start popping upGangsters like Al Capone get rich off of illegal

dealings

Christian Fundamentalist Movement Members believed that all the events in

the bible are literally true Utilized traveling preachers and the radio

to spread the word Scopes Monkey Trial

In 1925 John T. Scopes was tried for teaching evolution in a Tennessee classroom

Found guilty○ Hurt the fundamentalist movement

The New Literature The Lost Generation

Comprised of individuals who were disillusioned after WWI

The name referred to GertrudeStein’s friends who lived in Paris

Famous individuals like F. ScottFitzgerald (The Great Gatsby) and Ernest Hemmingway (The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man and the Sea)

Harlem Renaissance Harlem NY the hub of all the activity African American writers expressed their

pride in their unique culture Langston Hughes and James Weldon

Johnson were just two of the famous writers from this cultural explosion

Literature of the Inner Mind Writers experimented with stream of

consciousnessReader is exposed to the narrator’s feelings

and thoughts without imposing any logic or order○ Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

New Scientific Theories

New scientific discoveries challenged the long held conceptions about the nature

of the world

Marie Curie Polish-born French scientist Found that the atoms of certain

elements spontaneously release charged particles

Led to great scientific discovery Eventually died of radiation poisioning

Albert Einstein German born physicist Theory of Relativity

Measurements of space and time are not absolute, but are determined by the relative positioning of the observer○ Scientists used this theory and Curie’s work to

create atomic fusion and eventually the atomic bomb

Alexander Fleming In 1928, Scottish born Fleming

accidentally discovers Penicillin Scientists use this discovery to create

antibiotics

Sigmund Freud Austrian physician- Father of

Psychoanalysis Suggests the subconscious mind drives

human behaviorLearned social norms help to check

powerful urges, but there’s constant tension because of this

psychoanalysis

Modern Art and Architecture

Artists began to reject traditional styles and began experimenting with new

colors, lines, and shapes

Henri Matisse Utilized bold, wild strokes of color and

odd distortions to produce works of strong emotion

He and fellow artists outraged the publicDubbed fauves, or wild beasts, by critics

Woman with a Hat

Les toits de Collioure

Luxembourg Gardens

New Directions in Painting Pablo Picasso and the French artist

Georges Braque created cubismPainted three-dimensional objects as

complex patterns of angles and planes

Violin and CandlestickBy: Georges Braque

Fruitdish and GlassBy: Georges Braque

Three MusiciansBy: Pablo Picasso

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

Abstract Art Vaslily Kandinsky and Paul Klee moved

even further from representing reality in their paintings

Their artwork was abstract, composed of only lines, colors, and shapes

On White By: Vasily Kandinsky

Dada Movement The dada movement burst onto the

scene after the war The dadaists reject traditional

conventions and believed there was no sense or truth in the world

Jean Arp and Max Earnst Meant to shock and disturb viewers

Cloud ShepherdJean Arp

L'Ange du Foyeur By Max Earnst

Surrealism Cubism and dada both helped to inspire

surrealismAttempted to portray the workings of the

unconscious that attempted to portray the workings of the unconscious mind

Rejected rational thought, which had produced the horrors of WWI

Salvador Dali

The Persistence of MemoryBy Salvador Dali

Still Life Moving FastBy Salvador Dali

New Styles of Architecture The famous Bauhaus school in

Germany influenced architecture by blending science and technology with design

Buildings feature glass, steel, and concrete and have little ornamentation

Frank Lloyd Wright

Fallingwater

The Guggenheim

Wright designed window in Robie House