Modernism

Definition

Modernism is a broad movement in thought, the arts, architecture, and criticism that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional styles and values, and the experimentation with new forms of expression. It was a response to the rapid changes and challenges of the modern world.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Modernism rejected traditional forms and embraced innovation, challenging conventional aesthetic, social, and political views.
2. Modernist art and literature often featured fragmentation, abstraction, and a break from linear narratives, reflecting the disorientation and fragmentation of modern life.
3. Modernist architecture emphasized functionality, the use of new materials like steel and concrete, and a rejection of ornate, historicist styles.
4. Modernist thinkers and writers, such as T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Virginia Woolf, experimented with new literary techniques like stream of consciousness and non-linear plots.
5. Modernism had a significant impact on 19th and 20th century thought, with its emphasis on individualism, subjectivity, and the rapid changes of the modern world.

Review Questions

• Describe how modernism was reflected in the arts and literature of the early 20th century.
  • Modernism in the arts and literature was characterized by a break from traditional forms and a focus on experimentation, innovation, and the expression of individual, subjective perspectives. This was evident in the fragmentation and abstraction of modernist art, the use of new literary techniques like stream of consciousness, and the rejection of linear narratives and conventional aesthetics. Modernist artists and writers sought to capture the disorientation and rapid changes of the modern world through their radical, unconventional approaches.
• Explain how modernist thought and values challenged traditional social and political views.
  • Modernism's emphasis on individualism, subjectivity, and the rejection of traditional forms and values had a significant impact on social and political thought. Modernist thinkers and writers often challenged conventional societal norms and pushed for greater personal freedom and self-expression. This manifested in movements that advocated for women's rights, racial equality, and the questioning of established power structures. Modernism's embrace of innovation and its break from the past also influenced political ideologies that sought to reimagine the social order and create new, more progressive visions for the future.
• Analyze the relationship between modernism and the rapid changes of the modern world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  • Modernism emerged as a response to the dramatic social, technological, and cultural transformations of the modern world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The disorientation, fragmentation, and sense of upheaval that characterized this period were reflected in the experimental, unconventional, and often abstract forms of modernist art, literature, and architecture. Modernist thinkers and creators sought to capture the pace of change and the challenges of modernity through their innovative approaches, rejecting traditional styles and values that they saw as increasingly irrelevant or insufficient. Modernism's embrace of the new, the subjective, and the individual was deeply intertwined with the rapid social, political, and economic shifts that defined the modern era.

Related terms

Avant-Garde: The avant-garde refers to artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers whose work is experimental, radical, or untraditional, pushing the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm in cultural production.

Expressionism: Expressionism is an early 20th century artistic movement that emphasized the artist's personal, emotional, and subjective perspective, often distorting reality to convey a psychological state or mood.

Cubism: Cubism is an early 20th century art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature, and architecture. It was characterized by the depiction of subjects from multiple viewpoints simultaneously.