Modernism in Visual Arts - Essay Example

MODERNISM IN VISUAL ARTS Name: Course Instructor’s name Institution Date Modernism is philosophical movement that came into existence as a result of transformations that took place in the Western society in the late 19th and earlier 20th centuries. Modernism was shaped by factors such as industrialization, fast growth of cities and the emergence of World War I (Stanley,1974). Modernism was characterized by a wide scale rejection of religious beliefs and the certainty enlightenment thinking. Generally, modernism comprises of the creations and activities that deviated from the traditional art forms. Proponents of modernism felt that the traditional forms of art, religious beliefs, science and even daily life activities were irrelevant in their works and outdated in the new political, social and economic environment that emerged from industrialization. Self consciousness is a notable feature of modernism. This led to the use of experiments with form and techniques that drew attention to materials and processes applied in art. Modernism clearly cast off the realism ideology. Additionally, it uses the past works through the employment of incorporation, recapitulation, rewriting reprise, revision and parody. The 20th century gave modernism its full meaning because it was characterized by radical social changes, scientific and technological advancements in addition to industrialization. The modernists felt estranged from the Victorian optimism as well as morality and conventions. The new ideas n politics, philosophy and psychology triggered a search for new modes of expression (Richard, 2014). Modern art began in the 19th century which was characterized by rapid change. The industrial revolution resulted in changes in the technology and transport which in turn affected the way people travelled, lived and communicated. Consequently, industrialization led to development of cities and towns which facilitated urbanization. These social changes that occurred as a result of industrialization lead to great prosperity but cramped living conditions for the majority of the workers. Accordingly, this resulted in more demand for applied art and design in addition to modern architecture. Furthermore, a new class of entrepreneurs who became patrons and collectors of art emerged. These tycoons of the 19th century founded most of the world’s best art museums. Moreover, the invention of a collapsible paint tube and advances made in photography directly affected art. These developments greatly impacted on impressionism which later became the first main school of modernism. The social changes that took place in the 19th century also inspired artists to explore new themes. The artists deviated from traditional art forms and began to create art about places people and ideas that appealed to them (Richard, 2014). The social changes that were brought about by industrialization led to the emergence of social classes namely the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The 20th century was greatly characterized by a relentless struggle between the rich and the poor. The major competing ideologies of the 20th century were the capitalism and the socialism. The consumption age brought an end to the production age-age of ideology. Therefore, modernism can be interpreted as the age of industrial production. Alternatively, modernism can be seen as a period of ideological conflict that ended with end of the cold war. Though modernism can be dated back to the 19thcentury, the 20th century consolidated the concept of modernity in terms of technological materialism and scientific invention. Consequently, these two developments gave modernism it full meaning (Lawson, 1996). The technological innovations of the 20th century changed the traditional ways of doing things. Furthermore, they were examples of enlarged ascendancy over nature by culture. The globe was shrunk as result of these technological and scientific innovations. In the 20th century, new visual innovations like photography, advertising and cinema were ushered in. Photography was acknowledged as an inventive form of documenting reality. Although, photography could affect the traditional art representation such as painting, artists rapidly embraced it and used photography in different ways. Indeed, all kinds of institutions stated to apply photography for a wide range of purposes. A new language of representation that was easy to understand, democratic and inexpensive was introduced by photography. Despite the fact that, photography affected both the art and the artists directly, its major impact was to encourage the artists to attempt to represent what could not be represented by photography. Consequently, art started performing a self representation (Livingstone,1990). . Modernism in the earlier 20th century could be interpreted as an attempt to bring hidden realities into open exposure. The main objective modernism was to understand the world and apply that knowledge in criticizing and analyzing things in order to make the world a better place. This was the optimism of the 20th century. The positivist belief in progress gave rise to this optimism. The quality of life would be improved through technological developments.Modernism was also influenced by what was termed as ‘phenomena’ by Immanuel Kant (Livingstone, 1990). . The possible wavering between surface appearance and hidden forms was identified a feature of modern art. For instance, cubism can be interpreted as an effort to give the world of surfaces freedom from rationalconventions(James, 2009). An essential feature of modernism is its relationship with tradition via the adoption of such as techniques as parody, rewriting, incorporation, recapitulation and revision. Some scholars have termed this relationship as complex. Artists in the early decade of the 20th century shocked many by rejecting the traditional perspectives as ways of structuring paintings. The representation of a three dimensional form led to cubism in Paul Cezanne. In cubism, the artist analyses, breaks up and reassembles objects. Instead of depicting objects from a single point, the subject is depicted from several points of view. In addition to cubism, another modernist movement that emerged in the early 20th century is expressionism. Expressionism is complex to define since it is overlapped by other early 20th century movements such as dada, cubism, surrealism, futurism as well as vorticism. Expressionism however emerged in Germany in the earlier 20th century as a result of the dehumanizing impact of industrialization and urbanization. Expressionism thus recognizes itself as avant-garde and largely deviated from the traditional art forms. Additionally, expressionism relates to realism and the overriding representation conventions (Livingstone,1990). In the eve of the First World War, the tension agitation and unease that prevailed due to the social world order in the Russian Revolution was apparent in artistic works which had previously rejected previous practice. Henri Mattisse and Pablo Picasso rejected the traditional structuring perspectives unlike the impressionists. These developments resulted in a new understanding of the term modernism. Modernism considered the traditional forms a hindrance to progress. Consequently the artist was cast as tool of revolutionary that overthrowing instead of enlightening (James, 2009). The beginning of the 20th century ushered a new era that altered he perception as well as the portrayal of reality. Modernism thus would refer to this period when thinkers and artists rebelled against the already existing doctrines that were otherwise accepted widely. Although modernism was short lived, it effects are still felt even today. The modernists sought to deviate from every traditional idea that was embraced by the Western civilization. Consequently the modernists can be referred to as intellectual anarchists because they sought to depart radically from establish hed traditions. Additionally, the modernists went further to vandalize all that was related to the Western established orders (James, 2009). However, modernism was not only shaped by technological and scientific advancements but philosophical theories. A number of philosophical theoreticians thus impacted on the external world was perceived by the modern man. sThis theoretician refuted the Newtonian principle which stated that reality was unquestionable and fixed entity and was principally divorced from its observers. Modernists such as F.H. Bradley were among the pioneers of such thinking as they considered the human mind as a deep-seated universe attribute rather than matter. According to Bradley the sole aim of the human mind is to search for the truth. He brought in the conception that an object in reality has no complete contours. The contours, however, vary depending on the angle from which the object is observed. The effect of this wok encouraged other than dispelling doubt (James, 2009). A number of psychological theoreticians also changed the way modern artists perceived reality. Sigmund Freud, for instance, was among the first theoreticians to look inwardly and discern a world where self-motivated forces shape the personality and psyche of the individual. In order to offer an adequate explanation of this internal world within every human being, Sigmund came up with a multifaceted theory of the unconscious (Freud, 2005)). This theory, showed the significance of unconscious motivation in human behavior. He also put across the suggestion that psychological events can take without conscious awareness. Consequently, Freud proposes that such things as slips of the tongue, dreams and fantasies are the true manifestations of the unconscious motives. Moreover in an attempt to offer an explanation to the development of personality, Freud, offered an expansion of the definition of human sexuality. According to Freud, therefore, sexuality includes anal, oral as well as other sensations of the body. The legacy of Freud to the modern world therefore, exposed the darker side of man which had otherwise been kept hidden from view by the hypocrisy that was an attribute of the 19th century society.eat Therefore, Freud like other modern artists explored a great deviation from the traditional forms of art. Apart from Freud, there are other psychological theoreticians who urged the modern man to do an inward gaze in order to gain an understanding of the human psyche (Douglas, 1970).. Carl Jong, in his discipline also derived a theory that investigating into the unconsciousness. This theory did an exploration of the nature of the irrational self that offered an explanation to the common grounds that are shared across many cultures. Jung’s theory of collective unconscious affirms that there is a section of the human mind that is shared by everyone. Moreover, he suggests certain patterns of behavior or psyche reactions and actions which Jong termed as archetypes that are race determined. He further proposes that these collectively shared universal patterns manifest themselves in visions dreams and fantasies. Additionally, they manifest themselves in works of art, fairy tales, religious concepts and myths (Freud, 2005). Bergeson, a French philosopher also explored the nature of the human memory as experienced in the present moment (Douglas, 1970). Bergson suggests that conscious memory states pervade each other within the unconscious in storage. Conscious might be triggered to conscious by a sense of impression. When the memory that is submerged resurfaces in the mind that is conscious, the self is suspended. Accordingly, a spontaneous intuition flush might occur. This can be compared to when we forget about the present as a result of listening to old music. Intuition, thus, is a source of knowledge (Livingstone,1990). The way the modern man perceived himself and the world around him was also transformed by the 20th century politics and economy. The means of production underwent radical changes as a result of science and technology. While in the past a worker actively involved himself in production from the initial stages to the end, in the 20th century, workers became mere cogs in line of production. The contribution offered by the worker could thus be defined as insignificant. The division of labour had a negative impact on man. In turn, man felt fragmented and alienated not only from the society but also from himself. This fragmentation led to the consolidation of the workers into political groups which were threats to the upper class citizens. Consequently, the new political idealism triggered the Russian revolution that spread throughout the Europe (Lawson, 1996). References Connelly, S. Frances.(1972) The Sleep Of Reason: Primitivism in European Modern Art and Aesthetics.1725-1907. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. Douglas, C. (1970) The Cubist Epoch Phaidon in Association with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, London. Freud, S. (2005) The Unconscious. London: Penguin. James, T. (2009) “Social Art Realism” Art Terms. Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved on 6 December 2013. Lawson, S. (1996) The 20th Century Art Book Phaidon, London: Parr. Livingstone, M.(1990), Pop Art. A continuing History, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Richard, A. Social Realism. BFI Screen Online. Retrieved On 10 September 2014. Stanley, D. (1974) In Search of the Primitive. A Critique of Civilization. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. Read More

Alternatively, modernism can be seen as a period of ideological conflict that ended with end of the cold war. Though modernism can be dated back to the 19thcentury, the 20th century consolidated the concept of modernity in terms of technological materialism and scientific invention. Consequently, these two developments gave modernism it full meaning (Lawson, 1996). The technological innovations of the 20th century changed the traditional ways of doing things. Furthermore, they were examples of enlarged ascendancy over nature by culture.

The globe was shrunk as result of these technological and scientific innovations. In the 20th century, new visual innovations like photography, advertising and cinema were ushered in. Photography was acknowledged as an inventive form of documenting reality. Although, photography could affect the traditional art representation such as painting, artists rapidly embraced it and used photography in different ways. Indeed, all kinds of institutions stated to apply photography for a wide range of purposes.

A new language of representation that was easy to understand, democratic and inexpensive was introduced by photography. Despite the fact that, photography affected both the art and the artists directly, its major impact was to encourage the artists to attempt to represent what could not be represented by photography. Consequently, art started performing a self representation (Livingstone,1990). . Modernism in the earlier 20th century could be interpreted as an attempt to bring hidden realities into open exposure.

The main objective modernism was to understand the world and apply that knowledge in criticizing and analyzing things in order to make the world a better place. This was the optimism of the 20th century. The positivist belief in progress gave rise to this optimism. The quality of life would be improved through technological developments.Modernism was also influenced by what was termed as ‘phenomena’ by Immanuel Kant (Livingstone, 1990). . The possible wavering between surface appearance and hidden forms was identified a feature of modern art.

For instance, cubism can be interpreted as an effort to give the world of surfaces freedom from rationalconventions(James, 2009). An essential feature of modernism is its relationship with tradition via the adoption of such as techniques as parody, rewriting, incorporation, recapitulation and revision. Some scholars have termed this relationship as complex. Artists in the early decade of the 20th century shocked many by rejecting the traditional perspectives as ways of structuring paintings.

The representation of a three dimensional form led to cubism in Paul Cezanne. In cubism, the artist analyses, breaks up and reassembles objects. Instead of depicting objects from a single point, the subject is depicted from several points of view. In addition to cubism, another modernist movement that emerged in the early 20th century is expressionism. Expressionism is complex to define since it is overlapped by other early 20th century movements such as dada, cubism, surrealism, futurism as well as vorticism.

Expressionism however emerged in Germany in the earlier 20th century as a result of the dehumanizing impact of industrialization and urbanization. Expressionism thus recognizes itself as avant-garde and largely deviated from the traditional art forms. Additionally, expressionism relates to realism and the overriding representation conventions (Livingstone,1990). In the eve of the First World War, the tension agitation and unease that prevailed due to the social world order in the Russian Revolution was apparent in artistic works which had previously rejected previous practice.

Henri Mattisse and Pablo Picasso rejected the traditional structuring perspectives unlike the impressionists. These developments resulted in a new understanding of the term modernism. Modernism considered the traditional forms a hindrance to progress. Consequently the artist was cast as tool of revolutionary that overthrowing instead of enlightening (James, 2009).

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