Modernism Essays

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes a set of cultural tendencies and movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The term encompasses the activities and output of those …

All questions will be multiple choice. Some will be accompanied by images while others will rely on your use of your knowledge without visual reference points. COVERAGE Visual Material: Selected from the works of art and architecture we have studied – see list below. These have all been discussed IN …

LIMITING THE POSTMODERN: THE PARADOXICAL AFTERMATH OF MODERNISM (HUTCHEON, LINDA: A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction. New York: Routledge, 1988) In this chapter L. Hutcheon discusses the link between postmodernism and modernism. Moreover, she hardly tries to define postmodernism and challenges some critics like F. Jameson (“one of its …

Rebellious Silence is a photograph by Shirin Neshat, who is also the subject. In the work, Shirin Neshat’s face is covered by Islamic calligraphy and is divided (left to right) by a rifle (assumedly but not necessarily held by herself). The calligraphy covers the parts of a woman’s face that …

The 1920’s were a time of great change in the United States of America. New ideas of how things should work socially, politically, and economically were taking shape as older, more traditional ideas struggled to maintain their foothold on the American people. Newly established ideas and institutions such as mass …

Nabokov tries to explain his use of language from a modernist approach: language is complex , Humbert describes in great detail his feelings and thoughts, the struggle inside him between the “monster” and the “gentleman”. The “nymphet” seen as a modernist feature is a form of art, as well as …

Many historians cite the 1920s as the decade in which America entered the “modern era.” Given the myriad labels attached to this decade, this essay focuses on the broader context of all those movements under the umbrella term “modernism.” First, what is modernism and why did it apply to the …

Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol were American based artists during the same period; the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Almost every aspect of their art is antonymous and extremely different, from their art practice, to the meaning they constructed in their works, to the audience and world they reflected. Jackson Pollock …

Something new happened in the Western world from about 1890 to 1940. This period is known as the Modern Age. This broad and diverse movement sought to capture the excitement of the audience. The Modern Age was a distinct time period when art and literature changed dramatically. There were many …

The first time I read the poem “Musee des Beaux Arts”, by W.H. Auden, I was under the impression that the poem was a simple interpretation of a painting. In order to fully grasp the significance of the poem, I suggest that one become familiar with the history behind not …