Discovering the Humanities THIRD EDITION CHAPTER 14 The Modernist World: The Arts in an Age of Global Confrontation Discovering the Humanities, Third Edition Henry M Sayre Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Learning Objectives Outline the various ways in which modernism manifests itself in art and literature Describe the Great War's impact on the art and literature of the era Robert Delaunay L'Equipe de Cardiff (The Cardiff Team) 1913 Oil on canvas 10' 8-3/8" × 6' 10" Collection Van Abbemuseum Photo: Peter Cox, Eindhoven [Fig 14.1] The Rise of Modernism in the Arts • The Post-Impressionists saw themselves as inventing the future of painting, of creating art that would reflect the kind of sharply etched innovation that, in their eyes, defined modernity Post-Impressionist Painting • Among the Post-Impressionists were Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, and Georges Seurat, who sought to capture something transcendent in their act of vision, something that captured the essence of their subject Closer Look: Georges Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte Georges Seurat A Sunday on La Grande Jatte 1884–86 Oil on canvas 81-3/4" × 121-1/4" Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, 1926.224 Photograph © The Art Institute of Chicago All Rights Reserved [Fig 14.2] Pointillism: Seurat and the Harmonies of Color • The painter Georges Seurat (1859– 1891) tried to systematically incorporate the color theories of Michel Eugène Chevreul and of Ogden N Rood into his paintings • Seurat created his paintings by carefully applying tiny dots of color— pointilles Pointillism: Seurat and the Harmonies of Color • This technique became known as pointillism or Neo-Impressionism • Seurat determined that color could be mixed in "gay, calm, or sad" combinations • The artist saw vertical and horizontal lines as reflecting the same feelings Symbolic Color: Van Gogh • The Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) was committed to discovering a universal harmony in which all aspects of life were united through art • Van Gogh found Seurat's emphasis on contrasting colors appealing Vincent Van Gogh Night Café 1888 Oil on canvas 28-1/2" × 36-1/4" Yale University Art Gallery Bequest of Stephen Carlton Clark, B.A 1903 1961.18.34 [Fig 14.3] Freud and the Workings of the Mind • Freud opened the subject of human sexuality to public discussion, altering attitudes toward sexuality permanently and irrevocably • After the war, in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, he added to his theories the idea that humans might be equally driven by a death drive Freud and the Workings of the Mind • This idea begins to explain selfdestructive and aggressive human behaviors, including war • With his 1923 work The Ego and the Id, Freud added terminology that is still in use today—such as id, ego, and superego The Dreamwork of Surrealist Painting • In the arts, the discoveries of Freud manifested themselves in the Surrealist projects of André Breton (1896–1966) and his colleagues • All of the Surrealists had been active Dadaists, but as opposed to Dada's "anti-art" spirit, their new "surrealist" movement believed in the possibility of a "new art." Giorgio de Chirico The Child's Brain 1914 Oil on canvas 31-1/8" × 25-5/8" Moderna Museet, Stockholm © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome © Cameraphoto Arte, Venice [Fig 14.24] Max Ernst The Master's Bedroom, It's Worth Spending a Night There (Letter from Katherine S Dreier to Max Ernst, May 25, 1920) Collage, gouache, and pencil on paper 6-3/8"× 8-5/8" Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Translation from German by John W Gabriel From Max Ernst, Life and Work by Werner Picasso's Surrealism • Pablo Picasso was obsessed with the duality of experience • His Girl Before a Mirror shows his mistress Marie-Thérèse as her conscious self on the left and her subconscious self in the mirror on the right Pablo Picasso Girl before a Mirror 1932 Oil on canvas 64" × 51-1/4" Gift of Mrs Simon Guggenheim (2.1938) © Digital image The Museum of Modern Art/Art Resource, New York/Scala, Florence © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York [Fig 14.26] Picasso's Surrealism • In his Surrealist period, Picasso explored the duality of experience as outlined by Freud in Beyond the Pleasure Principle—opposition between the death drive and the sex drive • Surrealism's most basic theme is the self in all its complexity, sometimes in relation to the Other Salvador Dalí's Menacing Vision • The Spanish artist Salvador Dalí (1904– 1989) saw the sense of self-alienation as central to his work Closer Look: Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory Salvador Dalí The Persistence of Memory 1931 Oil on canvas 9-1/2" × 13" The Museum of Modern Art, New York Given anonymously © 2014 Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2014 [Fig 14.27] The Stream-of-Consciousness Novel • The innovation of the stream-ofconsciousness novel can be attributed to two factors It provided writers with a way to portray the psychological makeup of the protagonist directly It enabled writers to emphasize subjectivity of the characters' points of view James Joyce and Ulysses • James Joyce (1882–1941) introduced the stream-of-conscious narrative with great influence • Ulysses takes place over the span of one day and contains very little punctuation Marcel Proust and the Novel of Memory • Marcel Proust (1871–1922) was the first to utilize the novel as "psychology in space and time." • His novel, Swann's Way, explores the process of free association wherein the past comes alive in the present Continuity & Change • On April 26, 1937, a German air force squadron led by Wolfram von Richthofen bombed the Basque town of Guernica in a blitzkrieg • In Guernica, Picasso links the tragedy of Guernica to the ritualized bullfight, born in Spain, in which the preordained death of the bull symbolizes the nature of death itself Closer Look: Pablo Picasso, Guernica Pablo Picasso Guernica 1937 Oil on canvas 11'5-1/8" × 25'5-1/4" Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid © 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York © Photo Art Resource/Scala, Florence/John Bigelow Taylor [Fig 14.28] ... Cardiff Team) 1913 Oil on canvas 10' 8-3/8" × 6' 10" Collection Van Abbemuseum Photo: Peter Cox, Eindhoven [Fig 14. 1] The Rise of Modernism in the Arts • The Post-Impressionists saw themselves as... Pointillism: Seurat and the Harmonies of Color • This technique became known as pointillism or Neo-Impressionism • Seurat determined that color could be mixed in "gay, calm, or sad" combinations • The. .. 28-3/4" × 36-1/4" The Museum of Modern Art, New York Acquired through the Lillie P Bliss Bequest (472.1941) ©2 014 Photo The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence [Fig 14. 4] The Structure