Modernism Art Revolution

What does it mean “to be modern”? Is it enough to have a trendy haircut, a popular device, and follow the color patterns of own clothes? In the recent years, the modernity has acquired more a consumer form of an expression, where the concept was defined by the presence of those or other products and, not the least, the specific knowledge about them.

Modernism is a term used to refer to a form of art that created between the years of 1860s to 1970s. Modernism is a concept of art that was adopted by artists to act as a way of expressing their experiences of the surrounding world and therefore modernism encouraged artists to experiment more with art as a way of representing their inner thoughts and diverting away from the conventional traditional art. Modernist art can be termed a revolution due to the subtle way it empowered artists to become nonconventional and to express art in a more personal way and allowing artists to experiment with various forms. It was a period of new found freedom. Modernism revealed that art had an important role to play in the society and artists had the task of coming up with creative ways to represent the society in a complex way like it had never been represented. This paper will look at two examples of modernist art in order to emphasize on how modernism revolutionized art and how it was so strong a period.

Understanding Modernity in Graphic Design

The history of Graphic Design allows to see different interpretations of the concept “modernity” in terms of technological breakthroughs, movements, political decisions, individuals, inventions and works of art, as well as the evolution of the relationship between the image and the word throughout the twentieth century.

From the point of view of Katherine McCoy (Armstrong 219) in “American Graphic Design Expression” (1990), the graphic design has a perpetual internal opposition that consists in the struggle among business, craftsmanship, art, and commerce. The author also notes that if at the beginning of the 20th century the word has prevailed over graphics not only in the context of printing but also in the art in general, at the end of the century, the situation has changed dramatically.

Perfectionism and the classical education of a culture have given rise to quite a straightforward expression of emotions, and in this case, the text is one of the simplest forms of it. The manifesto is one of the turning points of the 20th century, which was considered as an expression of modernity and literally was creating the history. For example, F.T. Marinetti in “The Futurist Manifesto” (1909) vividly embodied the mood and the current position of his time (Marinetti 25), rejecting the past and celebrating the headship of the industrial boom.

Developing modernization has become a prerequisite for this kind of applications, and the Manifesto has become a symbol of confidence and the future, which a priori meant to be modern. Then, this notion meant the abandonment of a utilitarianism, which has existed in society. Often these manifestos have contained the specific structure and character. In addition, it always called to something, whether it was the liberation of something or movement toward it. In many cases, not excluding this one, the manifestos have contained a reference to nationalism, fascism or other typical manifestations of extremist movements. “The Futurist Manifesto” anticipated the emergence of many similar texts such as “October Manifesto” (1905) and the following ones, which would often appear during the Russian Revolution of 1917, and would play a significant role as a literal call to action (Meggs and Purvis 76).

In terms of the graphic design, it is necessary to say that word at the beginning of the 20th century had an incredible force that was capable of making a person think without the aid of graphics, and, what is more importantly, to act. However, if “The Futurist Manifesto” has a negative connotation, reflecting the thoughts and ideas of the whole country, which was already covered by such negative phenomena as fascism, “Dada Manifesto” (1918) by Tristan Tzara is fundamentally different from it, nevertheless, being modern for its period (Tzara and Picabia 9).

Perhaps, due to the influence of similar texts, such flow as constructivism became modern and manifestos, in turn, less relevant. This happened at the beginning of 1920 and was continuing until the end of the 30s. Constructivism connected modernity with the rigor and accuracy of forms, with a predominance of clear geometric forms, concise and some monolithic nature. Without a doubt, this tendency was preceded by an industrialization and rapid technological growth throughout the world. In addition, the concept of constructivism implies not only the outward manifestation of rationality, but also the internal functionality, where the typical architecture buildings were the vivid examples of it, depicting the modernity of those years actually.

Communes, which were popular on the territory of the former countries of the Soviet Union and Germany, show a significant impact of the flow on the ordinary life. As for the graphic design, the word starts to give way to graphic, and it is manifested in such works as Black on black (1919) by one of the founders of constructivism Alexander Rodchenko (Elliot 312). The artist experimented with forms, creating something new, and considering any element as a fundamental opportunity for further action, which is a contemporary in its original form. Such work as Planes reflecting light (1920 -1921) also reflects notion of modernity, where such complex mechanical constructions as the cars are built from the simple materials and forms like triangles, circles, squares, hexagons, ellipses, and so on.

Similar works capture the essence of the constructivism, which consists in the requirement that any structure or mechanism should correspond to the concept of simplicity and functionality. Moreover, it is important to note that in this case, earlier the usual designations in the art have changed their meanings. For example, the work Pure Red Color, Pure Yellow Color, Pure Blue Color (1921) vividly demonstrates it, using colors not as a tool by which artists create a picture, but as a work of art itself. That is, the color itself is worthy of attention because it significantly alters the perception of past art paradigm in general (Meggs and Purvis 317).

In addition to the various movements and tangible art works, a separate personality can also be the epitome of modernity. Such was Andy Warhol, not only thanks to his art, but also due to his whole life, too. Andy Warhol got the most popularity for his work Green Coca-Cola Bottles (1962), where he has depicted a lot of bottles of Coca-Cola in green tones. Most critics have ranked him immediately to such areas as pop art (McShine 57).

However, in my personal opinion, the works of Warhol do not belong to any particular stream, but just reflect the notion of modernity in the 60’s. In the first place, it was a period of consumption and mass character as the artist wanted to show, for example in the pictures Campbell’s Soup (1968), Andy Warhol focused his view on the multiplicity and replications, and, thus, made his paintings and works in large quantities and very quickly. Additionally, it concerns his Factory, where he put the art in the category of production workshop, and made the picture prints, photos and movies day after day.

Some people regard Andy Warhol an artist, who was engaged in the advertising that clearly characterized the sixties as the years of the consumption boom and the development of marketing as an art (Meggs and Purvis 452). The artist emphasized that to be modern means to have a great interest in the television programs and products that are continually broadcast on TV. Perhaps, exactly then people first think about the concept of modernity as such, due to the fact that the mass media persistently has used this concept as opposed to something old, backward and not interesting. Besides the legendary works of Andy Warhol, representing the portraits of celebrities in various techniques, such as, for example Marilyn Diptych (1962), shows the pathway of the celebrities to the cult in the mind of the society.

Thus, it is necessary to mention that each epoch, phenomenon, direction in art, art object, or even the artist himself can present notion of the modernity in greater or lesser extent. Because of this, the modernity does not have a universal definition because it depends on the specific conditions, and, in fact, has a chaotic nature. However, despite this, it lies in the fact that happens at present time, and the moments of the 20th century, mentioned above, clearly demonstrate this phenomenon.

Modernity in Literature

Rexroth’s Poetry

Rexroth was a renowned American poet during the modernist era. Particularly important was the fact that he brought new concept to poetry apart from the normally conventional writings where a poet composed pieces with hidden meanings and expected the reader to interpret. Rexroth’s poetry became controversial due to the fact that it involved the expression of ideas through the conversation between two persons at a time when poetry was viewed as texts having hidden meanings that required greater analysis from the reader and understanding of the idea that the poet wanted to put across. Gutierrez (1999) emphasized on the fact that Rexroth’s poetry became favorable with the political left wing and as a result was not famous with most politicians. However other poets like John Ransome became influential because they provided critic to the conservatives. One aspect brought out clearly in Rexroth’s poetry is that it was able to address societal issues such as politics.

This was like a revolution to art because it became a major tool with which the community could express their opinions on important issues affecting them. From his teenage years, Rexroth developed a longing for freedom and independence evidenced by the fact that by the time he was eighteen years he had started living by himself.  His parents, on the other hand, had encouraged him to pursue his interests in art and use art as a way of expressing himself. During Rexroth’s time, politics and political ideologies were very important topics. During his early years Rexroth was greatly influenced by sociological ideologies. Rexroth’s expressed his perception in more than one form of art which demonstrates the aspect of experimenting during the modernist era. In his apartment Rexroth had various paintings on his ceiling. Rexroth also experimented with other forms of art as a way of expressing his feelings towards issues such as philosophy and politics.  One outstanding aspect concerning Rexroth’s poetry was the fact that it was analytical. Young (1999) explains that Rexroth’s poetry revealed that he supported the aspect of demonstrating as a way of expressing political dissatisfaction but then advised that protests should be carried out with the clear knowledge of the possible social implications.

More specifically was the fact that Rexroth’s poetry was not just limited to the issues he experienced in his immediate surroundings, but also addressed other issues affecting other parts of the world. Rexroth was greatly influenced by the courage of two men Niccolo Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti who were executed despite the fact that they were innocent. Rexroth therefore criticized the system for the failure to provide justice through due process of the law. As a result, he became critic of the system for its failure to grant these two men freedom through due process. As explained Young Rexroth emphasized in his literature the extent to which he had been influenced by Niccolo and Vanzetti and even confesses that he lived by the principles of Sacco. Rexroth’s writings revealed how the politics of the society influenced his writings when in his book, “An Autobiographical Novel” he classifies politicians into Anarchists-Single-Taxers. Schopenhaureians and Nietzcheans. Rexroth’s works of art demonstrate how the period of modernism was characterized by a form of art that was bold and was even able to penetrate important aspects of the society such as politics and philosophy. According to Rexroth art is not something that individuals should not labor so much in achieving because it comes automatically when one blends with nature and begins to express the natural world around in an artistic manner.

A Man with a Guitar by Georges Braque

The essence of modernity in art is expressed by uniqueness and the ability to be unpredictable. The painting of “A Man with a Guitar,” is a very interesting piece of art that is so abstract that it leaves the only speculation from the observer. According to Paape(2009), A Man with a Guitar expresses the aspect of art to diversify from the conventional forms emphasizing the fact that art is not gotten or inspired from a particular occurrence or place but is a combination of different cultures and the perception of different people.  The Man with A Guitar is characterized by grayness and a gloomy tone which according to Paape expresses the ability of life to be uncertain and unpredictable.

Modernist art uses the aspect of utilization of one piece to express multiple ideas. The negative view as expressed by A Man with a Guitar became popular among artists during the Great Depression and the Second World War. This outlines the fact that art was important in expressing the societal sentiments at a particular time. However art apart from just offering criticism also expressed a message of hope to the people emphasizing on the fact that things will become better. This aspect is brought out in the A Man with A Guitar expressed by the man in the background who signifies that despite the grayness and cloudiness some clarity will be achieved sooner or later. Braque in this piece of art brings out two important aspects of modernist art in the sense that he is able to emphasize the ability of art to be diverse by using one piece to express several ideas and he is also able to capture various sentiments of the society. These are characteristics of modernistic art.

Conclusion

Modernism was characterized by a period where artists were able to boldly express their express their feelings through various forms of art. Modernism was not just a particular occurrence but a movement that influenced various artists and different genres. An analysis of Braque’s art reveals that previously he had used impressionistic art but after coming in contact with Fauves art, he changed to fauvism that experimented with various colors to bring such aspects as emotions more intensely. Modernism art was characterized by the freedom that was expressed in various forms including indulgence in passion, forgetting previous barriers of traditional such as morals and ethics.  Art was revolutionized in a way that encouraged experimenting bringing out complex and intricate pieces.