1. Modernism

2. Political/Social Milestones
WWI ( )
People disillusioned
Great Depression (1929)
American Dream  nightmare
Women break traditions
Vote, gender roles, appearance

3. Moderns Rebellious Question America’s founding values Rejection
cynical, loss of innocence
Question America’s founding values
Rejection
Puritan values/beliefs
Capitalism
Crisis of faith
Turn to science and psychology
Freud – subconscious
Arts reject conventional forms

4. Jazz Age (1920s) Reject Puritanism
Puritans – hard-working
Moderns – life of luxury & pleasure
Flappers, bootleggers, jazz, gangsters, prohibition
Harlem Renaissance
African Americans move north
Explosion of creativity among black artists

5. Modern Poets Symbolism Imagism Rejected realism
Spirituality, imagination, dreams
Point to bigger meaning
Imagism
Capture image with words
Use EXACT words
Let image speak for itself

6. Modern Art

7. Themes in Early Modern Art
Uncertainty/insecurity.
Disillusionment.
The subconscious.
Overt sexuality.
Violence & savagery.

8. Claude Monet~Impressionism
Poppies
Light changing qualities.
Ordinary subject matter.
Movement a crucial element of human perception and experience. Not blended; color more important than perfect lines.
Took painting outside studio.
Pain life as you saw it.
Perception over imagination.

9. Edvard Munch -Expressionism
Tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect— “being alive.”
Using bright colors to express a particular emotion.
The Scream

10. Henri Matisse~Fauvism
Fauvism emphasized intense color, bold lines, and vigorous brush strokes.
Color for color’s sake.
Translated feelings
in an almost clumsy
way.
The Moroccans

11. Pablo Picasso~Cubism
Objects are broken up, analyzed, and re- assembled in an abstracted form
Subject is depicted from a multitude of viewpoints.
Art didn’t have to
resemble nature.
Three Musicians

12. Pablo Picasso~
Guernica What do you think of cubism?

13. Salvador Dali~Surrealism
The Persistence of Memory
Stresses the subconscious or non-rational significance of imagery.
Confusing and startling images, like those in dreams.
Often features unexpected juxtapositions (things placed close together for contrasting effect).
What are some possible meanings of this painting?

14. Salvador Dali

15. Renee Magritte~Surrealism
The title says, “This is not a pipe”
The Son of Man

16. Our Town

17. Thornton Wilder Born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1897 Highly educated
Greek and Roman classics, Yale University, archaeology in Rome, Princeton University
Read widely in English, French, and German and conversed in Italian and Spanish.
Won many Pulitzer Prizes
The Bridge Of San Luis Rey (1927), Our Town (1938), The Skin of Our Teeth (1943), The Matchmaker (1954), Hello, Dolly! (1964)
Earned 10 Tony Awards on Broadway
Died on December 7, 1975 at the age of 78 in Hamden, Connecticut

18. Agree/Disagree Daily life is boring.
Most people appreciate what they have.
If they knew they were going to die tomorrow, most people would be happy with the way they lived.
In order for your life to have meaning, you have to achieve great things.
People are mostly unaware of each other.
It’s impossible to be grateful for what you have until it’s gone.
It’s easy to enjoy life’s “little things.”

19. Thornton Wilder would believe anything in your ordinary life is important…
Why? To Wilder, human life, however painful, dreary, or inconsequential in its daily events, is both a precious gift in its own right as well as a portion of the mysterious plan that rests in the “Mind of God.”

20. Where does Our Town take place?
Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire from
Fictitious town representing small town America at the turn of the century
Out-of-the-way, simple existence
Modeled after Peterborough, New Hampshire

21. Central Values of Our Town
Christian morality
"Love your neighbor as you love yourself"
Mark 12:31
Known as the “Golden Rule”
Community
The family
Appreciation of everyday pleasures

22. “Our claim, our hope, our despair are in the mind, not in ‘scenery
“Our claim, our hope, our despair are in the mind, not in ‘scenery.’” --Thornton Wilder
MODERN ELEMENTS
Stage directions read
No sets, no scenery, few props; invisible
At the time he wrote this, theater sets on Broadway were lavish.
Wilder was being radical and experimental
Mimed actions
4th wall broken
Narrator also acts

23. “It's a little play with all the big subjects in it
“It's a little play with all the big subjects in it.” -- Thornton Wilder
Play aims to capture the universal experience of being alive and existing:
Act I: “Daily Life”
Act II: “Love and Marriage”
Act III: “Life and Death”