Portfolio Task 2

Summarise the text by Harrison and Wood. Write no more than a few paragraphs but try to include what you see as the five key points about modernity and the wider aims of modernism.

From the successful attributes of late nineteenth century art, early twentieth century art saw a new art form. ‘Expressionism’ was one of the main aspects of the new art, bringing with it the motion of ‘self’ from which avant- garde artists drew a ‘natural’ force destroying ‘peasant’ and ‘primitive’ decorations.

By the time World War One (WW1) broke out, avant- garde art became totally internationalised. In Germany it possessed an expressive and subjective characteristic that further differentiated it from the more rationalist and classicising tendencies. However, in the decade before WW1 Cubism, Expressionism and Futurism mark a different facet of European avant- garde. The modern was not yet ‘total’ and as such could be assessed against that which it was not.

There are three related moments of this new art: modernisation, modernity and Modernism. Modernisation represents the process of scientific and technological advance that caused the world to manifest itself differently. Modernity refers to the experience, the quality of life under the changed circumstances. Modernism describes the reflection upon the entire experience of the new as a whole.

With the above, ‘Futurism’ was felt across the continent. Until the invention of the steam engine, no one had travelled quicker than the fastest horse could run. Now people were racing motorcars across continents and taking to the air. Yet, for all that was being gained there was a sense that life was loosing depth- The ‘iron cage’ of modernity. Expressionism and Futurism are both evidently forms of response to the circumstances of urban modernity. Depression and exhilaration are also responses to the effects of modernization. They are a part of the ideology of modernization. Furthermore, capitalist modernisation is the cause of the modern world being as it is.

Separate form this however, is Cubism. Cubism is hermetic art. The classic cubist subject matter of still life and the single portrait figure give few clues to the excitement of modernity that was occurring. Cubism rapidly established itself as the theory for subsequent avant- garde art. However, the question as to what Cubism actually meant remained a focus for disagreement. This drove a wedge between a concern for art’s realism in respect of wider social forms, and its own reality as a signifying practice. The ‘autonomous’ Cubism marks a turning- point between the modern art of the nineteenth century and what was to become the condition of modern art in the twentieth.