PAGE 446-447, EXERCISES.

MODERNISM AND THE MODERNIST SPIRIT

EXERCISE 2:

The two paintings, even if portraying the same theme, do it in a totally different way. The Reynold's one, "Three Ladies Adorning a Term of Hymen" if 1773, does it in realistic and detailed way: importance is given to light, shadows, body poses and facial expressions. The Picasso's one, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" of 1907, does it not caring of the beauty of the painting: it doesn't give importance to realism, to drawing technique, but cares about the message; it is more personal, expresses perfectly the painter's feelings and ideas, and finds its preciousness in its meaning. It also is more brave, painting naked women, who are not even totally human in some aspects.

EXERCISE 3:

Although the centre of artistic activity was Paris, artists involved came from all over Europe as well as USA

The idea behind Modernism was concerned with breaking away form tradition

The stream of consciousness technique in literature was influenced by the new ideas in psychoanalysis

According to the text, Fauvism can be seen as an appreciation of primitive tribal art

In Cubism objects were broken up into basic shapes and then put back together in different ways

Futurism interpreted the quicker pace of modern life

same time; him famous; Arnold Schoenberg; different (dissonance and distorted music to renew music)

Yes; No; Not given; Yes

EXERCISE 4:

Modernism subverted most of traditional convinctions: the way people thought our mind was certain and coherent, logical was broken by Freud; tradition annoyed, and the desire to create something of different and new can be seen in all the different kinds of art. Music found new ways to be pleasant - not only sweet melodies, but distorted and dissonances that, surprisingly, are enjoyable -, art new ways to express their feelings - not the traditional realism (maybe for the diffusion of photography), superior to it in all the aspects, moving to a more personal, particular, simbolic, way of painting - with Cubism and other similar movements.

Before the War, and the effective carnage that will come with it, there was a great hope for the future: Futurism is one of the many examples - with its enthusiasm for everything which is modern, and technology.

PAGE 448

EXERCISE 1:

No, it couldn't. Victorian Novel was based on the idea that the writer could express characters with a certain, precise, identity; it was based on bourgeois convinctions of the self-made man, that after Einstein, Freud, Heidegger, couldn't be possible.