Modernism--the break down of certainty

During the late 19^th century and early 20^th century, there was a reaction to the Enlightenment ideals.  Below are some of my notes from our Digital Civilizations discussion on modernism:

·         Reaction to Enlightenment ideals > rationality

·         Reaction to positivism > truth

·         Lack of certainty

·         Lack of faith in progress

·         War—industrialized war

·         Relativity—Freud

·         Perspectivism—Nietzscher: morals based on perspective and circumstances—dangerous

·         Art for art’s sake—formal (playing with form), detached, rhetorical)

·         God’s role replaced with art and science

·         Surrealism, Expressionism (nonrepresentational—doesn’t look like—throw back to Romanticism)

These characteristics of this time period are evident in the paintings of Wassily Kandinsky, who was a Russian artist and musician during the early 20^th century. 

He once said, “Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” 

His paintings began more realistic and representational, but over the years he begins to explore the world of the abstract.  Click here to view his paintings.