31.1 postwar uncertainty - brooke...
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31.1 Postwar Uncertainty
The postwar period is one of loss and uncertainty but also one of invention,
creativity, and new ideas.
A New Revolution in Science
• Impact of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity– Albert Einstein offered radically new ideas in field of physics
– Theory of relativity—idea that space and time are not constant
– New ideas make world seem more uncertain than before
A New Revolution in Science
• Influence of Freudian Psychology– Sigmund Freud—Austrian doctor with new ideas about the mind
– Claims that human behavior is not based on reason
Literature in the 1920s: The Lost Generation
• Impact of the War– Suffering caused by World
War I leads many to doubt old beliefs.
– Many American younger postwar writers choosing to live in Europe are called the “Lost Generation,” a term used by Ernest Hemingway in his novel The Sun Also Rises, himself a member of the “lost generation.” The term was coined by his mentor, the writer Gertrude Stein.
Lost Generation Writers
• F. Scott Fitzgerald• Wrote the short story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” as well as the novel The Great Gatsby.
Lost Generation Writers
• Ezra Pound– an American expatriate poet, critic and a major figure of the early modernist movement.
– His best‐known works include Ripostes (1912), Hugh Selwyn Mauberley(1920), and his unfinished 120‐section epic, The Cantos (1917–1969).
Other Writers
• Writers Reflect Society’s Concerns– Novels of Franz Kafka
reflect uneasiness of postwar years
– Novels of James Joyce reflect Freud’s ideas about the mind
Literature in the 1920s• Thinkers React to Uncertainties– Philosophy of existentialism—no universal meaning to life
– Friedrich Nietzsche(right) urges return to ancient heroic values .
Literature in the 1920s• French philosopher
Jean‐Paul Satre (right) becomes a leading existentialist philosopher.
• Sartre’s partner Simone De Beuvoir(right) is also a existentialist philosopher and feminist author.
Revolution in the Arts
• Artists Rebel Against Tradition• Artists want to depict inner world of mind
– Cubism transforms natural shapes into geometric forms
– Dadaism—art that rejected reason and logic, prizing nonsense, anarchy, irrationality and intuition
– Surrealism—art movement that links dreams with real life
Cubism
• Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907. Considered to be a major step towards the founding of the Cubist movement
Cubism
• Robert Delaunay, Simultaneous Windows on the City, 1912, Hamburger Kunsthalle, an example of Abstract Cubism
Cubism
• Pablo Picasso, Three Musicians (1921), Museum of Modern Art. Three Musicians is a classic example of Synthetic cubism.
Dadaism
• Hannah Höch, Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer‐Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany, 1919, collage of pasted papers, 90x144 cm, Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zuBerlin
Dadaism
• Fountain is a 1917 work widely attributed to Marcel Duchamp. The scandalous work was a porcelain urinal, which was signed "R.Mutt" and titled Fountain.
Dadaism
• Raoul Hausmann ABCD (Self‐portrait) A photomontage from 1923‐24
• The techniques of Dadaism included– Collage– Photomantage– Assemblage– Readymades
(manufactured goods the Dadaists considered art).
SurrealismRené Magritte's "This is not a pipe." The Treachery of Images1928–29, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Composers Try New Styles
• Composers move away from traditional styles– Jazz—musical style that captures age’s new freedom
Louis Armstrong (above) and Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe a.k.a. “Jelly Role Morton” (left)
Society Challenges Convention
• Women’s Roles Change– Women take on new roles during World War I
– This work helps many win the right to vote
– In 1920s, women adopt freer clothing, hairstyles
• “Flappers”
– Some women seek new careers
Pictures of Flappers
"Where there's smoke there's fire" by Russell Patterson, showing a fashionably dressed flapper in the 1920s
Technological Advances Improve Life
• The Automobile Alters Society– Cars improve after the war
– Cars become less expensive
– Increased auto use changes people’s lives
1925 Ford Model T touring sedan.
Technological Advances Improve Life
• Airplanes Transform Travel–Charles Lindberghis first to fly alone across Atlantic
Technological Advances Improve Life
• Radio and Movies Dominate Popular Entertainment– In 1920s,
commercial radio stations spread across U.S.
– Motion picturesbecome major industry, art form