Trends and Movements

Hy readers! This blog is a part of an activity assigned by yesha ma'am. In this blog I am going to write about the movement of the 20th century. Expressionism, Surrealism, and Dadaism, these are famous moments of the 20th century.

"Mankind has probably done more damage to the Earth in the 20th century than in all of previous human history."

        – Jacques Yves Cousteau

20th Century:

The 20th century began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000. The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: sixth mass extinction, Spanish flu pandemic, World War I and World War II, nuclear weapons, nuclear power and space exploration, nationalism and decolonization, the Cold War and post-Cold War conflicts, and technological advances. These reshaped the political and social structure of the globe. The century saw a major shift in the way that many people lived, with changes in politics, ideology, economics, society, culture, science, technology, and medicine. The 20th century may have seen more technological and scientific progress than all the other centuries combined since the dawn of civilization.  

Literary Movements:

The 20th century saw a new era of visual artists who challenged the precedent art styles. Beauty and aesthetics gave way to abstraction, expression and symbolism. Literary modernism, or modernist literature, has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction. Modernist writers were influenced by such thinkers as Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx, amongst others, who raised questions about the rationality of the human mind. These are the famous moments of the 20th century 

• Fauvism (1905-1908)
• Expressionism (1905-1920)
• Cubism (1907-1914)
• Futurism (1909-1914)
• Dadaism (1915-1924)
• Surrealism (1924-1966)
• Abstract Expressionism (1943-1965)
• Pop Art (1950s-70s)
• Minimalism (1960s-70s)
• Postmodernism (1980s-current)

Expressionism:

Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Expressionist artists developed a powerful mode of social criticism in their serpentine figural renderings and bold colors. As a part of class activity we the students of the Department of English, MKBU try to make an art on Expressionism on view bord. Here I share the photo of our activity. 

In this picture you can see the various artistic paintings which are drawn by our class. Different faces with expression and also different things you find in this art. Here is a face which looks like a devil and also like a good person and he is playing musical instrument. It presents the psychology of human beings. It was another interpretation that it considers politicians who give big promises but they don't work on it. Known artists: Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky,

Dadaism:

Dada was developed during World War I in Zurich as an avant-garde, anti-art movement. It rejected and mocked the capitalist and nationalistic cultural climate of World War I, focusing instead on the irrational, nonsensical and absurd with strong anti-bourgeois overtones. The movement spread throughout Europe and the United States, echoing far-left radical thought and the overall discontentment with the violence of wartime. Here is my video on Dadaism. I tried to make a Dada poem in this video.

This poem is created with the cutting of newspaper. This Poetry is based on 'Dadaism'. There is no meaning to this poem. We can just give our interpretations of this poem. That's why there is no meaning but on the other hand it has a number of meanings as per our interpretations. So , we can consider this poem as a Dadaist Poem. Known artists: Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Hans Arp, Hannah Höch, Tristan Tzara

Surrealism:

This movement is highly influenced by Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis, Surrealism sought expression through the exploration of the unconscious mind. Its imagery was characterized by unsettling, dreamlike settings with juxtaposing and often deformed subject matter. Having developed from the avant-garde Dada movement, Surrealism began in Europe and expanded throughout the western world as a cultural, artistic and literary movement. 

Here is my drawing on Surrealism. In this I portray a modern man. There is one animal but it looks like human beings and another one looks like a ghost and also like a burning candle which symbolizes the situation of humans - they also work hard in search of peace but humans face difficulties in their life. In this painting I mingled both of the figures like the human head and the animal's body. It can't be possible in our real life but both of the figures are real. Humans are double faced people. They look like humans but sometimes we see that they are more harmful than animals. Humans and animals both are present in our life but both cannot be mingled like this. That's why my drawing is Surrealistic. Known artists: André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Frida Kahlo, Rene Magritte

These are examples of the modern moment. You are free to give your interpretation on this art in comment. Through the art artists explored extreme and varying themes in the years before and after World War I. Those same themes were revisited in the aftermath of World War II, creating an interesting parallel. We also see that it's a bit difficult to understand, that's why 20th century literature is known as 'Esoteric Literature'.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

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