Post WWI Disillusionment – Art & Society

1. Post WWI Disillusionment – Art & Society 1919-1939 Adapted from various ppts from pptpalooza.net and Ms. Gilmore’s ppt

2. Essential Question Why is it that people became disillusioned after WWI, and how did that disillusionment allow for the rise of totalitarian dictators across Europe?

3. Theory Behind Disillusionment • Sigmund Freud • Austrian • Psychologist • Freud argued that the state had failed to live up to the moral standards it had set for its people. • This realization by the people is what we call, “disillusionment.” (OR loss of trust)

4. How People React People begin to take life into their own hands now that they realize they cannot wait for the state to take care of them. • Their actions are seen in: • Art • Philosophy • Women’s Suffrage • Communism • Jazz Age • Hollywood George Grosz – Grey Day

5. modernism 1916 - 1940

6. Principles of Modernism • The expression of the Artist’s right to freedom of choice in subject and style. • Departure from literal representation – no longer needed with birth of photography. • “Art for Art’s sake” • Reject tradition and society.

7. Dadaism (1916 – 1924)* Bauhaus (1919 – 1933) Art Deco (1920 – 1935) Surrealism [early] (1920 - 1935)* Art movements in Modernism

8. dadaism 1916 - 1924

9. Dadaism • Began in neutral Switzerland in WWI • Reached its peak between 1916 – 1924 • “Anti – Art” • A movement against rigidity of society and art, and the barbarity of war – the public didn’t deserve art after the war.

10. Dada Principles • Ridiculed contemporary culture & traditional art forms • The collapse during WW I of social and moral values • Nihilistic Marcel Duchamp – Fountain (1917)

11. bauhaus 1919 - 1933

12. Bauhaus • Began in 1919 • Wanted to create new art to reflect the new times they were living in after WWI. • Believed in machines and industrialization to create beautiful art

13. Characteristics of Bauhaus • A lack of recognizable objects – wanted to find the true meaning of art through disassembling it. • Clean lines, geometric shapes layered • In architecture: clean, functional WassilyKandinsky- On White II (1923)

14. art deco 1920 - 1935

15. Art Deco • Reached its high point in the mid ’20s – mid 30’s • A new kind of decorative and elegant art • Reaction to the forced austerity caused by WWI

16. Tamara de Lempicka Portrait of a Young Girl in a Green Dress 1929

17. early surrealism 1920 - 1935

18. Surrealism Inspired by new psychology of two men: Sigmund Freud & Carl Gustav Jung

19. Sigmund Freud Human development based on sexual desire Desires are repressed and emerge from the subconscious in “accidental” bursts – Freudian slips. Neuroses are caused by repressed memories and unconscious conflicts. ID, Ego and Super Ego C. G. Jung Neuroses are caused by conflicts between individuals subconscious and greater world. Sexual desire not as important as Freud says Need a healthy relationship between the conscious and unconscious – balance between them Basic Principles

20. Late 1920s-1940s. Came from the nihilistic genre of DaDa. Influenced by Feud’s theories on psychoanalysis and the subconscious. Confusing & startling images like those in dreams. Surrealism Salvador Dali – The Persistence of Memory (1931)

21. Existentialism a philosophy that focuses on the existence of the individual as free and responsible, determining his own development through acts of the will

22. Jean Paul Sartre – Existentialism is a Humanism (1945) • And when we say that man takes responsibility for himself, we say more than that - he is in his choices responsible for all men. All our acts of creating ourselves create at the same time an image of man such as we believe he must be. Thus, our personal responsibility is vast, because it engages all humanity… • The existentialist declares that man is in anguish, meaning that he who chooses cannot escape a deep responsibility for all humanity. Admittedly, few people appear to be anxious; but we claim that they mask their anguish, that they flee it.

23. Women’s Rights • During WWI, the men fought and women filled their jobs. • But the war ends. What happened to those women?

24. Women’s Suffrage • Suffrage = the right to vote • After WWI, women get the right to vote in: • UK • US • Sweden • Germany • Austria

25. … And they let loose!