In this short essay, I will be discussing the philosophies that shaped Modernism, and the effect they had on Modernism. I will also discuss the goals that Modernism had, and how it failed to reach these goals. And finally I will be discussing the pivotal and turning points of the Modernist project.
I will first define Modernism and the philosophies that shaped it. Then I will discuss how these philosophies shaped Modernism by giving reference to the tenets of Modernism. I will then further discuss the goals of Modernism and how Modernism failed to achieve them, and finally I will mention and briefly discuss the pivotal and turning points of Modernism.
Modernism was a movement that is believed to have taken place somewhere between 1860 and 1970. According to Professor Catherine Lavender, Modernism is a cultural movement which rebelled against the Victorian views on society. Victorians believed in nationalism and cultural absolutism. They believed in a single way of looking at the world, a world for them that was clearly divided into good and bad, right and wrong and even civilised and savage. They firmly believed that the world was governed by God and that each creature or thing served a specific purpose. [[O] Prof. C Lavender, 1998]. In other words Modernism could be seen as a movement away from the old fashioned views of society towards more current views. Modernism was based on a set of principles that actually governed the activity of the movement. From my own understanding of Modernism, there were actually five main tenets that made up the belief system of Modernism. All of these tenets were different, but not entirely mutually exclusive in that they all worked in harmony with one another. In other words they went hand-in-hand. These tenets were based on beliefs in certain ideologies such as, the belief in an aspiration towards a universal science, the belief in the autonomous subject, the belief in art for art’s sake, the belief in creativity being innovative (or original and new if you like) and finally a belief that the present (their period) was the zenith of historical and human achievement. These tenets are explained and discussed as being of this nature by C. McDermott. [McDermott, 1992: 13]
It is believed that this movement was shaped by certain philosophies. These philosophies include Humanism, Positivism, Materialism and the Enlightenment. Humanism emphasised the importance of man and his status. It saw man as the measure of all things and not God, and firmly supports the belief that, humans can improve themselves, thus improving their world. Positivism emphasised the progress of human thought and believed that as time went on human thought evolved and thus improved. Materialism is a belief that states that all things are made of matter or small particles. These particles are real and anything else that we attach to this matter (such as scent or taste) is subjective. And finally the enlightenment was the philosophy that placed emphasis on reason in order to ascertain truth a new knowledge. It encouraged its followers to use their own reasoning to question old traditions such as religion and superstition so as establish their own truth. [Ted Honderich, 1995]
One of the tenets of Modernism was the belief in an aspiration towards a universal science. The modernists believed that they could improve their world with science. They believed that science (which was born of human thought) was progress and that it would eventually lead them to the perfect life, Utopia. I believe that this tenet was born of humanism and positivism, as the modernists believed that human thought and the evolution of thought would improve the world. An example of this is Herbert Bayer’s “universal typeface”. The Austrian designer created this typeface with the belief that it would be used universally thus eliminating illegibility of type and thus making it easy for the typeface to be read universally. This reinforces the notion that Modernists believed their thought could improve the world. Modernists also believed in producing art for art’s sake, which was new and innovative. Modernism cut itself of from the old belief that art was only declared art if it met the standards of the critics. This disregard for old tradition, I believe was born of the enlightenment. The modernist artists used their own reasoning to determine what, for them was to be considered art. The Modernist belief in Utopia was also supported by positivism and materialism, which placed emphasis on a better future for human kind. This is evidently shown in the rise of industrialisation, whose purpose was to “urbanise” society to make life easier for man. This form of industrialisation is shown in Dziga Vertov’s brilliant 1929 silent movie, “The man with the movie camera”. I believe that these combined philosophies spawned ideas of Modernism. I believe this because they supported the core belief of Modernism, which McDermott defines as “a spirit of rationalism and objectivity that provided a sharp cut-off point from the 19th Century and its obsessions with style revivals and decorations”. [McDermott, 1992: 13]
The main goal of Modernism was the creation of a better society. The modernists believed in the idea of science in progress. They felt that progress could only be made as science itself evolved. Hence the belief that as time went on conditions would improve and become better and better, until eventually they would reach a state of Utopia in the future. I personally believe that in the end Modernism failed at achieving this goal because although it tried to improve people’s lives with the introduction of industrialisation, this inadvertently gave rise to the class system. The class system could easily be related to the Victorian views on society where everything was divided into groups such as civilised and savage. Unfortunately for the Modernists, instead of cutting themselves of from the Victorian ways they just linked themselves unintentionally back to them. These class systems saw man being grouped into the worker and the capitalist or owner classes, which lead to the exploitation and oppression of the working class.
I believe that the introduction of urbanisation or industrialisation was the pivotal point of modernism but also the beginning of the movement’s demise. I believe industrialisation was pivotal because for a short while people’s lives were improved drastically by the introduction of machinery, as productivity was increased, more jobs were created and life generally became easier. However the class system was quickly abused and this gave rise to the oppression of the worker. In addition to this, machines made it easier to duplicate work thus moving away from the idea of art being innovative and original and giving birth to the appropriation and eclecticism of Post-modernist work such as Andy Warhol’s Marylyn Monroe prints.
Thus I conclude my short essay on Modernism and the philosophies that gave rise to the movement.
Bibliography
1. [O] Lavender. C. 1998 Modernism-A Working Definition www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/Lavender/moddef.html
Accessed on 11-04-09
2. McDermott. C. 1992 The Modern Movement in McDermott. C. 1992 Essential Design Bloomsbury Publishing, London
3. Honderich. T. 1995 The Oxford Companion to Philosophy 1995 Oxford University Press, London
Filmography
1. Dziga Vertov, The Man with the Movie Camera, Soviet Union, 1929
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