Refined Essay

Focusing on specific examples, describe the way that modernist art and design was a response to the forces of modernity

The period of Modernity started in 1750 until 1960, from 1960 onwards is considered a post-modern society; forces of Modernity include industrialisation; the development of industries on a large scale. Urbanisation; shift in society towards the city, the city being the personification of Modernity. Communication; effective forms of communication are essential to promote change, the introduction of the telephone and different forms of transport e.g. trains and cars, made things more accessible. Progress and promoting that change is for the better and change can be shown through art and design. The point of Modernity was to create a better life for people, to improve society. There was a push to create a civilised state rejecting religious systems, shifting society away from traditional beliefs in religion to understand the world. People wanted to investigate ideas and understanding through science, questioning ideas and views. This showed a progression in ideas and ways of thinking and seeing the world referred to as ‘The Enlightenment’.

Modernism emerges out of the subjective responses of artists/designers to Modernity and new technologies. It was an expression of this Modern life, new technologies, materials and communication, all that Modernity entails. Modernist art and design aspired to improve lives through technology and communication of new ideas and questioning. Features of Modernism in art and design include Anti-Historicism; the idea that we should not look back, we should focus on the future and developing technologies and ways of life. Artists believed there should be truth to the material by letting the material speak for itself rather than overcomplicating it, this entails the notion of form follows whereby the form of design should follow the function of what it is. Internationalism instates the notion that all modernist design should be understandable in all countries, cultures and languages, creating an international way of communication, bringing countries and societies together. Art and design could change the way people think and view the world and other cultures. New forms of communication were helping this understanding and coming together of countries and cultures in other ways as well as art. People knew things that previously would have been unavailable to them. They could travel and educate themselves on other countries and cultures.

Mass housing projects were meant to improve the public and society and bring people together and according to Charles Jencks Modernism died on 15^th July 1972 at 3.32pm with the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe development, St Lois. This was one of these housing projects designed after the war which was attempting to build a new society and improve the public after WW1.

Marville, C (1865) ‘Tearing down the Avenue de l’Opera’ Paris, http://www.wellesley.edu/Art/VisualResources/Arth%20226%20Lecture%2004.pdf

‘He recorded (with grim determination) the destruction of the traditional city as it was being systematically crushed to make way for modern Paris’[1]

Charles Marville, (real name; Charles François Bossu) a French photographer, who mainly photographed architect and landscapes, recorded the destruction of the traditional Paris city as it was being destroyed to make way for a new Paris. There was much objection to the project though as this quote suggests. People began to reject this idea to renovate Paris, they wanted to keep traditional Paris the way it was. It was as if they were being stripped and homes destroyed against the Parisian's will.

Haussman’s renovation of Paris, known as Haussmanisation, was a modernisation plan to create a new Paris in the 1850’s commissioned by Napoléon III, it encompassed all aspects of urban planning. The architect Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann was commissioned to redesigned Paris; old Paris architecture of narrow streets and run down housing was ripped out and replaced with new buildings and street designs. Haussman’s design was to create large boulevards and open spaces in favour of narrow streets, creating easy access for people, an example of one of the features of modernity; form follows function. This design and method of building made Paris easier to police, different classes of society were forced together in the city, an example of how modernist art and design was a response to modernity; new forms of transport, communication and technology made the city more accessible and it becomes a mix of people, the wide streets made it easier for these new forms of transport to reach the city. A main feature of modernity is urbanisation; the process of Haussmanisation is showing a force very clearly, a shift in society and classes pushed together moving lives and jobs towards the city. There was an optimism and hope that there would be a change in the quality of life for the better through these modernisation projects and ideas. Haummanisation was designed to rid Paris of disease and improve hygiene in the city after the French Revolution. This would make it an altogether better and more attractive place to live and work and develop the modern world in art and otherwise.

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[1] Bretwell, R, (1999), ‘Modern Art’, Oxford, Oxford University Press; Paris and the birth of the modern city p.55

Caillebotte, G (1877) ‘Paris on a rainy day’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gustave_Caillebotte_-_Jour_de_pluie_%C3%A0_Paris.jpg

‘The smooth surfaces and academically controlled spaces of his compositions were at the surface of a new urban imagery, and the section of Paris chosen by Caillebotte was almost new when he painted it. The principles of dynamic yet regular urban planning embodied in this flat image were used throughout the Euro-global world.’ [1]

Responses to the experience of modernity become the subject in art and design. Caillebotte’s ‘Paris on a rainy day’ shows Paris as its new self after Haussminisation. Caillebotte shows the wealthy Parisians here strolling along looking quite content and un-phased by their surroundings. The term Flâneur was introduced to describe this. Charles Baudelaire introduced this phrase to describe ‘a person who walks the city in order to experience it[2]. The idea of the flâneur has accumulated significant meaning in understanding urban phenomena and modernity and is associated with wealth and the showing off of wealth, well-dressed people in society seemingly without concern; this is represented very clearly in Caillebotte’s image of upper class men and women in the Modern Paris city. The people presented seem as if they are in their own world, there is no acknowledgement of passing each other. Urbanisation is presented in this image. The transport links in the painting along with people strolling along the boulevards and the buildings designed in blocks create space for these new forms of transport and people in Modern Paris.

Despite the annoyance of some Parisian people during this process due to disruption and financial cost, the Haussmanisation process was a success and has shaped Paris as the city, and lives within it today. The café culture within it is as a result of these renovations. Its intentions to improve lives through technology were reached. The problems regarding disease and traffic in the narrow and cramped buildings were improved greatly with the renovation of the city and have shaped Parisian lives and the city as we see it today.

‘Ah, the golden days of flânerie are gone. Saunter, stroll: dally, dawdle; loiter, linger … arm in arm those magical words float by me, trailing their irretrievable aura. The ability to set the pace of one’s own life is the elusive dream of the urban loafer’ [3]

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[1] Bretwell, R, (1999), ‘Modern Art’, Oxford, Oxford University Press; Urban Capitalism p.54

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%A2neur

[3] Flaneurs | The Idler, 2011. Flaneurs | The Idler. [INTERNET] Available from <http://idler.co.uk/practical-idling/flaneurs/> [Date accesses 19/01/11]

Manet, E (1872) ‘The Railway’ http://www.nga.gov/feature/manet/intro.shtm

Here, as like Caillebotte, Edward Manet depicts Modern Paris. New transport links are clearly shown here in ‘The Railway’, new technologies and forms of communication brought by Haussminisation which brought people together in the city, this painting is a clear reflection of the forces of modernity. In the background, Manet paints the modernised buildings and apartments, the woman and girl are very well dressed and seem relaxed reading a book and the girl looking towards the railway watching people coming into the city. This again links to the Charles Baudelaire’s idea of the ‘flâneur’ in Paris, also captured in Caillebotte’s image.

It is clear to see from Caillebotte’s ‘Paris on a Rainy Day’ and Manet’s ‘The Railway’ that the forces of modernity had a great effect on not only the artwork produced but also the subject and themes within art and design. Caillebotte focuses on a street scene presenting the wide boulevards and ‘flâneur’s’ of Paris. Manet captures new forms of transport and new forms of leisure, the girl looking at the train coming in, observing and watching this new technology. A clear response and reflection of the times and changes that were happening to society, social structures and people’s lives, presenting a pivotal time that has influenced art and design today and the Paris we know today.

Bibliography

Bretwell, R, (1999), ‘Modern Art’, Oxford, Oxford University Press

Bocola, S, (1999), ‘The Art of Modernism, Art, Culture, and Society from Goya to the present day’, Munich, Prestel Verlag

Modernity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia (2011) Modernity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. [INTERNET] Available from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernity> [Date accessed 10/01/11]

Flâneur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia (2011) Flâneur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. [INTERNET] Available from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%A2neur#Architecture_and_urban_planning> [Date accessed 10/01/11]

Modern Modernity Modernism (2011) Modern Modernity Modernism [INTERNET] Available from <http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elljwp/lecture1.htm> [Date accessed 10/01/11]

Charles Baudelaire (2011) Charles Baudelaire [INTERNET] Available from <http://www.baudelaire.cz/index.html?locale=en> [Date accessed 19/01/11]

Flaneurs | The Idler, (2011) Flaneurs | The Idler. [INTERNET] Available from <http://idler.co.uk/practical-idling/flaneurs/> [Date accesses 19/01/11]

(2011) [INTERNET] Available from <http://www.wellesley.edu/Art/VisualResources/Arth%20226%20Lecture%2004.pdf> [Date accessed 18/01/11]

Age of Enlightenment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia (2011) Age of Enlightenment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. [INTERNET] Available from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enlightenment> [Date accessed 18/01/11]

Othering

This is the web page for Closer magazine. This page is presenting othering in many ways. Firstly, under the heading for 'Real Life' there is an article about the tsunami in Japan. However, this environmental tragedy is surrounded by stories about how to lose weight on one side and on the other the title states 'We bring you all red carpet gossip'. The article about the Japanese tsunami is presented in such a way to detach the reader, as if it is just a story and not actually real life. Surrounding it by so many adverts and superficial things create the othering of people involved in this tragedy. Secondly, there is another article entitled 'Internet sickos tormented me about son's death' .An article about internet bullying leading to the suicide of one boy, who got bullied on facebook. However on the stream of advertisements down the right hand side of the page there are adverts for following twitter and facebook pages. This case is othering the tragedy of the boy bullied on facebook and other people who have been abused on similar sites.

Portfolio Task 5- How Do We Read a Photograph?

In approximately 500 words- summarise the authors main points then conduct a brief critical reading of a photograph of your choosing in the way the text suggests.

In the text ‘How to read a photograph?’ the author suggests that we not only see a photograph, which is a passive act of recognition, we read the image not only as a photograph but as a text.

Victor Burgin insists-

‘The intelligibility of the photograph is no simple thing; photographs are texts inscribed in terms of what we may call ‘photographic discourse’…’

This is saying that the image is not only an image or what it may seem on the surface. At first glance it may be, but the meaning and connotations within a photograph and its subjects have much deeper meaning. The image presented on the surface often differs from true realities. The photograph presents an ideological subject. This is the photographic language within the image; it presents different interpretations of the world/people and lives. What is really happening beneath the superficial stance or pose. Mundane and seemingly simple scenes are a lot more complicated than at first look. There is a deeper cultural/ political/social context once looked at closely; photographs with seemingly clear meaning can often be unclear and need a deeper reading of their photographic language.

‘A former slave displaying a horn used to call slaves’

This photograph was taken by Russell Lee in 1939 in Texas. The title of the photograph reveals a much deeper meaning to the image than first imagined. The man seems relaxed at first look at the photograph but he is definitely not that. He becomes a strong figure, being able to hold this object which represents such horrific memories. The photographic language and text presents a whole history of abuse and discrimination within black people and slavery. Whilst a slave it would have been unimaginable to think that this man would one day be sat holding the horn, which is so much more than just a horn, it is a symbol of a horrific time in history of abuse and racism. It is significant that the man is holding this horn because of what it represents, the oppression and ridicule. Russell Lee knows what he is capturing here, as in the text says,

'One never 'takes' a photograph in any passive sense. To take is active. The photographer imposes, steals, re creates the scene/seen according to the cultural discourse'

Lee wants to engage a deeper reading of the man and context of the image, he encourages this deeper reading of the photograph, the photograph can be read as a text with so much history behind the subject. The photograph is certainly not passive as this quote suggests, there is a cultural presence captured not just 'taken'.

The man is looking into the distance, possibly imagining the sound of the horn and being called in for work. He is the centre of the image on these wooden steps which is significant as before he would have been a background extra a photograph, as a slave he was not respected. The door is wide open, and the padlock unlocked, this presenting his freedom finally. But is he ever free? The memories still there forever, this awful history will never be erased.