The Modernist Assault on Tradition

Chapter 32 - The Modernist Assault on Tradition

During the early twentieth century, atomic physicists produced a new model of the universe.
- matter is a form of energy
- time and space are relative to the position of the individual observer
- the universe itself is subject to changes
  - changes occur abruptly
  - changes cannot be predicted with any certainty
- Writers, painters, and composers sensed the unsettling implications of this theory.
  - they challenged the established way of viewing the cosmos
  - fragmentation of form
  - discontinuous juxtaposition of motifs
  - abstraction and formalism characterized the modern aesthetic

Outline for Chapter 32 - The Modernist Assault on Tradition

Historical context
1. global village
2. diverse ideologies
3. economic dichotomies
Modernist assault on tradition
1. Einstein
2. Freud
3. Frazer
Modernist assault on the arts
1. imagists
2. lyric poetry - Frost
3. cubism - Picasso
4. futurism
5. the fauves - Matisse
6. abstraction in sculpture - Brancusi
7. nonobjective art
8. architecture
  - Wright
  - Bauhaus
  - Le Corbusier
9. music
  - Schoenberg
  - Stravinsky

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