What is modernism definition? When, where and how did it arise? What are the modernism characteristics? Here are the modernism history and the most famous representatives of modernism movement:
Modernism definition is too broad to be expressed simply. In short, modernism started to emerge with the Renaissance and Reform movements in parallel with the welfare of people; it is an innovative movement that has been effective in fields such as painting, literature and architecture. In this period, religion-based thinking left its place to the concepts of rationalism, universality of knowledge, peace and freedom on the basis of humanism.
Modernism is an intellectual and artistic movement that continued its influence until the Second World War. In the post-World War II era, it has been replaced by postmodernism. Postmodernism was born as a reaction to the important and fundamental problems that emerged during the period of modernism.
In this article, we examined the answers to the questions of ‘What is modernism definition‘, ‘What are the modernism characteristics‘, one of the most important intellectual and artistic movements of the recent period:
Contents
What is Modernism Definition?
Modernism comes from the word “modernus”, which derives from the Latin word “modo” which means “now, new”. The first use of the word “Modernus” is very old. This concept was used to express that Christianity had different characteristics compared to the past, during the transition from Paganism to Christianity in the 5th century. In other words, it can be defined as Christianity being equivalent to being modern. The “modern” concept, which is used in the sense of “new and current”, has undergone a great change compared to its first usage until today.
You can read our article on Modern Architecture to learn about the reflection of modernism in architecture.
When, Where and How did Modernism Movement Arise?
When the time passed from recent history to the present is examined; we can say that the history of free thought, knowledge and human-based approaches is unfortunately not very old. Religion-based oppressive approaches, wars, famine, struggle to survive, etc. concepts have always appeared as major obstacles to the liberation of humanity. Until the age of enlightenment that started with the Renaissance in the 17th and 18th centuries.
In this period when the foundations of modernism movement were laid, the geographical discoveries in the world and the increase in sea trade led to wealth and prosperity in Italy of the period. With the decrease of the pressure of the church, the interest of famous and wealthy aristocrats of the period, such as the house of Medici, in art and artists increased. This has brought aristocratic families’ investment in art and artists.
Again in this period, humanism influenced all of Europe, especially Italy. As a result of all these developments, the period of enlightenment began, in which concepts such as freedom, reason, democracy, secularism and equality, the basis of which were the Reform and Renaissance movement, began to be spoken.
The answer to the question of what is modernism definition is, in parallel with the maturation of all these concepts mentioned above, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a dominant world view, idea and art movement in the western world.
Modernism actually expresses both the modern lifestyle and cultural development. Jean Jack Rousseau, Descartes, Montesquie and Kant were the most important thinkers who contributed to the present day of this concept. Especially Kant has conducted studies that pioneered the emergence of modernism with more solid foundations.
What are The Modernism Characteristics?
The modernism characteristics are briefly as follows;
- Modernism is rational and positivist,
- It is among the basic principles to make experiments scientifically, to try to prove, to approach all kinds of information sources and authorities critically
- In essence, it is based on trust in the human mind and respect for human rights.
- Religion, history, morality, law, philosophy, etc. there is a harsh criticism of the concepts in the axis of cause and effect relationship,
- Clashes with traditional thinking; scientific point of view and rational thought prevail,
- Expresses that humanity can develop on the basis of reason and science, it is believed that past knowledge can be useful for today,
- It acts in line with the principle of objective reality, is universal and defends progressive concepts,
- It is thought that the concepts of ethics and morality should be the same for the whole world,
- It is expressed that life goals should be determined objectively and lived in this way,
- Concepts such as urbanity, rationalization of social life, individualization, democracy, secularism, specialization and technology are dominant,
- Its influence was felt in different fields such as philosophy, painting, music, literature and architecture.
Modernism, which is dominated by the items listed above, has produced very fruitful results in its early periods thanks to its human-oriented approach. But over time, technological developments, globalization and the dominant aspects of capitalism have put this human-based approach on a dead end that ends with wars. The system, which was prioritized humans during the period, left its place to a period of modern slavery. As a result, postmodernism movement emerged, dominated by criticisms of modernism.
Representatives of The Modernism Movement
Before starting the list, we need to separately mention the famous German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804), one of the founders of modernism and critical philosophy. Kant, who initially wrote in the fields of physics and astronomy, started his studies on critical philosophy after the 1770s, under the influence of David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, one of the famous philosophers of the 18th century.
Much more detailed analysis is required for modernism history, which has a separate influence for every branch of art, from painting to literature, from architecture to poetry. In this summary article, we list the main representatives of modernism movement in different fields and some of their important works as follows:
Painter, George Pierre Seurat (1859 – 1891)
Painter, Édouard Manet (1832 – 1883)
Painter, Edvard Munch (1863 – 1944)
Writer, Gustave Flaubert (1821 – 1880)
Writer, James Joyce (1882 – 1941)
Writer, Virginia Woolf (1882 – 1941)
Poet, Charles Pierre Baudelaire (1821 – 1867)
Poet, Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888 – 1965)
Poet, Ezra Pound (1885 – 1972)
Mathematician, Richard Dedekind (1831 – 1916)
Physicist and Philosopher, Ludwig Boltzmann (1844 – 1906)
Architect, Joseph Paxton (1803 – 1865)
Architect, François Coignet (1814 – 1888)
Architect, William Le Baron Jenney (1832 – 1907)
(World’s the first skyscraper)
In this article, we tried to briefly answer the questions of ‘What is modernism definition‘ and ‘What are modernism characteristics‘. For more information on two successive currents of the 19th and 20th centuries, you can review our article “Modernism vs Postmodernism” and our article “What is Postmodernism“. Also, don’t forget to read our article on “Modern Architecture History“, also known as the international style, to understand modernism in all its aspects.
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