Post WWI Disillusionment –

Art & Society1919-1939

Adapted from various ppts from pptpalooza.net and Ms. Gilmore’s ppt

Why is it that people became disillusioned

after WWI, and how did that disillusionment allow for the rise of totalitarian dictators

across Europe?

Essential Question

Theory Behind Disillusionment

Freud argued that the state had failed to live up to the moral standards it had set for its people.

Sigmund Freud• Austrian• Psychologist

This realization by the people is what we call, “disillusionment.” (OR loss of trust)

How People ReactPeople 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

modernism1916 - 1940

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.

Principles of Modernism

Art movements in Modernism

Dadaism (1916 – 1924)*

Bauhaus (1919 – 1933)

Art Deco (1920 – 1935)

Surrealism [early] (1920 -

1935)*

dadaism1916 - 1924

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.

Dadaism

Dada Principles Ridiculed

contemporary culture & traditional art forms

The collapse during WW I of social and moral values

NihilisticMarcel Duchamp – Fountain (1917)

bauhaus1919 - 1933

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

Characteristics of BauhausA lack of

recognizable objects – wanted to find the true meaning of art through disassembling it.Clean lines, geometric shapes layered In architecture: clean, functionalWassily Kandinsky- On White II (1923)

art deco1920 - 1935

Art Deco

Reached its high point in the mid ’20s – mid 30’sA new kind of decorative and elegant artReaction to the forced austerity caused by WWI

Tamara de LempickaPortrait of a Young Girl in a Green Dress1929

early surrealism1920 - 1935

Surrealism Inspired by new psychology of two men:

Sigmund Freud & Carl Gustav Jung

Basic PrinciplesSigmund

FreudHuman 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. JungNeuroses are caused by conflicts between individuals subconscious and greater world.Sexual desire not as important as Freud saysNeed a healthy relationship between the conscious and unconscious – balance between them

Surrealism

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.

Salvador Dali – The Persistence of Memory (1931)

Existentialisma philosophy that focuses on the existence of the individual as free and responsible, determining his own development through acts of

the will

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.

Jean Paul Sartre – Existentialism is a Humanism (1945)

Women’s Rights

• During WWI, the men fought and women filled their jobs.

• But the war ends. What happened to those women?

Women’s Suffrage• Suffrage = the right to vote• After WWI, women get the right to vote

in:– UK– US– Sweden– Germany– Austria

… And they let loose!