Changes
in Art
Cinema
Avant-garde
films, such as those by Jean Renoir, broke new ground in film
technique and storytelling. Renoir’s masterpiece, Grand
Illusion,
reveals the romantic notions of war to be lies. Instead, World War I
is depicted as a cruel and senseless conflict.
Art
The
Dada movement challenged artistic boundaries. Many of its adherents,
including Marcel Duchamp, enjoyed causing a scandal as much as
creating an artwork. For the piece shown here, entitled Fountain,
Duchamp merely removed a urinal from a wall and scribbled "R.
Mutt, 1917" on the side. Duchamp encouraged artists to break
away from conformity.
The
Surrealist movement, led by Salvador Dalí, encouraged people to
revive their imaginations. His works, including the 1938
painting Apparition
of a Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach,
incorporated elements of fantasy and dreams.
Architecture
The
Bauhaus school of architecture was probably the most famous style of
the modern era. Bauhaus architects emphasized geometric shapes and
primary colors in their works. The leaders of Bauhaus also insisted
that designs be functional rather than decorative, unlike the
Romantic works from before World War I. Because many Bauhaus
architects were Jewish, the German government considered the Bauhaus
style subversive.
Photography
Many
modern artists turned to photography to express the modern world.
Although photography appears to have little in common with the
fantastic images of surrealism, both styles attempted to show how the
new world was different from the old. Many modern photographers took
documentary photos of the effects of the Great Depression. Dorothea
Lange's Depression-era photographs from the American heartland remain
poignant memorials to a proud but struggling people.
Music
By
combining African American music with rhythmic dance music and
unconventional instruments, jazz musicians created a vibrant
soundtrack to the modern age. Jazz music, perhaps more than any other
art form, clearly symbolized a break with the past.
