What is Modernism?

I'm publishing this essay as with most things I will put on here the artists mentioned are relevant to my practice and research, in particular Kathe Kolwitz and Jacob Epstein

Modernism is a state of mind, it is the mind of Western civilisation as it broke free of the Enlightenment  and journeyed from the birth of the industrial revolution in the first third of the 19th century, around 1839, to the mid 20th century, the 1950's, encompassing not just art, music and literature but as Clement Greenberg wrote "what is truly alive in our culture"  (Francina, Harrison, Eds,1982, P5).  The art that materialised from this period questioned Western traditional values and culture, it rebelled against the old order of religion, education and the bourgeoisie, it explored new technics using different materials and mediums, photography, a new medium, was probably the catalyst, the first signs of rebellion. The traditionalist art critic Charles Baudelaire famously wrote in 1859 "During this lamentable period, a new industry arose which contributed not a little to confirm stupidity in its faith and to ruin whatever might remain of the divine in the French mind"(Francina, Harrison, Eds,1982, P19). Baudelaire was questioning. Art in the traditional way was being challenge by a new medium that traditionalists feared devalued art, in fact photography helped make art more accessible to the masses, that was the traditionists fear, art would no longer be for the educated wealthy, but for the uneducated public, its value would be diluted. 

The word modernism is not a word to describe an art movement, its not that easily definable, I would argue it is a label, like a label on a glass jar that contains a mixture of nails and screws, all different lengths, diameters and bites, all exist to perform a function that is essentially the same function, but labelled so you vaguely know where they belong.  

Along with other movements Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Cubism sit in the jar labelled Modernism between the jars labelled Traditional Art and Post-Modern Art, if I dip into the jar labelled Traditionalist and pull out a work by J M W Turner entitled Rough Sea 1840-45 I could question, have I got the right period, is this Traditionalist ?. 

 

J M W Turner, 'Rough Sea', 1840-45, 

The Tate  

To me this painting looks abstract, I would put it back in the jar labelled Modernism because it is clearly different from anything else being painted at the time, it is full of emotion, it is a depiction of what the artist feels, you can feel the cold wind and sea spray rather than see it clearly defined, this is not a traditional painting Clement Greenberg wrote "Turner was actually the first painter to break with the European tradition of value painting" (Francina, Harrison, Eds,1982, P99). Yet some would put this back in the traditional jar, again Clement Greenberg in the same paragraph wrote " the public soon forgave him his dissolution of form – besides, clouds and steam, mist water and light were not expected to have definite shape or form"(Francina, Harrison, Eds,1982, P99), Turner is Modernist and then is a Traditionalist?, Rough Seas I would argue is a painting of the state of mind. 

To further explore Modernism as a state of mind I have looked at 'Woman with Dead Child', 1903 by Kathe Kollwitz. 

 

 Kathe Kollwitz, 'Women with Dead Child', 1903, 

Kunsthalle, Bremen 

This image, an etching, is a reflection of the world that surrounded Kathe Kollwitz, she lived in the poorest suburbs of Berlin at the beginning of the 20th century, a time of change for Germany, agricultural workers were moving to the cities looking for employment and Kollwitz as the wife of a doctor witness first hand the extreme poverty and hunger in the slums , her work expresses empathy for the poor although Kollwitz herself puts across a different motive for her work by saying 'My real motive for choosing my subjects almost exclusively from the life of workers was only that such subjects gave me in a simple and unqualified way what I felt to be beautiful' (Griffith,1995, P8).  Her work expresses, "socialism, pacifism and feminism" (Griffith,1995, P7). Socialism, pacifism and feminism are all terms that at the time could be described as modernist terms, all terms that are anti establishment, Socialism gave power to the worker, pacifism is anti war and feminism gave woman a voice. Kathe Kollwitz was an expressionist print maker, expressionist drew on their emotions to create art which 'Women with Dead Child' does, probably influenced by Edvard Munch's 'Vampir',, it speaks of loss and grief,  the Mother has engulfed the dead infant in her arms with her head buried in its chest, consumed by inconsolable sadness. The print is regarded as one of Kollwitz's most emotional images, Kollwitz recalls the reaction of a life long friend, Beate Bonus-Jeep, 'A mother, animal-like, naked, the light -coloured corpse of her dead child between her thigh bones and arms, seeks with her eyes, with her lips, with her breath, to swallow back into herself the disappearing life that once belonged in her womb' (Prelinger,1992, P42).  

 Although Kollwitz herself was scornful of what we call modernism today 'Kollwitz had little time for them (Verists), either, and even less for a kind of modernism which she continued to find needlessly difficult to understand and fatally flawed by its interest in form at the expense of content' (Hartley, Whitford 1981, P18), her work is clearly modernism, 'Women with Dead Child' is a reflection of the times and exudes her feelings as a woman and mother, it reflects her state of mind, moulded by her surroundings. 

In modernism there are opposite movements, modernism evolved by continuing to question or reject what had gone before, continuously changing and trying new ways to reference the world around. One movement that could be argued as opposite to what Kollwitz reflected was Futurism, a movement that was a rejection of feminism, bawdy, patriarchal, an all embracing celebration of the machine, nationalism and masculinity, based mainly in Italy and central Europe a British movement evolved, The Vorticists, taking influence from Cubism it was a short lived movement that existed from 1914 to 1919 (Antliff, Greene, P,15). One of the defining works from the time was Jacob Epstein's 'Rock Drill' 1913-16. 

              

Photograph of the unfinished 'Rock Drill'      Jacob Epstein, Torso in Metal from the 'Rock Drill', 

In Epstein's Studio 1913                                    1913-1916, Tate Gallery London 

To  further my argument that modernism is a state of mind, 'Rock Drill' strongly supports this, because Epstein radically changed the piece as a result of WW1, the changes made to the piece reflects the artists state of mind and the changed world around him. The original sculpture is a Vorticist piece, although Epstein refrained from signing the Vorticist manifesto (Antliff, Greene P15). The top figurative half and the legs of the sculpture are cast in plaster they could be described as machine like but also have influences from primitivism and cubism (Foster P,307), a trait Epstein could have taken from seeing Picasso's work in Paris 1913 (Antliff, Greene P182). Incased in the torso is a womb that holds a fetus, the torso then sits on a man-made object, a rock drill, in itself using the found drill was revolutionary at the time, Duchamp was the only other artist to have used a found object, 'Bicycle Wheel' 1913.  The drill could be seen as a phallic symbol, the whole piece standing astride the drill, a symbol of the power, the machine as it nurtures mankind, a celebration of the machine. The original 'Rock Drill' was only exhibited once at the 1915 Vorticist group exhibition (Antliff, Greene P183) Epstein by this time was becoming disillusioned with the celebration of the machine, like many he was effected by the destructive power of the machine coming to past in WW1, so he decided to change the sculpture, casting the new piece in gunmetal, he took away the drill and the legs that stood astride, he took away the right hand that controlled the drill, Epstein stripped the power and control of the machine leaving the main torso, the head and the fetus intact but unprotected 'Unable to ward off an attack, this stooping driller is equally incapable of protecting his progeny' (Cork 1999, P40). The piece changes from a celebration of the machine to one of a rejection. (Cork, P37-p40) 

A reflection of the times at the time, modernism is art that was created from the emotion of the world around at any given time, it is art that records the feelings of the seeing artist, of real life, real people of real minds, it is art of revolt, revolution and rebellion, its art created from the state of mind.  

Bibliography 

Books 

Cork, Richard. (1999) Jacob Epstein, British Artists: Tate Gallery Publishing 

Antliff, Mark and Greene, Vivian. (2010) The Vorticists: Tate Publishing 

Foster, Hal & Krauss, Rosalind & Bois, Yve-Alain & Buchloh, Benjamin H D. (2004) Art Since 1900: Thames & Husdon Ltd, London 

Frascina, Francis & Harrison, Charles. (1982) Modern Art and Modernism a Critical Anthology, Open University Press: Harper  Row Ltd, London 

Griffith, Fiona. (1995) Kathe Kollwitz Artist of the People, The Southbank Centre: Amica Fine Art  Print 

Hartley, Keith & Whitford, Frank. (1981) Kathe Kollwitz 1867-1945, Kettle's Yard: Lavenham Press 

Prelinger, Elizabeth & Comini Alessandra & Bachert, Hildegard. (1992) Kathe Kollwitz, Yale University Press, New Haven and London: La Cromolito, Milan