Modernism+in+Art

A proliferation of varying styles characterized the world of American art and architecture in the period between 1880 and the outbreak of World War II in 1939. In spite of the fact that these various styles often had little in common with each other, they are traditionally clustered under the label of modernism. It is thus rather difficult to give a <range type="comment" id="565736245_9">precise </range id="565736245_9">definition of modernism one that <range type="comment" id="565736245_10">encompasses </range id="565736245_10">all the characteristics of the artists and architects who are <range type="comment" id="565736245_11">commonly </range id="565736245_11">grouped under the label. What modernists do have<range type="comment" id="565736245_12"> in common</range id="565736245_12"> is that their work <range type="comment" id="565736245_13">contains </range id="565736245_13"><range type="comment" id="565736245_14">at least</range id="565736245_14"> one of two characteristics of modernism. One <range type="comment" id="565736245_15">fundamental </range id="565736245_15">characteristic of modernism is a <range type="comment" id="565736245_16">demonstration </range id="565736245_16">of <range type="comment" id="565736245_17">progressive </range id="565736245_17"><range type="comment" id="565736245_18">innovation</range id="565736245_18">. <range type="comment" id="565736245_19">In general</range id="565736245_19">, a modernist is someone who <range type="comment" id="565736245_20">tries </range id="565736245_20">to <range type="comment" id="565736245_21">develop </range id="565736245_21">an individual style by <range type="comment" id="565736245_22">adding </range id="565736245_22">to or i<range type="comment" id="565736245_23">mproving upon</range id="565736245_23"> the style of immediate <range type="comment" id="565736245_24">predecessors</range id="565736245_24">. The modernist <range type="comment" id="565736245_25">belief </range id="565736245_25">was in starting with the ideas of the <range type="comment" id="565742781_1">mainstream </range id="565742781_1"><range type="comment" id="565742781_2">movement </range id="565742781_2">and than innovating from the mainstream to <range type="comment" id="565742781_3">improve </range id="565742781_3">upon the ideas of <range type="comment" id="565742781_4">predecessors </range id="565742781_4">rather than in breaking away from the mainstream to create something <range type="comment" id="565742781_5">entirely </range id="565742781_5">new. However, because there were <range type="comment" id="565742781_6">varying </range id="565742781_6">ideas on what <range type="comment" id="565742781_7">constituted </range id="565742781_7">the mainstream and because the potential innovations <range type="comment" id="565742781_8">emanating </range id="565742781_8">from the main stream were <range type="comment" id="565742781_9">infinite</range id="565742781_9">, modernism under this definition could take a <range type="comment" id="565742781_10">myriad </range id="565742781_10">of <range type="comment" id="565742781_11">directions</range id="565742781_11">. A second fundamental characteristic of modernism was the belief that art could and should <range type="comment" id="565742781_12">reflect </range id="565742781_12">the reality of modern life and wouldn't, for example, focus on the lives of <range type="comment" id="565749365_1">society's </range id="565749365_1">most privileged members or on other world <range type="comment" id="565749365_2">entities </range id="565749365_2">such as angels and <range type="comment" id="565749365_3">spirits</range id="565749365_3">. <range type="comment" id="565749365_4">Though<range type="comment" id="565749365_5"> </range id="565749365_4">there was</range id="565749365_5"> <range type="comment" id="565749365_6">agreement </range id="565749365_6">among modernists as to the need for art to reflect modern life, there was <range type="comment" id="565749365_7">far less</range id="565749365_7"> <range type="comment" id="565749365_8">agreement </range id="565749365_8">on what <range type="comment" id="565749365_9">actually </range id="565749365_9"><range type="comment" id="565749365_10">constituted </range id="565749365_10">modern life. Thus, modern artists and architects reflect very different aspects of modern life in their <range type="comment" id="565749365_11">works</range id="565749365_11">.

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