5 Point Fact Sheet

Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider)

-Wassily Kandinsky, 1903

The rider, the horse, and the background are all quite evident in this image. However, they are not clearly defined. This lack of definition leaves many questions to the audience. The gait of the horse seems unnatural; can you imagine why that might be? Is the picture telling a story? Is the rider holding a figure in his arms? This lack of definition allows one to fill in the gaps and see the beauty he or she wants to see.

 

Indulgence into the Extreme

• Subjects earlier thought of as taboo were explored
• Sexuality brought up, as well as WWI and certain aspects never previously explored

Innovation of the Time

• Came about at a time when automobiles and other mechanized feats became common technologies
• WWI, the war to end all wars, affected mainly European powers

Break from Tradition

• Form questioned in works of art
• Point of view no longer has to be singular
• The spirit of modern literature or the modern period is to question

Seemingly Confused Aesthetic

• It can come away as fragmented or incomplete
• This is the abstract that we think in, more directly transferred to a tangible work of art

Loose Definition

• This about ties into the previous point; this is the central way to define the period in that it has no concrete definition
• The point of the modern works was to question authority and break from what were traditionally thought of as ‘the rules’
• Do things have to be linear, definite, clear, bordered?

 

One is left with conflicting feelings after studying the Modern Period of British Literature. This period is characterized as a time of change. It coincided with the early twentieth century. During this time, the world experienced the works of Freud, Albert Einstein, and Karl Marx; and innovations such as the automobile and telephone.  All these rapid changes to life as it was previously known were met with changes in art. In British Literature, writers experimented with form and content. Those previously ignored were given a voice; there was a growth in female authors, for example. The human mind became a common subject to explore in literature. Sexuality became a topic to frankly discuss. For the first time, post-war trauma became an issue. Previously taboo subjects were brought to the foreground of literature and discussion. Modernism can best be identified by its break from tradition, established form, and subject. All works that fall under this broad label seem to only be united in the shared lack of boundaries.