Ronnie Gale Dreyer

Modernism, an early 20th-century movement impacting literature, arts, and philosophy, emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and individual subjective experience. It arose from a sense of alienation from prevailing morality and conventions, seeking new ways for humans to interact and live. The movement emerged in response to significant societal shifts like secularization, industrialization, and the influence of science, leading to a deliberate rejection of tradition in favor of novel forms of cultural expression.

Key to Modernism was a critical stance towards Enlightenment rationalism and the 19th-century concept of absolute originality. Instead, it embraced techniques like collage, rewriting, and parody, alongside reflexivity about artistic and social norms. This led to an exploration of how art is created and its material basis. While some scholars debate its timeline and evolution into late or high modernism, Modernism fundamentally questioned established beliefs and sought to re-examine existence, often aiming to restore order and purpose to a world perceived as fragmented and secularized.

Modernism was characterized by a self-conscious departure from tradition, driven by a belief in "the temporality of the new." It sought to counteract a perceived erosion of meaning and order in the modern world, often through a "supra-personal experience of reality." This quest was fueled by a desire to transcend mortality and become creators of history rather than its victims. The movement critically examined Enlightenment rationalism and rejected the 19th-century ideal of "creation out of nothing," favoring instead methods of appropriation and revision. Modernists explored the construction of art and the materials used, reflecting on artistic and social conventions. This often involved an emotional drive for metaphysical truths, even while acknowledging their potential impossibility, leading to ironic treatments of perceived discoveries within narratives.

Modernism evolved from Romanticism's critique of industrialization and bourgeois values, carrying forward a critical stance against the 19th-century social order. However, modernists were skeptical of the Romantic belief that art could reveal ultimate metaphysical truths, arguing instead that subjective interpretation limits such claims. Despite this, they viewed art as a vital tool for understanding the world, albeit through a different lens. While Romantics sometimes perceived an inherent connection between symbols and their meanings, modernist theory, influenced by Symbolism, often highlighted the inscrutability and potential failure of symbols and metaphors. This led to a yearning for a metaphysical 'center,' which, unlike in Romanticism, was often depicted as collapsing in modernist works, reflecting the fragmentation of the era.

The movement embraced experimentation across various art forms, including abstract art, stream-of-consciousness in literature, cinematic montage, atonality in music, and modernist architecture. It represented a rejection of established norms, seeking new means of expression in response to technological advancements, industrialization, and the aftermath of World War I. Modernist art often presented subjects from multiple viewpoints simultaneously, challenging single-point perspectives and flat representation, as seen in early Cubist works. This decentering approach reflected the modernist sense that 'things fall apart,' moving away from the naturalistic representation of meaning favored by 19th-century realism towards a more fragmented and subjective portrayal of reality.

“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”

“Creatio ex nihilo”

“the temporality of the new”

“the perceived erosion of an overarching 'nomos', or 'sacred canopy', under the fragmenting and secularizing impact of modernity”

“the fight against (perceived) decadence”