1. 31.1 Postwar Uncertainty
The postwar period is one of loss and
uncertainty but also one of
invention, creativity, and new ideas.
2. A New Revolution in Science
• Impact of Einstein’s
Theory of Relativity
– Albert Einstein offered
radically new ideas in
field of physics
– Theory of relativity—
idea that space and
time are not constant
– New ideas make world
seem more uncertain
than before
3. A New Revolution in Science
• Influence of
Freudian Psychology
– Sigmund Freud—
Austrian doctor with
new ideas about the
mind
– Claims that human
behavior is not based
on reason
4. Literature in the 1920s: The Lost Generation
• Impact of the War
– Suffering caused by World
War I leads many to doubt
old beliefs.
– Many American younger
postwar writers choosing to
live in Europe are called
the “Lost Generation,” a
term used by Ernest
Hemingway in his novel
The Sun Also
Rises, himself a member of
the “lost generation.” The
term was coined by his
mentor, the writer Gertrude
Stein.
6. Lost Generation Writers
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Wrote the short story
“Bernice Bobs Her Hair”
as well as the novel The
Great Gatsby.
7. Lost Generation Writers
• Ezra Pound
– an American expatriate
poet, critic and a major
figure of the early
modernist movement.
– His best-known works
include Ripostes (1912),
Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
(1920), and his
unfinished 120-section
epic, The Cantos (1917–
1969).
8. Other Writers
• Writers Reflect
Society’s Concerns
– Novels of Franz Kafka
reflect uneasiness of
postwar years
– Novels of James
Joyce reflect Freud’s
ideas about the mind
9. Literature in the 1920s
• Thinkers React to
Uncertainties
– Philosophy of
existentialism—no
universal meaning
to life
– Friedrich Nietzsche
(right) urges return
to ancient heroic
values .
10. Literature in the 1920s
• French philosopher
Jean-Paul Satre (right)
becomes a leading
existentialist
philosopher.
• Sartre’s partner
Simone De Beuvoir
(right) is also a
existentialist
philosopher and
feminist author.
12. Revolution in the Arts
• Artists Rebel Against Tradition
• Artists want to depict inner world of mind
– Cubism transforms natural shapes into geometric
forms
– Dadaism—art that rejected reason and
logic, prizing nonsense, anarchy, irrationality and
intuition
– Surrealism—art movement that links dreams with
real life
13. Cubism
• Pablo Picasso, Les
Demoiselles
d'Avignon, 1907.
Considered to be
a major step
towards the
founding of the
Cubist movement
15. Cubism
• Juan Gris, Portrait of
Picasso, 1912, oil on
canvas, Art Institute of
Chicago
16. Cubism
• Pablo Picasso, Three
Musicians (1921),
Museum of Modern
Art. Three Musicians is
a classic example of
Synthetic cubism.
17. Dadaism
• Hannah Höch, Cut with
the Dada Kitchen Knife
through the Last
Weimar Beer-Belly
Cultural Epoch in
Germany, 1919, collage
of pasted
papers, 90x144
cm, Nationalgalerie, Sta
atliche Museen zu
Berlin
18. Dadaism
• Fountain is a 1917 work
widely attributed to
Marcel Duchamp. The
scandalous work was a
porcelain urinal, which
was signed "R.Mutt"
and titled Fountain.
19. Dadaism
• Raoul Hausmann ABCD
(Self-portrait) A
photomontage from
1923-24
• The techniques of
Dadaism included
– Collage
– Photomantage
– Assemblage
– Readymades
(manufactured goods the
Dadaists considered art).
23. Composers Try New Styles
• Composers move away
from traditional styles
– Jazz—musical style that
captures age’s new
freedom
Louis Armstrong (above) and
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe a.k.a.
“Jelly Role Morton” (left)
24. The King & Carter Jazzing Orchestra photographed in
Houston, Texas, January 1921.
25. Society Challenges Convention
• Women’s Roles Change
– Women take on new
roles during World War I
– This work helps many
win the right to vote
– In 1920s, women adopt
freer clothing, hairstyles
• “Flappers”
– Some women seek new
careers
29. Pictures of Flappers
"Where there's smoke there's fire" by Russell
Patterson, showing a fashionably dressed
flapper in the 1920s
30. Technological Advances Improve Life
• The Automobile Alters
Society
– Cars improve after the
war
– Cars become less
expensive
– Increased auto use
changes people’s lives
1925 Ford Model T touring sedan.
31. Technological Advances Improve Life
• Airplanes
Transform Travel
–Charles Lindbergh
is first to fly alone
across Atlantic
32. Technological Advances Improve Life
• Radio and Movies
Dominate Popular
Entertainment
– In
1920s, commercial
radio stations
spread across U.S.
– Motion pictures
become major
industry, art form