2. Modernism and the Visual Arts
Poets inspired by artistic movements
like Cubism, Dada, and Futurism
• William Carlos Williams
• Wallace Stevens
• Mina Loy
• Gertrude Stein
• Hart Crane
• Marianne Moore
3. Influences of modern visual arts on
poetry
• Insists that meaning be subordinated
to technique (“Tender Buttons”)
• Derives, sums up, or challenges earlier
stylistic developments
• Lays stylistic foundations for the next
step, artist, or period
• Is self-referential
• Emphasizes imagery, especially visual
imagery
Modernism and the Visual Arts
4. Cubism
• Cubism was developed between about 1907 and
1912 in a collaboration between Georges Braque and
Pablo Picasso. Their main influences are said to have
been Tribal Art (although Braque later disputed this)
and the work of Paul Cezanne. The movement itself
was not long-lived or widespread, but it began an
immense creative explosion which resonated through
all of 20th century art.
• Both types of cubism were developed jointly by both
Picasso and Braque. During the two artists' time of
collaboration from 1907, their styles intermingled
and they painted the same subjects, making their
works at times closely resemble each other.
5. Cubism
• The key concept underlying Cubism is that
the essence of an object can only be
captured by showing it from multiple points
of view simultaneously.
• Cubism had run its course by the end of
World War I, but among the movements
directly influenced by it were Orphism,
Precisionism, Futurism, Purism,
Constructivism, and, to some degree,
Expressionism.
6. Cubism
• There are two main types of cubism,
analytical cubism and synthetic cubism.
Analytical cubism was the first to be
invented, and can often appear quite
complex and abstract, with dark,
almost monochromatic earth-toned
colours. Synthetic cubism was simpler
and more colorful, and often made use
of collage including the use of several
two-dimensional materials.
14. Dada
Dada is an early twentieth century art movement that-
• ridiculed contemporary culture and traditional art
forms,
• was formed to prove the bankruptcy of existing
style of artistic expression rather than to promote a
particular style itself,
• was born as a consequence of the collapse during
World War I of social and moral values which had
developed to that time, and
• produced works which were nihilistic or reflected a
cynical attitude toward social values, and, at the
same time, irrational — absurd and playful, emotive
and intuitive, and often cryptic.
15. Dada
• Less a style than a zeitgeist, Dadaists typically
produced art objects in unconventional forms
produced by unconventional methods. Several
artists employed the chance results of accident as a
means of production, for instance.
• Literally, the word dada means several things in
several languages: it's French for "hobbyhorse" and
Slavic for "yes yes." Some authorities say that the
name Dada is a nonsensical word chosen at random
from a dictionary.
• Many artists associated with this movement later
became associated with Surrealism. Many other
movements have been influenced by Dada, including
Pop Art and Fluxus.
19. Futurism
• Began with manifesto published by the poet Filippo Marinetti on the
front page of the February 20, 1909, issue of Le Figaro.
• Major principles of the Futurists: Celebration of the technological,
future era. The car, the plane, the industrial town represented the
motion in modern life and the technological triumph of man over
nature.
• The use of modern materials and technique, were taken up later by
Marcel Duchamp, cubists, constructivist, and dadaist.
• Futurism was inspired by the development of Cubism.
• In painting the rhythm of repetitions of lines, breaking motion into
small sequences and using a wide range of angles within a given
time-frame aimed to incorporate the dimension of time in the picture.
• Brilliant colors and flowing brush strokes also created the illusion of
movement. Futurism influenced many other art movements, including
Art Deco, Vorticism, Constructivism and Surrealism.
20. Futurism
Wladimir Burliuk, Portrait of Velemir Khlebnikov, 1913
The cover of the last edition of BLAST, journal of
the British Vorticist movement, a movement heavily
influenced by futurism.
