March 9, 2004

Modernism vs. Nominalism and Medievalism

            Modernism is characterized by a “dynamic mix of old and new,” rejection of “the straight line or mechanical form,” and “look to the past for symbolic inspiration” (382D).  Or as the Humanities Research Centers puts it, “Many artists turned first to the deep past, to cultures before ‘culture,’ in order to ‘make new’ for the present time what was best of the old.”  For example, Polynesian, African, Hebridean, and Chinese art were all targets of such modernist ideas.  Antonio Gaudi’s architecture could be best described as a mixture of Gothic and Islamic; however, Gaudi would argue that both styles simply served as inspiration, a typical modernist answer.  The “…genius of modernist art was to extend the boundaries of what is valid or feasible art,” as quoted from the HRC.  The modernists desired to break away by disfiguring, deranging, or defacing and mixing media transgressions.  T.S. Eliot attempts to summarize the ideals of modernism in saying, “In art there should be interpenetration or metamorphosis.”

            Modernism penetrated not only the visual arts, but also performing arts as well as every other field.  Typical modernist music targets were Mozart, Bach, and Russian ballet.  In general, modernist musical notes were arranged as free octaves in traditional melody (as inspire by the past), thus the “Jazz Age” came about. 

            In rhetoric, modernism was defined by the hands of the well-known Hopkins.  Hopkins frequent use of “word painting” in his writing highlights the modernist characteristic of mixing media transgressions:  he painted with words.  Hopkins “breaks away” from the running rhythm typical of poetry at that time for a “spring rhythm” which incorporates the stress of natural speech.  Hopkins desires to distinguish himself from society.  In general, the modernist writer’s words were free from syntax, grammar, and meter. 

          To the modernist, writing could be painting, painting could be writing; sculpting could be singing and singing could be sculpting.  Boundaries did not exist.  For example, Gertrude Stern “painted” Picasso and Matisse with words instead of color.

Here is my justification of why modernism pervaded the way it did.  Like Hopkins, I inherently value uniqueness and the need to distinguish myself from the others.  Like Gaudi, I yearn to stand out among the masses, but my ideas have no where to turn other than back in time:  my experiences and studies serve the foundation to inspire my own ideas.  And when I finally run out of ideas, I turn to great art works and translate them into words.  All these products I can call my own.