Modernism as a philosophical movement that arose at the end of the nineteenth century in literature and art can be interpreted in different ways. Even within modernism were many units that are significantly different from each other. What brings the different trends of modernism closer together? Of course, remoteness from any kind of reality. Any of the varieties of modernism has grown, as it were, to the peak of the long time realism that has dominated all forms of art.
Modern
The term modernism itself is taken from the Latin modernus, which means - modern, recent. There are at least three interpretations of the foundations of this movement. But in all cases, a break with past historical experience of all artistic creativity, the desire to establish unconventional rules in art is implied. The first interpretation (and the most common): modernism introduces many unrealistic trends into art: futurism, symbolism, expressionism, acmeism, imagism, cubism, abstractionism, surrealism, impressionism.
In the second case, the term is used as a designation of an unrealistic trend in the aesthetic search of the artist. And the third interpretation is the most difficult when aesthetic and ideological phenomena cannot fit into the rather broad framework of modernism, but they still oppose realism. This, for example, is the work of such "large-format" writers as Joyce, Kafka, Proust, and some others, which clearly demonstrates to readers what brings together the different trends of modernism.
Literature
With the beginning of the twentieth century, particularly significant and vivid directions of Russian modernism were revealed. The era of progress has had an impact on literature, where Acmeism, Symbolism and Futurism reigned, and on painting, where the changes also came quickly and seriously. The writers and poets who worked in the mainstream of modernism, most often preached the ideas of decadence, with its pessimism and symbols of withering, which brings together the different trends of modernism in literature. However, a touch of symbolism helped progressive poets and writers to create works of high civilian character: Gorky, Blok, Bryusov, Bely, Mayakovsky, for example.
Painting
For artists, the same symbolism, constructivism, with their clear technicality, contour, precise formulation of the plan, without the vague imagery and all kinds of allegories became a priority. Images became flat, with smooth lines, often ornamentation and a monophonic background. Plant motifs, fancifully interwoven, began to flow into the figures of animals and people. Among modernist artists, symbolism took inspiration from romantic images. Therefore, it is so often an appeal to fiction, mysticism, spirituality, because allegory, playing through the symbols of feelings and thoughts - this is what brings the different trends of modernism closer together. The wonderful artists Munch and Gauguin became the most prominent representatives of symbolism in painting.
Fauvism
Representatives of Fauvism (from the French fauve - wild) were jokingly and seriously called savages for those unrealistically bright, unusual for nature color spots, indescribable color contrasts and exaltation of forms. One of the most characteristic artists to represent this trend was Matisse. When he was blamed for, for example, that the nose of the woman he depicted turned out to be green, he replied that he did not draw women, but paintings.
Emotional strength, spontaneity and dynamism of color - this is what distinguishes a real Fauvist from, say, post-impressionists such as Gauguin or Van Gogh, despite the fact that they became the inspirers of the new trend. What brings the different trends of modernism closer together? The answer may look like this. A much greater sharpness and purity of the color, contrast, local and open color, sharpness of the rhythm, generalization of space, reduction of form to outlines, no modeling of chiaroscuro, no linear perspective.
Futurism
Futurism (from the Latin futurum - future) in Russian literature gave birth to geniuses, but in Russian painting it did not form in its pure form, compared to Europe. What brings the different trends of modernism closer together is that one gradually flows from the other, and then flows into the third, bringing some characteristic features with it from the former, and acquiring some in the new.
So futurism appeared due to the existence of Fauvism. Along with futurism, there is a tendency for the artist to go beyond the boundaries of art in his work: traditional culture, that is, realism, was eradicated by the introduction of new sciences, technicalism and urbanism. The industrial era, big cities with their dynamics, chaotic compositions and superiority of progress over man himself are praised.
Modernism and Realism
Modernism is ambiguous. Realism, on the contrary, is extremely concrete, understandable to everyone, for it is almost a direct reflection of life - that which is, or that which should be in the opinion of the author of the work. The modernism of the masses is not too clear. He is very far from any manifestation of life, too exalted. This is a feverish search for life where it cannot be.
And, strangely enough, many modernists have found, if not life itself, then some vague reflections of it in an unknown parallel reality. Modernism ("a slap in the face of public taste") was perceived as a revolution, since centuries-old traditions and generally accepted canons were dropped from the ship of modernity. Nevertheless, it was modernism that spawned such magnificent artists as Vrubel, Matisse, Mucha, Rousseau, Modigliani, Klimt.
Decadence
It is rather difficult to answer the question of what brings together the different currents of modernism and realism. However, they have common ground. The most tangible is the phenomenon of decadence, which encompassed a wide variety of artistic movements. Who are the decadents? Decadence (from the French décadent - decadence) is life without any civic ideals, without faith in a rational beginning, it is an immersion in purely individualistic experiences.
Such was the social position of a rather large part of the intelligentsia, which went from unbearable life difficulties into dreams, surrealism, even mysticism. So, in the work of the decadents the crisis phenomena of public life of those years were displayed. The modernist trends, all without exception, have somehow grown up on this bleak field of decadence, which brings the different trends of modernism closer together. In literature, he declared himself before the First World War, and in the twenties he reached his peak. This phenomenon is international, simultaneously noted on almost all continents.
Is modernism a revolution?
The revolution in literature was as inevitable as in the whole society, since very serious grounds for its occurrence ripened. Another question is that the decadence revolution in Russia did not win. However, much happened in the decadent revolution. First of all, a break with the traditions of "believable" realism, with the whole Western cultural tradition in general.
Since any direction of past times is in one way or another related to the classical tradition: we can recall that the classicists "prayed" for antiquity, the romantics worshiped the Middle Ages, but all of them, until the advent of modernism, can easily be considered classical, for modernism does not look like any direction, it he answers all eternal questions, and the answers will radically differ from the previous ones. Modernists felt a certain exhaustion of all forms of realistic art, felt aesthetic fatigue.
Change of world view
What brings the currents of modernism closer is the attitude towards realism, which, in their opinion, cannot comprehend the world on its own, does not make efforts to this, and therefore the work of realists is mechanistic and superficial, they are bored only interested in the buttons on the character’s coat, and not its inner state of mind. Of course, this opinion is exaggerated, and realism is great, and he will never grasp the vastness of the world to become, finally, boring. However, there is a grain of truth in the opinion of modernists: their work for the most part reflects the individual vision of the subject, and the artistic worlds created by them are unique, there are no similar to each other.
The first half of the twentieth century is a difficult period to remain faithful to traditional values: humanistic culture collapsed, Western democracies and totalitarian states even understood the word "freedom" differently, weapons of mass destruction appeared in World War I, human life depreciated with the practice of concentration camps and mass executions . Modernism appeared as a result of the dehumanization of the era. And this is also an explanation of what brings the different trends of modernism closer together , what distinguishes modernism from realism, and what society was in demand in a given period of time.
Modernism and literature - discoveries
The protest of the modernists was caused by outdated forms and ideas; they needed new ways and new means of displaying reality. I had to look for ideas and forms for a radical update of the literature. On this path could not do without dramatically affecting the subsequent development of the literature of discoveries.
So there was an internal monologue, metalanguage, stream of consciousness, symbolism, distant associations, the theory of polyphony, myth-making, a universal artistic device and a general aesthetic principle, literature was enriched through the discovery of the unknown, the unreal.
With modernism in literature, special attention is paid to the details of the inner world of the personality, the intrinsic value of art and man is proclaimed, creative intuition is preferred, literature is understood as the highest knowledge that can penetrate the most intimate corners of the universe and inspire the world, which brings together the various trends of modernism. What is the peculiarity of each - determines individuality.
silver Age
The era was full of searches, intrigues and contradictions, while literature, designed to reflect all the characteristic features of its time, did not find any other way than modernism with its various trends. Literature (11th grade) studies poetics, which brings the different trends of modernism closer together, like the Silver Age. This is the very part of the general artistic culture of our country, connected with acmeism, symbolism and futurism - the latest modernist movements.
New in this literary phenomenon is the reflected pathos of the end of the millennium, that is, the pessimism of decline, doom and foreboding of the death of the universe. Hopelessness, passivity of decadence, its rejection of society, its desire to go into the world of their own experiences - this type of consciousness is characteristic of what brings together the various currents of modernism. As Balmont wrote that he hates humanity, that he is in a hurry to run away from him, that his only fatherland is his own deserted soul.
Vanguard
Avant-gardism is a movement of an advanced group of artists of the first half of the twentieth century, which is characterized by a desire to renew all artistic practice at the root, to break with all its established traditions and principles, this is a search for unusual content, new means of expression, hitherto unseen forms of the work. Even the artist’s relationship with life has ceased to be similar to previous experience. All the social antagonisms of the era were refracted by the contradictions of avant-garde, there reigned despair and confusion before the catastrophes of the public world order.
Kandinsky and Malevich
Fauvism, Futurism, Cubism, Expressionism, Abstractionism, Dadaism are the children of the avant-garde, and modernism itself is often called this word. Not so far from the truth - these are practically synonyms. Only the term itself appeared thanks to a group of French artists who staged an exhibition in 1905.
One of the brightest representatives of modernism in Russia was Kandinsky, who stood at the origins of abstractionism. Landscapes painted with large spots with dark contours - a characteristic feature of his writing. The fact that Kandinsky makes related and brings together the various trends of modernism is clearly expressed: fragmentation, flatness, decorativeness.
The artist wanted free flight in the expression of feelings, but attachment to objectivity interfered. And he found these unique rhythmic figures of color, lines that clearly conveyed emotions and created a mood.
Kazimir Malevich, an experimenter from painting, acted either as a cubist with cylinders and cones from which the picture was constructed, or as a futurist with aimlessness. Black Square is a manifesto of such a plan of pointless art.