Changes in Art
Cinema
Avant-garde films, such as those by Jean Renoir, broke new ground in film technique and storytelling. Renoir’s masterpiece, Grand Illusion, reveals the romantic notions of war to be lies. Instead, World War I is depicted as a cruel and senseless conflict.
Art
The Dada movement challenged artistic boundaries. Many of its adherents, including Marcel Duchamp, enjoyed causing a scandal as much as creating an artwork. For the piece shown here, entitled Fountain, Duchamp merely removed a urinal from a wall and scribbled "R. Mutt, 1917" on the side. Duchamp encouraged artists to break away from conformity.
The Surrealist movement, led by Salvador Dalí, encouraged people to revive their imaginations. His works, including the 1938 painting Apparition of a Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach, incorporated elements of fantasy and dreams.
Architecture
The Bauhaus school of architecture was probably the most famous style of the modern era. Bauhaus architects emphasized geometric shapes and primary colors in their works. The leaders of Bauhaus also insisted that designs be functional rather than decorative, unlike the Romantic works from before World War I. Because many Bauhaus architects were Jewish, the German government considered the Bauhaus style subversive.
Photography
Many modern artists turned to photography to express the modern world. Although photography appears to have little in common with the fantastic images of surrealism, both styles attempted to show how the new world was different from the old. Many modern photographers took documentary photos of the effects of the Great Depression. Dorothea Lange's Depression-era photographs from the American heartland remain poignant memorials to a proud but struggling people.
Music
By combining African American music with rhythmic dance music and unconventional instruments, jazz musicians created a vibrant soundtrack to the modern age. Jazz music, perhaps more than any other art form, clearly symbolized a break with the past.
