Mid-Twentieth Century and LaterEuropean and US Reactions to WWII

“Hell is other people.” from Sartre’s No Exit

In the last chapter we determined…

War can be framed as a cleansing agent Optimism about social change can bring

war But war with modern technology is

devastating (flame throwers, poison gas)WWI razes EuropeWWI brings Europe to hysteria (Dada, Surrealism)The US responds to WWI with stoicism

In this chapter we see the effects of WWII on the United States

Guiding Question(s) What are the emotional and psychological effects of

modern warfare with modern technology? What do we seek (the US) after the trauma of War?

Guiding Historical Events 1945-Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki

In both cities, most of the dead were civilians The Cold War

After WWII and into the early 1990s Characterized by an amped up disdain for Communism

1945-1973 US involvement in Vietnam The US, feeling quite powerful after WWII, is involved in a drawn-out

war, much of which is opposed by the US citizenry The US involvement comes indirectly out of the Cold War attitude to

stamp out communism, but also out of a bravado of imperialism that seeks to establish democracy outside of the US

1966-“The Pill” Oral contraceptives become widely available allowing women to choose

when to be pregnant and not Also brings to cultural consciousness the fact that women are sexual

beings

European ReactionsDespairAtheismSelf-Reliance

FRANCIS BACON (British), Painting, 1946

Reflections of European Reactions to WWII:LITERATURE and PHILOSOPHY

Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit “Torture” is the inability to

live with who we are, Characters in “Hell”

because of the choices they made

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot From the Theatre of the

Absurd Contemplates what makes

life worth living—suicide is an option, but only friendship keeps us from loneliness

Simone Debeauvoir’s The Second Sex“One is not born, but

rather becomes, a woman.”

A study of how women have BECOMEFrom prehistory, through

the mythological age, to contemporary times

Click on links to see videos

US ReactionsOptimismProsperity in ConsumerismA sense of Uniqueness

ANDY WARHOL, Marilyn

Abstract Expressionism

Not philosophical like Kandinsky—primal An emphasis on the visual elements—an exploration of the medium’s elements An image of the painter’s psyche, state of mind in order to create emotional responses

Jackson Pollack’s Autumn Rhythm, Number 30, 1950

Seeking the intuitive, the pure (spiritualism without God)

Action Painting Artist is dead

so the process becomes the art object

Jackson Pollack Drip Painting

Used non-traditional media—house and automobile paint

Used non-traditional methods—canvas on floor, brushes are “flipped”

Artist uses automatism to make work anti-mneumonic

Mark Rothko’s No.61, Rust and Blue, 1953 Color meant to

evoke emotion, weeping (Spiritualism without God)

Interpretation MUST be engaged, so Reader becomes the artist, the one to create meaning

In ArchitectureLe Corbusier’s Ronchamp, France, 1950--55

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1957—60

Architecture as sculpture

Like painting, it lacks a central form and moves more organically

Pop Art the art of reification

POP art is an outgrowth of A. Expressionism, which deified the transcendent Rejects symbolism (transcendent and decontextualized) and embraces signs (semiotic and contextualized) Choose to represent the banal, the mundane

Reflections of the Pop PeriodLITERATURE

On the Road, 1951 The American

Western rewritten for the slums of Denver and Cheyenne, Wyoming

Writing influenced by automatism

Howl, 1956A celebration of

the madness that arises out of a consumer cultureMoloch

Jack Kerouac Allen Ginsberg

Click on links to see videos

Reflections of the Pop PeriodMUSICAL THEATRE

Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story Romeo and Juliet for a

modern, multiethnic age

Explores globalization as it affects personal relationships, what we hold most noble—love

Leonard Bernstein’s Mass A religious Mass with

performers, dancers, street singers

Intention is to reach popular culture with a new kind of music

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar Christianity for the rock age of

popular culture Accompanies the rise of

Campus for Christ CrusadesClick on links to see videos

John Cage Redefines what

music is and the role of the musician

Experimented with sounds and forms of music Used dishes,

tubs, and different metals for sounds

Forms are more organic

Andy Warhol’s Vegetarian Vegetable from Campbell Soup II, 1969

We are what we eatWe are what we consume

Roy Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl, 1963 Defies the

eternality of art Subjects are

from pulp fiction, which can be thrown away

Depicted with ben day dots of commercial printing

In Subsequent Presentations you will learn more about:

The Language of Pop art Curating Abstract Expressionist work at MOMA