Thursday, June 26, 2008

Modernism

After speaking with some of you this afternoon, I have found a few (hopefully helpful) definitions.

Modernism The adjective 'modern' distinguishes ideas and usages of the present and of the recent past from earlier ones, even when these are still generally adhered to. [...] Modernism and Modernist were words attache dto developments in the arts that were opposed to or to some degree divergent from, the ideas and canons represented by the classical tradition, prioritized in the academies. When Modernism in the visual arts began is a matter of dispute. Some make 1863 the key date, with Manet's challenging translation of time-honored mythological subjects into scenes whose meaning is modern and secular; or 1874, with the first Impressionist exhibition, or around 1888, with Gauguin and Bernard's anti-naturalistic style, rejecting the idealism or academic art and its technical refinement in favor of a primitivistic idiom partly derived from folk art, primitivism undermined the principle of imitation of appearances to which sophisticated art had generally aspired. These starting points are all in the history of French art, and there is no denying the role of Paris both as the arena in which French and other artists worked to test and establish new traditions and where a context of critical debate developed around them. Yet one is tempted to associate the origins of Modernism with Romanticism and its challenge, throughout Europe, so the unique authority of classicism and its emphasis on the individual artist as the source or meaning and authenticity. From it came a self-consciousness, in matters of style and other priorities, and slso the urge to form diverging groups or movements new to the history of art yet characteristic of the late 19th and 20th century art. Thie urge was, however, always countered by a contrary urge to individualism in through and practice, all groupings were temporary, the more short-lived the firmer the orthodoxy they appeared to represent even if their names continued to serve as rallying calls.
With the approach of 1900 the awareness of a new beginning in art was heightened by a wider sense of a new age opening to which changes in daily life and expectation of further changes (e.g. electricity for light and power, radio, aeroplanes, and agreed global time system, etc. )gave experiential reality. At the same time political upheaval--socialism and anarchism - engaged with systems already weakened by the 19th century's succession of revolutions and wars. Modernism was widely, but not exclusively , associated with life in an industrialized society, and battle was joined with those who preferred art to reflect past ages and their relative stability. By the beginning of the First World War, in 1914, all the cultural centers of Europe and New York were kept aware of dramatic new developments in the arts, and particularly in the visual arts by exhibitions, specialist journals and the press in genera, although the response was largely negative and patronage was remarkably slow to engage. By 1914, it was also clear that Modernism was not one direction in the broad stream of modern art--though it was sometime associated with an overcoming of impressionism as the last style rooted in imitating natural phenomena--but many exhibiting marked differences in theory and practice. [...] Modernism was never one movement, and became more divided as abstraction became prominent.
Around 1970, Post Modernism emerged as a term implying the end of Modernism and anew pluralism in the arts, first in architecture where the so-called International Style had become dominant and was being devalued by replication. Springing from the ideas and methods of major architects such as Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Gropius, themselves active internationally and of wide influence, the International Style, crudely associated with the notion of functionalism in response to the industrialized world which it served was felt to be stifling regional traditions, alternative building methods and individual hopes of fame through personal innovation, no such central orthodoxy existed in Modernist art, so that the champions of Post-Modernism have needed to demonize Modernism as a stultifying force, solemn and homogenous. Modernism has been accused quite specifically of formalism, of elevating consideration of means and methods over communication.

27 comments:

Eun Jung said...

thank you so much~:D

Yoshie said...

Hi,
It is really difficult to understand the meaning of the art vocabularies in the written texts. I need to see more visual pictures and compare it with others. I hope I could take them into my own understanding. Thanks

bud said...

Bud say hi here

MIN at RISD said...

Hi

all of the glossaries is from websites. I know I should transfer to my worlds. I'll adject all of meanings as soon as possible.

thanks

Min

chelsea said...

The initial intention of this blog was to create an arena for discussion, elaboration and conversation, between students and myself. I appreciate all of the work you have done so far but would like to see the development of the glossaries all on the blog I have created.
If you are having trouble developing your definitions or interpreting your words, Min has included example sentences. Often direct definitions keep a word as n abstract notion that lacks a concrete understanding. Bringing in examples may help.
In addition, if you find the word on a webpage that includes an image that reinforces the understanding of the words, include the link on your blog entry.

Anonymous said...

*this is soojin*

[excerpt]
An excerpt is a short piece of writing or music which is taken from a larger piece.
ex)
an excerpt from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker.
= extract, part, piece, section, selection, passage, fragment

[studiously]
Someone who is studious spends a lot of time reading and studying books.
ex)
I was a very quiet, studious little girl.

[aggregation]
1.An aggregate amount or score is made up of several smaller amounts or scores added together.
ex)
England have beaten the Welsh three times in succession with an aggregate score of 83-12.

2.An aggregate is a number of people or things that are being considered as a single thing
ex)
society viewed as an aggregate of individuals.

[vistas]
1.A vista is a view from a particular place, especially a beautiful view from a high place.
ex)from my bedroom window I looked out on a crowded vista of hills and rooftops.
=panorama

2.vista is a vision of a situation or of a range of possibilities
ex)These uprisings come from desperation and a vista of a future without hope.
=vision

[prefabricated]
Prefabricated buildings are built with parts which have been made in a factory so that they can be easily carried and put together.

[reverence]
Reverence for someone or something is a feeling of great respect for them.
ex)showing a deep reverence for their religion.

[cantilever]
A cantilever is a long piece of metal or wood used in a structure such as a bridge. One end is fastened to something and the other end is used to support part of the structure.
ex)the old steel cantilever bridge.

[Neo-plasticism]
Neo-plasticism is the belief that art should not be the reproduction of real objects, but the expression of the absolutes of life. To the artists way of thinking, the only absolutes of life were vertical and horizontal lines and the primary colors. To this end neoplasticisist only used planar elements and the colors red, yellow, and blue. The neoplastic movement happened in the 1910's and the two main painters of this movement where Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg.

[centrifigue]
A centrifuge is a machine that spins mixtures of different substances around very quickly so that they separate by centrifugal force.

[frontalism]
Frontalism is the style in which every known piece of ancient Egyptian art was produced. In paintings, the style of frontalism means that the head of the character is drawn in profile, while the body is drawn from a front view. However, even though the face is in profile, the eye is drawn in full, as it would be seen from the front. The legs always face the same direction as the head, with one foot forward and one back.
Ancient Egyptian figures, especially of gods and pharaohs, are noticeable for their very formal, even rigid stance and posture, but their faces are always serene, regardless of the scene in which they are depicted. There were very strict rules about how a god or pharaoh could be represented, which even included a prohibition against anything being drawn in front of the face or body of the pharaoh, even when the scene depicted clearly required it for any kind of realism. Realism was simply not a goal of ancient Egyptian Art. It is these very formal and stylized rules that have made Egyptian Art one of the most widely recognized forms of art in the world. Over thousands of years Egyptian artists adhered to this one style, which is quite remarkable, especially as compared to the extreme differences in art expression that have occurred in the modern world in just the past 100 years or so. The only acknowledged variations are in the portrayals of animals and common people as compared to the more formal depictions of pharaohs and gods. As can be seen in many Egyptian paintings, animals and common people or slaves are represented in a more natural manner, though still within very strict and formulaic rules.

[squander]
If you squander money, resources, or opportunities, you waste them.
ex)Hooker didn't squander his money on flashy cars or other vices.
ex)He had squandered his chances to win.

[confectioner]
A confectioner is a person whose job is making or selling sweets and chocolates.

[mould]
1.A mould is a hollow container that you pour liquid into. When the liquid becomes solid, it takes the same shape as the mould.
ex)Spoon the mixture carefully into the mould.
ex)jelly moulds.

2.If a person fits into or is cast in a mould of a particular kind, they have the characteristics, attitudes, behaviour, or lifestyle that are typical of that type of person.
ex)He was from the same mould as the men she had gazed at

3.If you mould a soft substance such as plastic or clay, you make it into a particular shape or into an object.
ex)Using 2 spoons, mould the cheese mixture into small balls or ovals.

4.mould someone or something means to change or influence them over a period of time so that they develop in a particular way.
ex)She was only 17 at the time and the experience moulded her personality.

5.When something moulds to an object or when you mould it there, it fits round the object tightly so that the shape of the object can still be seen.
ex)You need a malleable pillow that will mould to the curves of your neck.
ex)She stood there, the wind moulding the dress around her.

6.Mould is a soft grey, green, or blue substance that sometimes forms in spots on old food or on damp walls or clothes.
ex)leaf mould

Yoshie said...

Soojin, I think your vocabulary of Neo-Plasticism might be somehow related to mine's, Plstic, which I took from chelsea's reading of Van van doesburg; towards a plastic architecture. What do you think? Actually, I didn't get the meaning of Plastic quite well from the reading, but your definition of Neo-Plasticism helped me a lot to understand it. Thanks

Buddy said...

Bundith

Organic Architecture

1. Organic Architecture is a term Frank Lloyd Wright used to describe his approach to architectural design. The philosophy grew from the ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright's mentor, Louis Sullivan, who believed that "form follows function." Wright argued that "form and function are one."
Organic architecture strives to integrate space into a unified whole. Frank Lloyd Wright was not concerned with architectural style, because he believed that every building should grow naturally from its environment.
http://architecture.about.com/od/periodsstyles/g/organic.htm

2. Wright avoided anything that might be called a personal style. Through all his
designs, he was guided by principles that he termed organic architecture. By
this he meant that every building should relate harmoniously to its natural
surroundings and that a building should not be a static, boxlike enclosure but a
dynamic structure, with open, flowing interior spaces. To achieve this organic design, he used geometric units, or modules, that generated a grid. The first modules were squares, but Wright later used diamonds, hexagons, and other geometric shapes, upon which he laid a free-flowing floor plan. Another device Wright favored was the cantilever—a long projection (often a balcony) that was supported at only one end. The grid and the cantilever freed Wright’s designs from being merely boxes with openings cut into them.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761577834/frank_lloyd_wright.html

Spatial Qualities

1. Those aspects of any image or object having to do with the distance or area between, around, above, below, or within things.
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/So.html

Ex.1 Since 2007, Sabine has taught an undergraduate studio, where 2nd and 3rd year students investigate different spatial qualities of architecture by using film and diverse drawings of space.

Ex.2 The next series of studio projects require students to be able to use ordering ideas to accomplish fundamental spatial qualities such as open, closed and sequential spaces.

Ventilation

Ventilation is the intentional movement of air from outside a building to the inside.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventilation_%28architecture%29

Instinct

Some sociobiologists and ethologists have attempted to comprehend human and animal social behavior in terms of instincts. Psychoanalysts have stated that instinct refers to human motivational forces (such as sex and aggression), sometimes represented as life instinct and death instinct. This use of the term motivational forces has mainly been replaced by the term instinctual drives.
Instincts in humans can also be seen in what are called instinctive reflexes. Reflexes, such as the Babinski Reflex (fanning of the toes when foot is stroked), are seen in babies and are indicative of stages of development. These reflexes can truly be considered instinctive because they are generally free of environmental influences or conditioning.
Additional human traits that have been looked at as instincts are: altruism, disgust, face perception, language acquisitions, "fight or flight" and "subjugate or be subjugated". Some experiments in human and primate societies have also come to the conclusion that a sense of fairness could be considered instinctual, with humans and apes willing to harm their own interests in protesting unfair treatment of self or others.
Other sociologists argue that humans have no instincts, defining them as a "complex pattern of behavior present in every specimen of a particular species, that is innate, and that cannot be overridden." Said sociologists argue that drives such as sex and hunger cannot be considered instincts, as they can be overridden. This definitory argument is present in many introductory sociology and biology textbooks,[3] but is still hotly debated.
http://www.answers.com/topic/instinct?cat=health

Ex.1 Unlike most Abstract Expressionists, however, Mitchell resisted the notion that painting is a matter of instinct, asserting instead that painting is a willed act rather than the result of chance effect. Her works of the 1950s are tense and feverish, a busy network of disconnected, vividly colored strokes that are densest in the center of the image and against a vague sea of flat patches. She is said to have been inspired by an "inner landscape," the distilled sensations from a remembered landscape: scanning vision; light contrast; the loose sensations linking the image in the mind’s eye to the interpretation on canvas.

chelsea said...

Two weeks ago, we read the Michael Hays quote, "We are transformed by our experiences." Eun Jung has described the power of the trip to see the Cape Modern Houses in the realm of discovery and poetry of experience. Viewing art and architecture in magazines, books and on various screens, avails a different understanding than the phenomena of the first person, corporeal, experience. Likewise, written and spoken descriptions can only take you so far.
Louis Kahn, a 20th century modern architect said, "A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable."
In this case, the definition of "measure" transcends the ideas of units and standards of dimensions and quantities. Kahn understood that architecture as a built form requires specific measurements for construction. Yet, "measure" also refers to standards, comparisons, and judgments. Do we not "measure" the quality of one thing against another?

Anonymous said...

Yoshie,I think we looked for the same word. Actually, I was searching for the word-Plasticism, but I could neither find out the word in Wikipedia nor in Google. So, I just put Neo-Plasticism, and I guess it's almost the same meaning as you mentioned. But, I am not sure,so maybe Chelsea can help us to undersntad the word exactly;
And...it was good for me to learn about Nikoraus Pevsner's indentification of Modern Architecture. Because I have totally no idea about Architecture, it was pretty helpful. Thanks.
And...It was interesting you have "processing" in your vocabulary. I used the software a little, but I did not know the history exactly;

Anonymous said...

Min, I saw your definitions of "social realism" and "socialist realism". The different meanings of the two words that look almost the same made me scared; Your definitions of many "-ism"s helped me to understnad Modernism better. Thanks.

bud said...

Hi, this is Leilei here.
Here is my vocabulary.

1 Impressionism: a style of painting, originating in France in the 1860s, in which the artists, including Renoir and Pissarro, tried to represent the effects of light on what they were painting;
2 Landscape: a large area of countryside, esp. in relation to its appearance; a landscape is also a view or picture of the countryside;
3 Saturate: to make (something or someone) completely wet;
4 Unbridled: out of control
5 Intensity: extreme and forceful or (of a feeling) very strong
6 Scenery: the general appearance of natural surroundings, esp. when these are beautiful
7 Kelly: fresh or yellow green
8 khaki: a khaki color is a dark yellowish-brown color
9 Transitory visual effects of light
10 Color perceived: to see (something or someone), or to become aware of (something that is obvious)
11 Immortality: living or lasting forever, or very special and famous and therefore likely to be remembered for a long time
12 Passion: a very powerful feeling, for example of sexual attraction, loves, hate, anger or other emotion
13 Adventuresome: an unusual, exciting and possibly dangerous activity, journey, experience, etc. or the excitement produced by such activities
14 Distort: to change (something) from its usual, original, natural or intended meaning, condition or shape
15 Anomaly: a person or thing that is different from what is usual, or not in agreement with something else and therefore not satisfactory;
16 Reverie: literary (a state of having) pleasant dream-like thoughts;
17 Rage: (a period of) extreme or violent anger
18 Peaceful: calm and quiet
19 Metal suffer:
20 Agony: Painful
21 pop color: the color of cartoon character, which is vivid and joyful
22 collage: a picture in which various materials or objections are stuck onto a larger surface
kinetic specialized involving movement
23 animation: Vivid full of passion or life
24 redundant: unnecessary becaouse it is more than is needed

Sang Hee ' u ' said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sang Hee ' u ' said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Buddy said...

Bundith


The Kugel/Gips House and Stingrays’ Egg Purses


Our trip to Cape Cod was on the last Thursday. We set off the journey at 8.30 am, from RISD, and we arrived there at around 10.30 am. Cape Cod is a peninsula, in Massachusetts, jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. Although we had heard that Cape Cod was popular for Americans to spend their Summer time with outdoor activities such as beach walking, kayaking, and fishing, our aim of this trip was to visit the Cape Modern Houses. It was a special time for us to visit this place with the guidance from a specialist of this field, and it helped me to broaden my perception about this style of building more correctly. For me, the most two favorite things from this trip were the Kugel/Gips house and Stingrays’ egg purses.

The Kugel/Gips house was one of the Bauhaus buildings we visited this time. For me, it had some special different characteristics from other houses. First, it was a small and simple house located nearby the water. The next quality was that it had a harmony of using two different forms. When I first saw this building on its North side, it was very solid and stood calmly with approximately 5-6 planes. It was made by concrete blocks, wood, and mirror, but from this side, almost of the materials we saw were concrete blocks. Thus, the quality of materials made the building on this side more solid than other houses we saw here. After that when we went to its South side, the form of the house was open and connected to its environment especially the water beside. In addition, on the west side, we could see its structure and cantilever, which was similar to the composition of abstract painting in modernist movement in term of using rhythm, plane, and space. Also, the structure was not weight down by the gravity. It stayed like a floating form in space. The last one was that this building was created by Charlie Zehnder, a RISD alumni, with suggestion from Frank Lloyd Wright. Both of them came here and spent two nights talking about the plan with each other. Frank Lloyd Wright was well known as a master architect with the concept of Organic architecture, which concerned about form and function were one, and every building should grow naturally from its environment.

Stingrays’ egg purses were protective cases for Stingrays’ eggs. In the beginning, it was difficult to everybody to know what it was. It was a very extraordinary creature for two reasons. First, every part of its form were functional. The case was for protection the egg inside. Also, it could be floating or buoyed up on the sea. Its tendrils from each corner could help to anchor itself with the seaweed and rocks for protection the embryos developing inside. When the embryos hatched out from the case. The empty cases would wash up on beaches. The other one was that its form had some abstract qualities and related to its environment. It was organic, but nobody knew what it was. It might come from the ocean, or it might be a kind of seed from the tree. Each case could stay harmoniously both in the ocean and shoreline. I used to think that the tamarind fruit was a very special product design by nature, but the Stingrays’ egg purses made me to rethink about that.

In conclusion, my trip to Cape Cod was very interesting because I could use this opportunity to learn something from both aesthetic development of human beings and creativity of nature mentioned above. Without any knowledge in this world, what we could do and learn. I hoped that I could use this experience to rethink about myself and continued to learn and respect one another more.

Buddy said...

Bundith

Cantilever
- A projecting elements, such as a beam or porch, supported at a single point or along a single line by a wall or column, stabilized by s counterbalancing downward force around the point of fulcrum.

Formless
- Lacking a definite or regular form or shape; shapeless

Infinite Space
- "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Albert Einstein.

Infinite
1. Having no boundaries or limits.
2. Immeasurably great or large; boundless: infinite patience; a discovery of infinite importance.
3. Mathematics
a. Existing beyond or being greater than any arbitrarily large value.
b. Unlimited in spatial extent: a line of infinite length.
c. Of or relating to a set capable of being put into one-to-one correspondence with a proper subset of itself.n.

Infinite space is often suggested in baroque paintings or sculptures; throughout the Renaissance and into the baroque period, painters sought a grander sense of space and truer depiction of perspective in their works.

Interrelationship
- Reciprocal relation

Magnitude
- Greatness in size or significance
- The new architecture takes account not only of space but also of the magnitude time.

Sang Hee ' u ' said...

Hi,

Can I put my personal thinking to the glossary?

Eun Jung said...

Hello~^^

Actually, it was difficult for me to understand Chealsea's writing about Louis Kahn.
However, I think what Kahn was trying to say is that architects first need to think about people's emotion and the environment, which are 'unmeasurable', instead of thinking too much of 'measurable' things, such as budget, size of spaces, materials, and decorations. If architects consider too much about the 'measurable' things, they might forget what they really wanted to build.

When we just stay at classes, we cannot get the true motivation, but if we go into the real world and nature, we can directly see and feel what we really want to pursue. Thus, I believe Kahn wanted people to look at the whole picture first.
Look at the forest, not the trees.

But still, it is hard not to measure.
I even sometimes measure people's minds.
How can we stop measuring?

bud said...

another 20 words
*leilei*

1 Conceive:
Exact meaning:
A: to become pregnant, or to cause (a baby) to begin to form;
B: to imagine (something); to consider
C: to invent (a plan or an idea)
My words:
Think about something and then provide ideas

2 Incorporate:
Exact meaning:
To include (something) in something larger
My words:
To take something into another

3 Ventilation:
Exact meaning:
To cause fresh air to enter and more around an enclosed space
My words:
Make the air flow in some space

4 Chamber:
Exact meaning:
A: old use a room in a house, esp. a bedroom
B: a room used for a special or official purpose, or a group of people who form (part of) a parliament
C: an enclosed space in a machine, plant or animal
My words:
The inside of a house or animal

5 Intimate:
Exact meaning:
A: (n) close friend
B: (adj) expert, detailed and obtained from a lot of studying or experience
C: (adj) having, or being likely to cause, a very close friendship or personal or sexual relationship
D: (v) fml to make clear (what you think or want without stating it directly)
My words:
Close, know well, un-directly,

6 Thrift
Exact meaning:
A: the careful use of money, esp. by avoiding waste
B: a small plant with, typically, pink flowers on long stems which often grows wild on cliffs by the sea (海石竹)
My words:
Used money in the right place

7 Monumental
Exact meaning of monument:
A object, esp. large and made of stone, built to remember and show how respect to a person or group of people or a special place made for this purpose
My words:
Very big and important

8 Magnitude
Exact meaning:
The large size or importance (of something)
My words:
The importance and necessary

9 Denaturalized
Change something’s essence

10 Legacy
Something that is left by the ancient

11 Gaiety
Exact meaning:
Dated happiness and excitement
My words:
A pleasure mood

12 Vitality
Energy and strength


13 Shady
A shady place is one that is sheltered from direct light from the sun

14 Plywood
Wood that consists of several thin layers of wood stuck together, and which is usually not of very good quality

15 Categorize
My words:
Arrange things as its class
The meaning of Categorical
Without any doubt or possibility of being changed; certain

16 Sensuality reduce to a quiet

17 Fanciful
Think in vain

19 Subtle whisper
(I like this describe)

20 Utopia
Exact meaning:
(the idea of) a perfect society in which everyone works well with each other and is happy

louisa said...

Hi I finally managed to get in :-)

louisa said...

Yoshie, to "Physiological Response" I would ad the definition: it is the reaction to characteristic of or appropriate to an organism's healthy or normal functioning.

MIN at RISD said...

Hi everyone

I just finished my article of the field trip in Cape Cod modern house.

welcome to my blog!
thanks

Min

bud said...

Hi, I have posted the label words in my bog. Welcome~~

Eun Jung said...

Hello,
this is Eunjung!

Did everybody has dinner?
I did not have yet...
I am wondering what to eat.kk.
I hope you all enjoy this nice evening~. :D

Anyway, I posted the vocabularies about Labels on my blog.

Then see you all tomorrow~ Bye~~!

Buddy said...

Hi, this is Bundith. Please find my vocabularies from 3 labels on my blog. Thanks!

bud said...

Hi, Eunjung, I just had some noodles. It tates good=) I will go and look at your vocabulary.

So will yours, Bundith

Buddy said...

Hi, this is Bundith. Please find my essay as a response to the article on my blog. Thanks!