Art, Architecture, Music, Literature, and Sculpture of the 20th Century
Throughout the history of humankind, various kinds of art not only explored beauty but also reflected social, political, and cultural phenomena observed in a given period. Therefore, the history of art provides a valuable perspective on the development of society and the important issues it faces (Heaton 12). In the 20th century’s art, architecture, music, literature, and sculpture, the political and cultural turmoil of the period was reflected through turning to particular themes (like loneliness, responsibility, and being a human) and the search for new forms of expression.
In art, one of the general trends of the 20th century was toward abstractness and conceptuality. New art movements drifted away from their predecessors to challenge the understanding of the nature and purpose of art. It was linked to witnessing two world wars, which shocked artists and in a way destroyed previous esthetics. For example, Picasso’s Guernica displays the simplicity of forms that deliver the feelings of chaos and terror (DiPaola and Smith 29). In general, Cubist paintings reflected how the eventful 20th century altered the artistic perception of the world toward looking for innovative, surreal methods of delivering thoughts and emotions.
Similar processes were observed in architecture. Classical ideas of the beautiful, a well as the “form follows function” principle, were challenged. Examples of that are buildings created by Antonio Gaudí, namely the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. In his search for new shapes, Gaudí turned to the complex irregular shapes found in nature (Orman 3). His works reflected the tendencies of Modernism and Art Nouveau. For example, the so-called “organic design” incorporated a support system where tree-like structures were used instead of traditional columns. It signified the 20th century’s idea of moving from civilization back to nature.
In music, the attempts to reflect on the 20th century were expressed in the trend among composers to incorporate grotesque sound techniques and the theme of degeneration into their work. It can be particularly observed in the music composed by Dmitri Shostakovich (Lenberg 4), namely his Ninth Symphony. It was a form of a protest again totalitarianism that oppressed individual freedoms in many countries.
Literature, unlike other fields, had a special medium to reflect the political and cultural phenomena because it is the only one among the five fields listed in the verbal title. The 20th century was largely documented, speculated on, and criticized in writers’ works. One of the major themes was the issue of personal responsibility and staying a human being under inhumane conditions. For example, Ernest Hemingway, in his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, writes, “[N]ever send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” (Robinson 96). This reference is interpreted as a statement of the importance of every person’s death: every time someone is killed in a battle, it is a tragedy for everyone else because it means that anyone can be next.
A similar theme is observed in the 20th century’s sculpture. The theme of the lonely struggle to preserve human qualities can be found in the sculptures created by Alberto Giacometti. For example, his 1961 work The Walking Man shows a personal impasse of a man who is lonely and lost (Frank 65). Many of Giacometti’s sculptures are interpreted as a reflection on the position of a person who appears small and powerless before the alarms and terrors of the 20th century.
In each of the described fields, it is evident that the 20th century’s artists, architects, musicians, writers, and sculptors were searching for new forms of expression and trying to deliver ideas about the place of a human being in the world. The reason for that is that they witnessed the terrors of the 20th century, which made them challenge previously accepted beliefs, traditions, and esthetics.
Works Cited
DiPaola, Steve, and Allison Smith. “Interactively Exploring Picasso’s Multi-Dimensional Creative Process in Producing Guernica.” Electronic Visualisation and the Arts, vol. 7, no. 1, 2013, pp. 25-31.
Frank, Claudia. “Alberto Giacometti’s Caress/Despite the Hands: Developing and Vanished Life as a Reversible Figure—Nucleus of an Adequate Expression of the Struggle for the Acknowledgment of Space and Time?” The Female Body: Inside and Outside, edited by Ingrid Moeslein-Teising and Frances Thomson-Salo, Karnac Books, 2013, pp. 65-89.
Heaton, Rebecca. “Exploring Social Issues through Art Education.” Changemaker in the Curriculum: The University of Northampton: Case Studies 2013-2014, edited by Bethany Alden Rivers and James Smith, University of Northampton Press, 2014, pp. 11-16.
Lenberg, Phillip. “Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony: An Analytical Exploration and Keys to Interpretation.” Dissertation, Orchestral Conducting University of Nevada, 2016.
Orman, Ben. “Art Nouveau & Gaudí: The Way of Nature.” JCCC Honors Journal, vol. 4, no. 1, 2013, pp. 1-12.
Robinson, David. “More than a Period Piece: Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls as a Reflection of the Spanish Civil War.” English Academy Review, vol. 32, no. 2, 2015, pp. 88-100.