When most people think of modernism, they think of it as solely an art movement. This however is not the case, rather it was a reaction of Modernity and the vast changes in culture and society that came with it. Modernism wasn't just splats of paint on a canvas, though that certainly was a part of it.
Modernity arose during 1750s when Industrialisation and Urbanisation were starting to emerge.Where there were once small knit, rural communities there was now the great mass of strangers in cities, close physically but not personally. New technologies slowly made the world a smaller place; trains, telephones, convenient technologies that changed the worlds subjective conciousness.
Another driving force for modernity was the rise of philosophical and scientific thinking, religion, which was once the dominating 'explanation' for the world was being replaced with scientific reason, changing the outlook of everyone. Psychology is discovered for the initial purpose of finding out what effect the modern world would have on a man's mind.
The City had become the new social experience. To be modern was to be 'new', to be improved and superior. Naturally, countries began to compete for who could be the most modern city. Throughout the early 20th century, the city of Paris was the most modern city of the world. The city was redesigned, replacing the small alleyways with large boulevards. This could be seen as Modernity being used to better control the people; the large areas made it easier to move troops and the poor were forced to the outskirts of the city.
With such a new experience it was natural that artist would turn there attentions on the city. Throughout the history of modernism, the art has often followed the progress of technology and society. Artists learn the science of optics and begin using unique and complimentary colours in there paintings. With the advent of photography, art had to change and compete with this new technology.
New technology, such as the Kaiserpanorama, had become a barrier of actual experiences. People would rather pay to see something through a lens than see it for themselves for free. Modernism became a subjective response to modernity, painting an experience of the surroundings rather than a literal representation.
Modernism is defined by many key features: It is anti-historicism, never looking back to take influences from past works, It works with truth with materials, making paint look like paint and wood look like wood, rather than trying to disguise it. With modernism, form followed function, this is the minimalist design that many people often attach to modernism.
Most importantly, modernism was seen as international, going through all cultural and social barriers to make a design which everyone could understand. All buildings would be the same and everyone would understand it. This lead to the rise of skyscrapers and buildings made of cheaper materials that anyone could use.
Modernism ended round the 1950's, where it was to be replaced with the less serious Post-Modernism.
Film was also inspired by modernity, film makers explored how it could be used to control people with the film 'Fountainhead'. It also often looked to the future of modernism and made predictions of what might come, from these often bizarre films we can see the birth of the science fiction genre.
Both Charlie Chaplin and Dziga Vertov explored modernism in film, the former in a much more jovial way than others, he portrayed his character being literally lost in a gigantic machine, a feeling no doubt many people felt during the introduction of so many new technologies.
