American Modernism

American Modernism: Characteristics

Modernism was born in Europe and soon reached America. In visual arts, American Modernism took many forms. Painter Georgia O'Keeffe focused on the native American landscape of New Mexico, cityscapes, and flowers depicting these subjects in surprising ways. Max Weber was one of the key artists to import Cubism from Paris to the United States.

One of the main ways for Modernist expression in architecture was Art Deco. Art Deco was also a European style that became very popular in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. Like Modernist visual arts, Art Deco was also inspired by urban living and industrial innovation, including new materials like steel and reinforced concrete.

Modernism also thrived in the realm of American literature. Writers used novel forms to explore groundbreaking themes, such as gender, and timeless counterparts, such as the human condition, from new perspectives. Some famous American Modernist literary figures include Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and Gertrude Stein.

Fig. 1 - 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City by architect Raymond Hood photographed by Samuel H. Gottscho in 1933.

American Modernism: Background

Modernism is usually linked to the 1920s, also known as the Roaring Twenties. This term refers to the economic prosperity and general optimism of that decade. Much like the rule-breaking of Modernist creators, that decade was qualified by thriving nightlife, jazz, the mass spectacle of silent film, and bypassing alcohol Prohibition (1920-1933) in the United States. Cities, including New York, Paris, Berlin, Los Angeles, and Chicago, became the main urban centers for the Modernist aesthetic and the Roaring Twenties lifestyle.

A Definition of American Modernism

Modernism art arose in the United States in the early 20th century in visual arts, architecture, literature, film, and music. Modernist forms of expression were inspired by urban life, technological progress, futurism, industrial production, and youth. Sometimes considered a rupture with tradition, Modernism sought innovation and broke the existing rules to create new ways of expression.

American Modernism: Timeline

Modernism arose in the early 20th century and thrived into the 1930s. This movement was imported to the United States from Europe. In America, however, it took on a life of its own by using local inspiration and creating its own stylistic offshoots.

American Modernism: Art

American Modernism took many different forms in the realm of visual arts. The painter Georgia O'Keeffe opted to depict the natural world inspired by photographic techniques, such as cropping and closeups. The artist and poet Max Weber drew from the European avant-garde movements, such as Cubism, to create his works. Photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Man Ray experimented with the medium in ways that departed from 19th-century portrait photography. At the same time, what united these different creative expressions was their search for innovation and pushing boundaries.

Cubism

Cubism was a consequential Modernist art movement founded in Paris by the artists Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Georges Braque (1882-1963) in 1907. Cubism focused on abstraction, fragmented and reassembled physical objects, and presented them from surprising vantage points. The two artists also liked incorporating additional motifs into their paintings, including newspapers, glasses, and musical instruments. They also favored the use of collages. At the time of its inception, Cubism was innovative and challenged the established art community. This movement waned in the early 1920s, but some artists continued using its aesthetics later.

Fig. 2 - Max Weber's painting The Cellist (1917)

Cubism quickly spread throughout Europe and into North America. The Russian-born New York artist and poet Max Weber (1881-1961) visited Paris to study painting and was introduced to Cubism. Upon returning to the United States, Weber created several works in line with this movement, including Chinese Restaurant (1915) and The Cellist (1917). Weber's Cubist paintings featured the token Cubist fragmentation and emphasized colors and textures. Weber also penned Cubist Poems (1914) and essays such as "The Fourth Dimension from a Plastic Point of View." Weber's work was exhibited at Gallery 291, run by the well-known photographer and curator Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz also exhibited the work of another American Cubist painter, Andrew Dasburg (1887-1979). Such exhibitions popularized Modernist art movements in the United States.

Georgia O'Keeffe

Georgia O'Keeffe (1886-1887) was a prominent American Modernist painter. O'Keeffe operated out of New York City, West Texas, and New Mexico. Her preferred subjects ranged from cityscapes to the natural world: landscapes, flowers, and animal skulls. O'Keeffe's Modernist style is unique and recognizable. For instance, photography influenced her–her large-scale paintings often resemble cropped photographs.

Fig. 3 - Georgia O'Keefe's painting Blue and Green Music (1921)

When O'Keeffe initially rose to prominence, she stood out because of her gender in a male-dominated art community. Her husband, photographer, and curator Alfred Stieglitz used O'Keeffe's femininity to promote her. Sometimes, he photographed the painter in provocative ways for this purpose.

Photography

Another important area of visual arts inspired by Modernism was the growing field of photography. In the 1920s, the best-known Modernist photographers from the United States were May Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky, 1890-1976) and Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946). In different ways, both men engaged in artistic experimentation on a technical and artistic level.

An American, Man Ray had close links to the European art scene and spent significant time in Paris. He was especially active with Surrealism and Dada. Surrealism used the subconscious as a source of inspiration, making its artworks appear dreamlike. Dada conducted experiments by using both visual arts and language.

Man Ray collaborated with the French Dada artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) and created ready-mades out of existent objects. Man Ray also experimented with photography by making rayographs without a camera by exposing objects on photographic paper. At the same time, Man Ray explored more conventional forms of photography in the realm of fashion and celebrity culture and was published in Vogue.

Fig. 4 - Noire et Blanche by photographer Man Ray in 1926, originally published in Vogue²

Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) was an essential American Modernist photographer, publisher, art curator, and husband and promoter of the painter Georgia O'Keeffe. In the first two decades of the 20th century, Stieglitz published a pioneering photography journal, Camera Work, shaping photography's acceptance as a form of art. He also established Gallery 291 in New York City, where he displayed several American and European Modernist artists, including Pablo Picasso, Max Weber, and Henri Matisse (1869-1954).

American Modernism: Architecture

In architecture, the Art Deco style expressed Modernist ideals. In the two decades between the First and Second World Wars, American architects built the tallest buildings in the world. These skyscrapers came to embody the urban lifestyle and industrial aesthetics. Art Deco buildings used modern materials, such as steel, iron, reinforced concrete, and strong geometric shapes. Like Modernist art, Art Deco came to America from Europe and became an international style.

There are dozens of famous Art Deco buildings throughout the United States, especially in New York City. The most iconic examples include the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Center, and the Chrysler Building. Between its construction in 1931 and 1970, the Empire State Building was the tallest skyscraper in the world. Eventually, many of these buildings became historical landmarks.

Fig. 5 - Chicago World's Fair, A Century of Progress poster depicting Art Deco skyscrapers (1933)

American Art Deco developed several stylistic variants, including Greco Deco, Streamline, and PWA Moderne. Greco Deco was primarily used in government architecture. Streamline was a somber reminder of the Great Depression (1929-1939). Finally, PWA Moderne referred to Public Works Administration construction undertaken as part of the New Deal recovery initiatives from economic hardship, such as the Hoover Dam.

Beyond Art Deco, a number of American architects worked in their own Modernism-inspired styles. For example, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) focused on organic architecture, which blended harmoniously with its surroundings. He was prolific; Lloyd Wright designed more than 1,000 buildings. Louis Henry Sullivan (1856-1924) prioritized the functionality of architectural design and incorporated modern materials. Sullivan served as a mentor to Wright.

American Modernism: Literature

Modernism was a prominent movement in American literature between the First and Second World Wars. Modernist literary figures explored new subjects, new literary forms, and new perspectives.

Some writers focused on situating their work in the United States by focusing on the American experience. They included Marianne Moore (1887-1972), William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), and Wallace Stevens (1879-1955). Others, like Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), Ezra Pound (1885-1972), and T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), relocated to Europe. In this sense, the cross-cultural pollination between Europe and the United States mimicked the field of visual arts.

Fig. 6 - Portrait of Gertrude Stein by Pablo Picasso (1906)

For example, the American novelist Gertrude Stein relocated to Paris in the early 1900s. There, she met many important creative minds, such as the artist Pablo Picasso, who painted her portrait. Like the Modernist artists with whom Stein interacted, she engaged in literary experimentation. Instead of using linear, 19th-century literary forms, the author opted for process-based literature. She wrote poetry and fiction, sometimes lacking plot. Her works include Three Lives and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.

American Modernism: Aftermath

The Great Depression of the 1930s put an end to the optimism of the Roaring Twenties. However, Modernist sensibilities survived and changed in different creative fields. The Museum of Modern Art in New York City continued to exhibit key Modernist artists both from Europe and the United States. For example, its 1936-1937 exhibition featured important art movements, Dada and Surrealism.