Blog 4

The week's CS lecture I'm talking about was about Modernism and we had some reading based on critic Clement Greenberg and the aspects of Modernism ideals. I'm not entirely sure what Modernism is but I'm aware that the beginnings of it are not really known, it's hard to pin point and maybe this is because it's such a broad idea. Some think it began with the Industrial Revolution around 1750, others think it began with Neo-classical and Romanicism. Some think it began around the time photography began to take off and paintings depicted everyday life, others think Modernism began with the avant-garde, artist like Manet pushing forward new ideas, subjects and ways of making art. Others believe it began with Cubism, by breaking things down into 3D structures such as cubes, cones and cylinders, cubist artists created a new way of making art by reconstructing these into sometimes figurative images. Maybe it confuses me because there are so many different styles of art that come under this category.

It does seem that Modernism is much bigger than an art form, it's idea of the new. New art, new media and new inventions that were meant to improve the way we lives our lifes. Modernism aims for an ideal future where form follows function, I think, I'm still not really sure but I hope that as I look at more works of art and read more literature about it I'll begin to understand it more.