Baudelaire, Charles (1821–67)
Charles Baudelaire is a pivotal figure of modernist aesthetics. His contributions to poetry, the prose poem and criticism, as well as his focus on urban…
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Synaesthesia
Synaesthesia is the confusion or conflation of sensory modalities, where one sense is experienced or described in terms of another as in Charles Baudelaire’s simile…
Modernism in Latin America
In Latin American intellectual history, modernism is a term that can be usefully and accurately applied to at least two distinct intellectual movements: a clearly…
Modernism in Europe
We are living in a very singular moment of history. It is a moment of crisis, in the literal sense of that word. In every…
Symbolism Overview
Symbolism is a late-nineteenth-century literary movement centred mostly around the work of poets such as Stéphane Mallarmé, Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine, Philippe Villiers de L’Isle-Adam,…
Decadence
Decadence was a word used to refer, often disparagingly, to late-19th-century European writers and artists whose credo of ‘‘art for art’s sake’’ (Dictionary of Art…
Redon, Odilon (1840–1916)
Odilon Redon was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, etcher, and pastellist. His ability to master various materials and techniques has often left him associated with…
Claussen, Sophus (1865–1931)
Sophus Claussen is considered one of the foremost Danish poets of the period spanning the 19th and 20th centuries. As a regular contributor to the…
Aestheticism
Aestheticism refers to a late-Victorian tendency to argue that art is its own justification and should therefore be judged by purely aesthetic criteria. Closely related…
Obstfelder, Sigbjørn (1866–1900)
Sigbjørn Obstfelder is considered the first Norwegian modernist writer. He wrote poetry, dramas and novels but is primarily known for his collection of poems, Digte…
Mallarmé, Stéphane (Étienne) (1842–1898)
Along with Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, Stéphane Mallarmé is a preeminent poet of the latter part of the nineteenth century, notably as the head…
The Waste Land (1922)
The Waste Land is an influential and experimental 435-line poem written by Thomas Stearns Eliot and first published in 1922. Structurally, it is a pastiche…
Flaubert, Gustave (1821–1880)
A primary innovator of the modern novel, French writer Gustave Flaubert was one of the most influential literary artists of the nineteenth century. Primarily associated…
St. Vincent Millay, Edna (1892–1950)
Edna St. Vincent Millay was a poet, playwright and free-spirited bohéme who epitomized the aesthetically and sexually adventurous ‘new woman’ of the early twentieth century.…
Sri Sri (1910–1983)
Srirangam Srinivasa Rao (1910–83), popularly known as Sri Sri, was a widely acclaimed Telugu poet and public personality who championed the cause of oppressed people…
Elytis, Odysseus (1911–1996)
“For me the Aegean is not merely a part of nature, but rather a kind of signature,” Odysseus Elytis suggested in a 1972 interview with…
Chaplin, Charlie (1889–1977)
Charles Spenser Chaplin was born in London on April 16, 1889, and died on Christmas Day, 1977, at home in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. He had been…
Zorn, John (1953--)
John Zorn is an American avant-garde saxophonist and composer. Zorn performs on alto saxophone and is one of the leading figures in New York City’s…
Levertin, Oscar (1862–1906)
Oscar Levertin was born at Gryt Manor in Norrköping, Sweden. He pursued an academic career at Uppsala University, where he received his doctorate in 1888.…
Kubišta, Bohumil (1884–1918)
The Czech avant-garde artist Bohumil Kubišta came from a rural farming family. Educated in Hradec Králové, Kubišta moved to Prague in 1903 to attend art…
Lowry, Laurence Stephen (1887–1976)
L. S. Lowry was a modern British artist celebrated for his depictions of Salford and Manchester. As well as making portraits, landscapes, and seascapes, he…
Gombrowicz, Witold (1904–1969)
Born into a wealthy landed family, Gombrowicz debuted in the avant-garde milieu of interwar Warsaw. In 1939, when the Germans invaded Poland, he was on…
Neo-Impressionism
Neo-Impressionism (1886–1906) comprised a group of avant-garde painters in France who explored a systematic approach to painting that revived Classical ideals while critiquing Impressionism’s prevailing…
Matisse, Henri (1869–1954)
Henri Matisse is a key figure in French modernism and is considered to be the most influential colourist of 20th-century art. A French painter, sculptor,…
Fauvism
French Fauvism (c. 1904–1907) comprised a loosely formed group of painters whose mentor, Henri Matisse (1869–1954), argued for a new approach to painting, integrating the…