Architecture Subject Overview
Modernist architecture and design represented a utopian vision of how the built environment could be adapted to the needs to modern industrial society. Industrialization had…
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Bauhaus
In 1919 a young architect named Walter Gropius initiated one of the most modern art schools of the twentieth century in the city of Weimar…
Social Realism
Photography
Liu Feng-Shueh (1925--)
Dr. Liu Feng-Shueh is a modern dance pioneer in Taiwan. She was the first person to conduct systematic experimentation with the formal elements and creative…
Jook House
The jook house (also juke joint), an African American institution found mainly in semiurban areas in the Southern United States, is an important cultural phenomenon…
Cornford, F. M. (1874–1943)
Francis Macdonald Cornford was a British classical scholar associated with the Cambridge Ritualists group. Drawing on James George Frazer’s (1854–1941) The Golden Bough (1890–1915), the…
Ginner, Ruby (1886–1978)
Working primarily during the second and third decades of the twentieth century, Ruby Ginner devised a new dance form called Revived Greek Dance (later changed…
Beckett, Samuel Barclay (1906–89)
Samuel Barclay Beckett is widely considered one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. Born in Ireland and living in France for half…
The Birth of a Nation
One of the most watched and debated American films in history, The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 silent film by D. W. Griffith…
Iturriaga (Romero), Enrique (1918--)
Enrique Iturriaga is a Peruvian composer and music pedagogue. He is one of the lead representatives of the so-called Generación del 50, a Peruvian composers’…
La Règle du jeu [The Rules of the Game]
La Règle du jeu [The Rules of the Game] is a 1939 humanist film by Jean Renoir satirizing the French aristocracy. Premiered at the brink…
VKhUTEMAS
VKhUTEMAS was a school of arts and architecture in Moscow between 1920 and 1927. Similar ‘‘art and technical studios’’ existed in other Soviet cities. VKhUTEMAS…
Die Novembergruppe [The November Group] (1918–1934)
Founded in December 1918 in response to the November Revolution in Germany, The November Group was an association of radical and politically engaged artists, including…
Ferdinand de Saussure (26 November 1857 – 22 February 1913)
The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure received his doctorate from the University of Leipzig in 1880, taught at the École Pratique des Haute Études in…
Italian Neorealism
Italian Neorealism is a filmmaking movement associated with a select group of Italian filmmakers in the latter years of, and the years immediately following, World…
Scharoun, Hans Bernhard Henry (1893–1972)
Born in Bremen and raised in Bremerhaven, Hans Bernhard Henry Scharoun was a German architect and major proponent of expressionist and organic architecture. He studied…
Anglo-Modernism in Canada
Among the movements originating in Western Europe that instigated the modernist turn in anglophone Canadian literature, the most prominent were symbolism, impressionism, aestheticism, and decadence,…
Mannheim, Karl (1893–1947)
Karl Mannheim was one of the most influential sociologists of the early 20th century. He received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Budapest,…
Rite of Spring, The (Le Sacre du Printemps)
The premiere of The Rite of Spring at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris on 29 May 1913 provoked greater storms of controversy than any…
Duhart, Emilio (1917–2006)
The Chilean architect Emilio Duhart Harosteguy is one of the most recognised modern architects and urban planners in the country. He is especially notable for…
Washington, Booker T. (1856–1915)
Born into slavery in Virginia, Booker Taliaferro Washington was the most prominent spokesman for Black Americans at the end of the 19th century. After attending…
Depero, Fortunato (1892–1960)
Fortunato Depero was an artist, illustrator, and stage designer who played a central role in developing the art of modern typography. Affiliated with the Italian…
Afrocubanismo in Music
Afrocubanismo was an esthetic trend in art music during the first half of the twentieth century focusing on African cultural features in Cuban society. The…
Vivas, Fruto (1928--)
A successful architect born in the Venezuelan Andes, Fruto Vivas received his training in Caracas during a period of booming modernization mid-20th-century. His approach to…