HUM 201 Module 1 & 2

Premodernism How did our culture become Modern?
Premodern Thought 4th Dimension Poincare New physics Imagists Cubism Futurist & Fauv Kandinsky Stravinsky
Premodernism
• The primary way of
knowing is based upon
revealed knowledge
from authoritative
sources
• Ultimate Truth could be
known and the way to
this knowledge is
through direct
revelation
• revelation was
generally assumed to
come from God or a
supernatural force
Bernardo Strozzi (Italian, 1584-1644) Adoration of the Shepherds

Newton and
Jefferson
1. What is the “American
Philosophy” and how does
this compare to the
“American Dream”?
2. How does Newton’s
understanding of authority
change the perception of a
God-anointed King?
3. How does this influence
the Founding Fathers?
The Ancient of Days and Newton the Geometer, William Blake, 1794

The 4th
Dimension
1. What is the 4th
Dimension?
2. How does Edwin
Abbott Abbott’s
Flatland: A Romance
of Many Dimensions
(1884) teach us how to
consider the 4th
dimension?
3. What does the
tesseract teach us
about the transition to
the modern period?
Henri Poincaré (1854 – 1912)

1. Einstein and Picasso
both read Poincare’s
treatise on the 4th
dimension
2. Einstein sees space
and time as a single
dimension leading to
relativity
3. Picasso represents all
views at once leading
to cubism
Afficionado by Pablo Picasso, 1912
4D in Science and
Art

New physics
1. The macro and
micro change the
world –
understanding the
expanse of the
universe and
quantum physics
2. How does this
change our
perspective?
3. How does this
change meaning?

Imagists
1. The Imagists favored
precision of imagery
and clear, sharp
language
2. free verse and were
devoted to “clarity of
expression through the
use of precise visual
images”
3. How do the Imagists
represent the
transition to the
Modern era?
Hilda Dolittle (HD), Ezra Pound, most influential movement in English poetry since the activity of
the Pre-Raphaelites

Cubism
1. objects are analyzed,
broken up and
reassembled in an
abstracted form
2. instead of depicting
objects from a single
viewpoint
3. the artist depicts the
subject from a
multitude of
viewpoints to
represent the subject
in a greater context
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907
Pablo Picasso, 1910, Girl with a Mandolin (Fanny Tellier)

Futurism and
Fauvism
1. Fauvists: emphasized
painterly qualities and
strong color over the
representational or
realistic values retained by
Impressionism
2. Futurism: artistic and
social movement that
originated in Italy in the
early 20th century
3. emphasized speed,
technology, youth, and
violence, and objects such
as the car, the aeroplane,
and the industrial city
Henri Matisse. Woman with a Hat, 1905
Umberto Boccioni, sketch of The City Rises (1910)
Giacomo Balla, Abstract Speed + Sound, 1913–1914

Wassily
Kandinsky
1. What is pure
abstraction?
2. How does
Kandinsky use art to
explore
spiritualism?
3. How is the artist the
forerunner of
society – moving a
culture from one
era to the next?
Wassilyevich Kandinsk, 1866 – 1944

Stravinsky
1. “It began with a
bassoon and ended in
a brawl”
2. debuted The Rite of
Spring before a packed
theater in Paris, with a
ballet performance
that would go down as
one of the most
important — and
violent — in modern
history
Igor Stravinsky, Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor; widely considered one of the
most important /influential composers of the 20th century

HUM 201 Module 1 & 2

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