z History: 44. Modernism

Modernism is a collection of cultural movements, schools and styles that permeated the arts and the design of the first half of the twentieth century. The modernist movement was based on the idea that traditional forms of visual arts, literature, design, social organization and daily life have become outdated, and that it was essential to leave them aside and instead create a new culture. In essence, the modern movement argued that the new realities of the twentieth century were permanent and eminent, and that people should adapt to their world view to accept that what was new was also good and beautiful.

The brand of the changes that occurred can be found in how many sciences and arts are described in their earlier forms the twentieth century by the label "classic", including classical physics, classical economics and classical ballet.

In Brazil, the major devices of the modernist movement is not opposed to all the previous artistic accomplishment theirs. The great battle stood against the past, everything that impeded the free creation. One can thus say that the modernist proposal was an almost complete break with the aesthetic thickening of art found in previous schools and an expansion of the horizons of this prior art defined by academic standards. In parallel to the rupture, one cannot deny the desire of writers to meet and explore the past as a source of creation, not as a rule to create.

The advent of modernism occurred between 1890 and 1910, in principle, the movement can be generally described as a rejection of tradition and a tendency to view problems from a new perspective based on current techniques and ideas. In the literature, the symbolist movement would have a great influence on the development of Modernism, due to its focus on feeling. Philosophically, the break with tradition by Nietzsche and Freud provides a key foundation of the movement that was to come: start over primary principles, abandoning the definitions and previous systems.

The first fifteen years of the twentieth century, a series of writers, thinkers, and artists made the break with traditional means of organizing literature, painting, music - again, in parallel to changes in the organizational methods of other fields. The argument was that if the nature of reality itself was in question, and its restrictions, the hitherto common human activities were changing, so art should also change.

Some landmarks are the songs of Arnold Schoenberg and the advent of Cubism through the work of Picasso and Georges Braque in 1908, beyond Expressionism inspired by Van Gogh and Futurism.

In Brazil the week of Modern Art, held in São Paulo in 1922 was the starting point of modernism in Brazil. Participated in the Week renowned names such as Mario de Andrade, Oswald de Andrade, Anita Malfatti, Heitor Villa- Lobos, Tacitus de Almeida, Di Cavalcanti and others. On the occasion of the Week of Modern Art, Tarsila do Amaral, considered one of the great pillars of Brazilian modernism, was in Paris and, therefore, did not participate in the event.