Contemporary Contour
Transcript of Contemporary Contour
The Contemporary The Contemporary ContourContour
Instructor: Nguyen Tuan An
Toward a Global Culture:Toward a Global Culture:
1. Postwar main events:
– Moon landing in 1969.
– Age of microtechnology, new forms of communication and the computer age.
– The Atomic Age The fear of nuclear weapons from the rogue nations or terrorist groups.
2. Postwar intellectuals:
Satire: expressing the fear and hatred of modern warfare.
- Joseph Heller: Catch-22 (1961)
- Thomas Pynchon: Gravity’s Rainbow (1973)
- Stanley Kubrick: Dr. Strangelove (1964)
3. The role of the United States:
- The U.S.: leader of the “free world” against communism.
- Global economy.
- New world order.
4. The new movements:
- Human rights, Civil rights, Rights of women, Democratic movements in the U.S. and other countries.
- George Orwell: political novel 1984 - Alvin Toffler: Future Shock - William Harrison Faulkner - Toni Morrison
Existentialism:Existentialism:
- Sren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855), a
Danish theologian and religious thinker,
emphasized the single individual (“the crowd is
untruth”) who exists in a specific set of
circumstances at a particular time in history
with a specific consciousness.
- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), a French writer
and philosopher, Sartre wrote “People are
condemned to be free” and people are
responsible for creating themselves.
- Albert Camus (1913-1960) and Simone de
Beauvoir (1908-1986): major voices of
demanding integrity in the face of the
absurdities and horrors of war-torn Europe.
- Existentialist themes: anxiety and alienation.
Painting since 1945:Painting since 1945:
George Grosz (1893-1959)George Grosz (1893-1959)
Hitler the savior (1923)
To Oskar Panizza (1917-1918)
Edward Hopper (1882-1967)Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
Nighthawks (1942)
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)
Poppy (1927)
Abstract Expressionism:Abstract Expressionism:
Abstract Expressionism has two characteristics:
• Unrecognizable content (and thus abstract).
• Using color, lines and shapes to express
interior states of subjective aesthetic
experience.
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)
Number 8 (1949)Number 8 (1949)
Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974)Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974)
Brink (1959)
Jasper Johns (b.1930)Jasper Johns (b.1930)
Flag (1954)
The Return to Representation:The Return to Representation:
Robert Rauschenberg (b.1925)Robert Rauschenberg (b.1925)
Canyon (1959)
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