Early Modernism
Literature, Music, and Painting in Europe 1900-1916
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:28th Apr '94
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
From the advent of Fauvism to the development of Dada, the early part of this century saw a series of avant-garde movements in European literature, music, and painting, which fundamentally re-examined the languages of the arts. Early Modernism is a uniquely integrated introduction to the great movements of this period. In contrast to the overly literary bias of previous studies of Modernism it highlights the interaction between the arts and the interlinking nature of the developments made by Matisse, Picasso, Schoenberg, Eliot, Apollinaire, Marinetti, Benn and many others. The resulting changes and radical new techniques such as atonality, cubism, and collage, are set in the context both of the art that preceded them and a profound shift in ideas. Theories of the unconscious, the association of ideas, primitivism, and reliance upon upon an expressionist intuition led to a reshaped conception of personal identity, and the book examines the representation of the Modernist self in the work of figures including Joyce, Mann, Conrad, and Stravinsky. Lavishly illustrated, Early Modernism provides an elegant and incisive guide to this momentous period in the history of European art.
'This new book offers a deeper analysis of how changes in artistic technique relate to shifts in thought.' Frances Spalding, Sunday Times
'an outstandingly readable survey of writing, painting and music in Europe' Michael Horovitz, New Statesman & Society
`a refreshingly generous and generally sensitive account of the early influences on, and the development of, the Modernist movement. ... a serious book which deserves a wide and attentive readership.' Times Higher Education Supplement
`an excellent guide for both staff and students engaged in "Modernism" courses ... no university library should be without it.' Wyndham Lewis Annual
... an invaluable companion to early 20th-century European history and essential reading for students of modernism and the debates of post-modernism.' Art Book Review Quarterly
'... Butler's elegant exposition is a good place to start.' BBC Music Magazine. Oct 94
`a learned, readable and wonderfully informative study of the origins, over 80 years ago,of the avant-garde culture that is now a social institution.' The Tablet, Books of the Year
a refreshingly generous and generally sensitive account of the early influences on, and the development of, the Modernist movement. * Times Higher Education Supplement *
'it is an excellent guide for both staff and students engaged in "Modernism" courses - and a useful corrective for those who think they understand what artistic modernism was ...generously illustrated - especially so if the paperback price ... is borne in mind: no university library should be without it ... It is a measure of Christopher Butler's critical balance that he gives Lewis the painter ... an important place in the British contribution to European modernism. Anyone interested in either modernism or the postmodern should read it.' Dennis Brown, Wyndham Lewis Annual * Notes December 1995 *
This is a much-needed book...It is to Christopher Butler's credit that he is admirably cautious in his respect for the dangers and limits of analogy-tracing when it comes to certain surface thematic and technical similarities...Quite understandably for a study of this length, coverage is extremely selective, but judiciously so. * Comparative Criticisms 18 *
This book is just the sort of text to place in the hands of an advanced undergraduate, graduate student, or interested reader embarking on a study of modernism. Accurate and up-to-date, this study offers a comprehensive picture of the modernist impulse in its shared expression and techniques in various media...Butler has produced a text that serves as almost above reproach. * Notes *
Christopher Butler aims for a very precisely denoted historical concentration but a wide-ranging interdisciplinary sweep...His strength is in the commanding sweep of his gaze...his book is valuable and generous, seeing philosophy as an underpinning or a guide, rather than a goal. * RES New Series XLVII 185 *
Butler has written a book that is a useful contribution to the history of early modernism insightfully drawing out many of its complexities and contradictions, a book which will help to invigorate debates about modernism and its many histories. * Jon Kear, The Oxford Art Journal - 19:2, 1996 *
ISBN: 9780198182528
Dimensions: 234mm x 155mm x 25mm
Weight: 537g
344 pages