7.1: Introduction (1900 CE – 1940 CE)

In the early 20^th century, rapid change occurred everywhere; powerful states competed with each other, and other states resisted European domination, leading to significant, later upheavals. With rapid economic and industrial growth came the destruction of the natural environment. Rising economies in non-European parts of the globe and other nationalist movements brought uprisings weakening Europe's control, influence, and power. The United States, Russia, and Japan developed stronger economies. During the early part of the century, and despite the significant changes occurring, "the industrialized regions of Europe, North America, the USSR, and Japan accounted together for about 75 percent of the globe's Gross Domestic Product (GDP),"[1] dominating the financial system in the world. Two new conflicting blocs of power were the United States and the USSR. Populations increased with better technology to grow and harvest food, and control diseases through vaccinations and better medicine, leading to falling death rates. Population growth also expanded in the cities; people migrated from rural areas to the cities. "By 1950, more than 50 percent of people in the most industrialized countries lived in cities, about 40 percent in Latin America and the USSR, and less than 20 percent in the least industrialized regions, including China, South Asia, and much of Africa."[2]

The first half of the 20^th century included two world wars, a great depression, and a significant redistribution of global power. Through industrialization, countries stockpiled modern weapons, built alliances, and instituted financial tariffs and taxes in the competitive marketplace. 1914 World War I started a long and destructive war with France, Britain, and the United States against Germany, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Turkish. Millions of people died, and the financial cost was high. During the war, the German incursion into Russia weakened the czar, and a civil war erupted, leading to the growth of communism in Russia. The war brought a breakdown in social norms, changing class structures, race relations, and a fragmented world. Nationalist movements and revolutions began in other countries. India revolted against the British, China's uprising brought the communists to power, multiple African leaders fought for independence, and Mexico rebelled against Spanish control. One of the most dangerous changes was Hitler's ideology of Nazism and fascism, Germany's rebellion against the restrictive sanctions from World War I, and support for the rise of authoritarian government. Unrest throughout the world brought the destruction of World War II as Germany invaded Poland in 1939 and Japan attacked mainland China in 1937.

The fragmentation of world order also changed the art world; the disenchantment with previous academic styles led to artists' experimentation and innovation, developing new modes of expression based on their personal experiences. The chaos brought attitudes of antinationalism, and cynicism created new ideas and genres of art, frequently based on cross-cultural ideas from multiple places in the world. Traditional painting in China began to change as artists were influenced by Western art and the introduction of oil painting to China. Activists and intellectuals started to slowly change the social systems that limited women's chances. Artists in the Western world wanted to develop expressions based on the zeitgeist of the time. Previously, art was based on the reproduction of nature, recognizable elements, people, animals, the sky, or landscapes. With the advent of modernism, art became detached from reproduction, now consumed by the basic elements of line, color, dimension, and the experimental abstraction of those elements. Multiple styles and movements grew, some celebrating technology, or fragmented images based on a dislocated life or unusual pictures of the subconscious. Based on the writings of historian H. W. Janson, he believed the beginning of the 20^th century brought three new courses of art: expression, fantasy, and abstraction. Expression was formulated on feelings about the human condition; fantasy explored the mind's inner workings, and abstraction emphasized the structure of a work. The work ranged from realistic to non-representational, primarily geometric abstraction.

The best works have all three:

Without feeling, we are unmoved.

Without imagination, we are bored.

Without order, we see chaos. [3]

At the start of the 1900s, women took their place in the art world. Education opened, and training was available for the serious artist. However, women were still restricted by their clothing, including cumbersome dresses, large hats, corsets, and uncomfortable footwear. They had difficulty studying the nude male because the figure was partially clothed. Women artists' viability and success rose as the debates and movements over women's rights progressed, especially the push for a woman's right to vote. New technologies also allowed women to understand what was happening in different parts of the world. The telephone, mass-produced art journals, and telegraphs brought information about worldwide art, artists, and movements.

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[1] Retrieved from https://whfua.history.ucla.edu/eras/era8.php

[2] Retrieved from https://whfua.history.ucla.edu/eras/era8.php

[3] Retrieved from https://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.geometry/unit16/unit16.html