Modernist Era Saw the Rise Term Paper

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The modernist era was not just a revolution in art, but rather a whole social, economic, and cultural movement away from the previous era. As a result, Parisian society and the growing disparate classes meant that Manet's painting is capture both the decadent and the "now," the sense of immediacy that was occurring within the city. The depiction of in his masked ball for instance, depicts the rising "shift" within city life, no longer is everything and everyone stationary and domestic, but always on the move, with people passing by each other without a clue to their actual identity. The indistinct nature of the masses is Manet's theme, he looks at the clash between traditional depictions of French upper class, and compares it with the "mobile population" of Paris's underground as urban leisure has created Paris as not a cohesive image, but a series of constantly changing actions and people, represented by the steady migration of people in and out of the city. Manet's look at Paris in its "invisible population" attempts to capture the disparity between class divisions at the time. Industrialization and the modern revolution of the world has taken the emphasis away from the rich, and turned the thrust of social power and mobility to the transient masses. Life in Paris as it were, just does not add up, because its cultural identity can no longer be attributed to the actions of a few, or its cultural heritage.

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This new wave of mobile population shifts creates the allure of class division and re-emphasis on urban leisure for modernist artists. Another painting that is heavily discussed is Manet's "Olympia" is a depiction of a nude prostitute. The conflict and class division within this painting is the artist style in contrast to the theme. Manet paints the prostitute as he would in an aggrandizing style rather than a demeaning one, glorifying the prostitute to the stature of nobility. Clark explains that Manet's painting explicitly creates class tension, because it treats the prostitute as a "courtesan." Men within this era are socially accepting of courtesans because they are viewed as the entertainment of the social elite, but prostitution was taboo within the societal standards of the rich. Manet shows the prostitute as a part of the growing decadence of the times, as a reflection of the urban leisure that contrasts within traditional viewpoints. Manet's painting therefore blurs the existing lines between the "safe margin" of society and the grey area of lower class acceptability. It is the clash of class, body and social identity that makes this painting so provocative of the class division and emerging emphasis on artistic expressionism in….....

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