Innovative Movements in Art and Politics

Sculpture

New forms and materials. Subject matters no longer needed to be noble. Materials were frequently taken from industrial waste, such as iron and steel. Ex. Alexander Calder designed mobile sculptures always in motion. In painting (innovative movements) Surrealism: Inspiration in the subconscious and in dreams. Use absurd and irrational elements as subject matter. Dadaism: Suggested destruction of art. Marcel Duchamp proposed ready-made art. He transformed everyday objects into art by displaying them in an art gallery. He believed art was in the attitude of the spectator as much as in the object itself. Abstract movement: Painters explored the possibility of creating works that had no reference to the outside world. Colour and shape were the essence of these paintings. Ex. Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Paul Klee.

Glossary

Duma: A legislative body in the ruling assembly of Russia and some other republics of the former Soviet Union. It was accepted by the tsar in 1905. Soviet: (before the revolution) any governmental council. After, a higher council elected by a local council, part of a hierarchy of soviets culminating in the Supreme Soviet. Autocracy: Government in which one person has uncontrolled or unlimited authority over others; like the tsar. Censorship: The suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security, is one of the characteristics of totalitarianism.

Black Shirts

A member of the paramilitary wing of the National Fascist Party founded by Mussolini. They did the marching of Rome.

Dictatorship

A country, government, or form of government in which absolute power is exercised by a dictator. Like Mussolini and Hitler did.

Gestapo

The German state secret police during the Nazi regime, organized in 1933 and notorious for its brutal methods and operations.

Aryan Race

Racial grouping commonly used in the late 19th century to the mid-20th century to describe peoples of European and Western Asian heritage. Hitler shared this idea and applied it.

Blitzkrieg

A swift intensive military attack, especially using tanks supported by aircraft, designed to defeat the opposition quickly, used by Germany in WW2.

Nuclear Attack

Warfare involving the employment of nuclear weapons, like the USA did in Hiroshima.

Genocide

The systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group, like the Nazis did with the Jews.