Modernism emerged from a specific industrial-capitalist conjuncture that postwar capitalism destroyed
Evidence
The end of the Second World War marked the end of the distinctive historical conjuncture which had produced Modernism in the first place — the uneven and combined development of industrial capital ism which both disrupted existing regimes and offered apocalyptic intimations of a radically different future. The postwar stabilization and expansion of Western capitalism left the avant gardes, who had dreamt of transcending the separation of art and life, beached. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 562
Categorization
- XREF: This is classic Marxist periodization of Modernism — connects to Jameson’s own ‘periodizing hypothesis’ in Postmodernism and Anderson’s ‘Modernity and Revolution’. — connects to: Modernist art criticizes capitalism by mirroring commodity form rather than denying it — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 230; Stalinism and Nazism together destroyed the avant-garde — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 252; Political defeat turned Viennese bourgeois assimilation into a retreat into art — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 207 (+12 more)
Broader Connections
- Modernism emerged from a field spanning semi-industrial economy, fresh invention, and open revolt
#expands(0.92) — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 217 - World War II’s outcome destroyed modernism’s spurring historical forces
#corroborates(0.88) — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 218 - Capitalist modernity cannot be understood from its internal dynamics alone
#expands(0.75) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 487 - A critique of modernity that stays within modernity’s framework only reinforces it
#complicates(0.72)