Chapter 15: Modern Art and Philosophy

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts from the lecture on modern art, philosophy, and cultural movements.

Information Age

A period marked by high technology, the mass media, and electronic means of communicating.

Sustainable design

Architecture that aims to do the least possible damage to the environment.

Digital technology

Technology that has revolutionized modern filmmaking, including computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Social critics

Leading artists of China's Pop art movement assume this role, analyzing cultural issues.

James Baldwin

The author who asserted that 'the world will never be white again' in Go Tell It on the Mountain.

Political propaganda and Pop art

The influences reflected in Wang Guangyi's 'Great Criticism' series.

Electronic music

The most radical development in music over the past fifty years, characterized by the use of synthesizers and sampling.

Philip Glass

The composer of Einstein on the Beach, one of the first operas to use electronically amplified instrumentation.

Kehinde Wiley

The visual artist known for appropriating the style of Old Master portraits with contemporary figures.

Minimalist artworks

Artworks inspired by simplicity, repetition, and industrial materials.

Absurdist theater

The dramatic genre of Beckett's Waiting for Godot.

Andy Warhol

The pioneer figure in American Pop art.

String theory

The contemporary physicists' effort to achieve a 'theory of everything' in unifying physics.

Gender inequality

The social concept challenged by writer Simone de Beauvoir.

Rap

A major component of hip-hop music characterized by rhythmic spoken lyrics.

Paris → New York

The shift in major art production that occurred after 1945.

John Cage

The composer known for aleatory pieces such as 4' 33'.

Jackson Pollock

The leading action painter of the twentieth century.

Chance operations

The method that made Merce Cunningham's choreography radical by separating dance from music.

Freedom

The fundamental condition of each individual according to Sartre's existentialism.

Postmodern Art

Characteristics include being eclectic, ironic, mixing styles, and challenging originality.

Gwendolyn Brooks

A poet whose work shows the influence of African-American culture and the Harlem Renaissance.

Simplicity, form, and structure

What minimalism and geometric abstraction emphasize over narrative or emotion.

1954

The year the United States Supreme Court did not ban school segregation until, as established by Brown v. Board of Education.

Being and Nothingness

Sartre's landmark philosophical treatise.

Existence precedes essence

The condition Sartre insisted is fundamental to each individual in his existential writings.

Civil rights and gender equality

The quest for equality discussed by authors like James Baldwin and Simone de Beauvoir.