The Meaning of meaning

1. The Meaning of meaning What I should be talking about in this essay standard

2. Modernist design and Architecture 1900 – 1960 • Modern life, advertising, and leisure • Change: modernity, urbanisation, technology, science • Domestic life • Corporate image. • Utopianism, Socialism, Communism. • The essay question will ask you to relate the two works of your choice to one of these themes. You will need to link the features of the works to these themes.

3. Modern life, advertising, and leisure • Remember our key focus period covers: 1900 – 1960 • What defined modern life then? • How did advertising contribute or relate to modern life? • What were people being ‘told’ to do in their leisure time? • How did art, design and architecture at this time relate to ‘a modern life’?

4. Change: modernity, urbanisation, technology, science • Why was the period 1900-1960 such a period of change? • What were the key changes? • How did we see the impact of these changes in architecture, art and design (or were these fields at the forefront of change?) • What critical changes occurred in technology and science? • What were the impacts of these changes on our fields of study? • Can you see the presence and importance of technology and Science in these works?

5. Modernism and urbanisation • Modernity: • “Baudelaire is credited with coining the term "modernity" (modernité) in his 1864 essay "The Painter of Modern Life," to designate the fleeting experience of life in an urban metropolis, and the responsibility art has to capture that experience. In this sense, it refers to a particular relationship to time, characterized by intense historical discontinuity, openness to the novelty of the future, and a heightened sensitivity to what is unique about the present.” • As a historical category, modernity refers to a period marked by a questioning or rejection of tradition; the prioritisationof individualism, freedom and equality; faith in inevitable social, scientific and technological progress; rationalisationand professionalisation; a movement from feudalismtoward capitalism and the market economy; industrialisation, urbanisationand secularisation; the development of the nation-state and its constituent institutions (e.g. representative democracy, public education, modern bureaucracy). • Urbanisation : • Can cause problems such as transport congestion, lack of sufficient housing, over-rapid growth and environmental degradation. Many cities display particularly sharp inequalities in housing provision, health and employment. Some people try to escape these problems by moving away from the city - a process called counter-urbanisation. Causes of urbanisation • Urbanisation means an increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas compared to rural areas. An urban area is a built-up area such as a town or city. A rural area is an area of countryside. • As a country industrialises, the number of people living in urban areas tends to increase. The UK and many other MEDCs urbanised during the 18th and 19th centuries. People migrated from rural areas (due to the mechanisation in farming) to urban areas where there was employment in the new factories. The area of cities known as the inner city developed during this time as housing was needed to the increase in workforce. • SO. How can we relate these two terms to our design, art and architectural works from 1900-1960?

6. Domestic life • Relating to the home, the household, household affairs, or the family. • How did art, design and architecture in our time period view domestic life? • What did it think domestic life should look and be like? • How is your chosen artist, designer or architect commenting on domestic life? • How does their work relate to or impact on domestic life?

7. Corporate image • "Corporate image" was originally advertising jargon but became a common phrase referring to a company's reputation. The "image" is what the public is supposed to see when the corporation is mentioned. The ordinary man and woman on the street usually have a wry view of public relations, advertising, hype, hoopla, and therefore also of corporate image—and this often for good reasons. But a good corporate image is a genuine asset; it translates into dollars at the counter and higher stock valuation. • How is the significance of corporate image present in our studied architects and designers’ work? • Why did corporate image become so important? • How did it affect the art world in this period?

8. Utopianism, Socialism, Communism. • A utopiais a community or society possessing highly desirable or near perfect qualities. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt to create an ideal society, and imagined societies portrayed in fiction. • socialism, social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members. • communism, the political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of at least the major means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and the natural resources of a society. Communism is thus a form of socialism—a higher and more advanced form, according to its advocates. Exactly how communism differs from socialism has long been a matter of debate, but the distinction rests largely on the communists’ adherence to the revolutionary socialism of Karl Marx.