Contemporary

The American history is divided into time periods, each with a defining way of thinking and expression. Major events in history are usually the causes of such shift in people’s thoughts. When the colonists first settled in the new world, their Protestant religion had a strong impact on the literature of the time. This time period was later called the Rationalism, where people believed that everything could be explained by the intension of God. Literature and artwork of the time put a strong emphasis on religion. After the American Revolution, people in the United States wanted to create voice of their own. People looked up to idealized Romantic heroes that were bigger than life. The Americans yearned to achieve the American Dream of freedom and prosperity. However, the Civil War, brought Americans back to reality. During the Realist movement, people stopped dreaming of the ideal and looked at the present. The subjects of this time period focused on real-life people, like the John Smith and worked in a factory and living in poor conditions. Then came the First World War. The shock of casualties and secret conspiracies between countries was reflected on the art movement of the time. Modernism sought to look at things in many different points of view. Finally, there was World War II, which brought the same intensity of disturbance on the world and caused people to re-think everything they had believed in. The contemporary, or post-modern, movement threw away all traditions and questioned what people use to believe in. There was a drastic change in expression that caused some to question whether contemporary art is a real form of art.