ESP Biography

The early twentieth century was one of the richest and most diverse periods for the arts. Painting, sculpture, politics, and poetry fused in an attempt to re-shape the way we express ourselves and the way we express our perceptions of the world. Many of these expressions came in definable movements, and together they formed modernism. This course will be interactive, discussion-based, hands-on. We'll look at avant-garde pieces of art, poetry, and manifestoes (stated ideologies) to understand the evolution of modernism in the context of artistic and political history (especially 1890's to 1920's). The end product: in the second half of the class, the students will divide up according to interests in certain movements (cubism, fauvism, imagism, futurism, vorticism, etc.). Then they will go out on campus, look around, and write a poem or piece of prose inspired by the ideas we've analyzed.