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Great War Ends
After the Great War, which later came known as WWI, a new sense of freedom and creativity entered society. With growing modernization and manufacturing a new era began to emerge. -
Flapper Style
Over the course of the decade, the "flapper" style developed and women began to separate themselves from the hourglass silhouette of the previous decade. Flappers, in particular, adopted short dresses and short hair to give themselves a more boyish appearance that was deemed improper for women. -
Jazz Age Begins
[Link text] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3KxPsfZkS0
Jazz emerged in the early 1920s from New Orleans. Jazz clubs and dancers became one of the main sources of entertainment. -
New York, Early Twenties (1920-24)
Thomas Hart Benton is considered a pioneer of the regionalist art movement and sought to capture the unrest that many felt after the Great War ended. -
"Art" Dolls better known as Boudoir Dolls
Starting in France as part of the recovery effort, Paul Poiret, designed dolls that were intended to be used as an assembly or decoration. Many women took to these dolls as a means to express themselves and put a twist on the concept that dolls were meant for young girls. The "boudoir" or bed dolls as they came to be known as boomed in popularity throughout the 1920s/30s with many actresses carrying them as accessories and showing up in the backgrounds of films. -
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Roaring Twenties
[Link text]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psch9N4PmO4
After The Great War, America, along with several other countries entered the Roaring Twenties. It was a time where free play reined and many strove to achieve a life of glitz and glamour. However, not everyone was happy with America finding its wild side, and many aspects of the 1920s were faced with heavy criticism. -
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Harlem Renaissance
African-American art and literary culture movement that developed in New York’s Harlem district. Zora Neal Hurston, Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, and Josephine Baker were prominent figures of the movement. -
Blue and Green Music by Georgia O'Keeffe
O'Keeffe gained attention and popularity for her close-up paintings of flowers which many interpreted to be sexual. She, however, firmly stated that they were not moved to other subjects or study to escape such views of her art. One example of this is Blue and Green Music in which she sought to express things that she could not put into words such as the music she heard in New York, where the piece was painted. -
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
While considered a commercial failure at the time, the book is considered Fitzgerald's Magnum Opus and is argued to capture not only the glamour of the 20s but the criticisms of the lifestyle. -
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
As part of the Lost Generation, Hemingway sought to show how the war had damaged men. The Sun Also Rises is considered his best work. -
Radiator Building at Night by Georgia O'Keefe
While many styles emerged at the turn of the century, many artists, such as Georgia O'Keefe explored or focused on the modernization that occurred after the Great War. -
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (1929)
A Lost Generation emerged from WWI that included artists and writers who had experienced the horror of war.
Rather than depicting war as a romanticized act of patriotism, Remarque revealed the horrors of war. It is widely thought to be one of the greatest books about the experiences of war ever written. -
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Great Depression
In contrast to the glamour of the 20s, The Great Depression was a time of struggle for many and lead to major shifts in society. -
Betty Boop
As the Great Depression took its toll, Betty Boop soared in popularity as a reminder of the glamourous decade that had come before. However, pressure on production companies to produce media that was morally upstanding lead to Betty Boop losing her flapper image by the mid-1930s. -
1930s Fashion Shift
While simplicity remained, women’s fashion softly evolved from the boyish look of the previous decade into the feminine silhouette of the early thirties namely with the return of a waist. -
Motion Picture Production Code
After almost a decade of criticism that movies had been morally questionable, the MPPC went into full effect resulting in drastic changes to what was and was not allowed in film. Became fully enforced by 1934. -
Chrysler Building Opens
A well-known example of the Art Deco Movement, the Chrysler Building was a testament to the advancement of technology and architecture. Briefly holding the title of the tallest building in the world before skyscrapers fully dominated the cityscape. -
The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali
First known for his work with Cubism, Dali grew to be a prominent figure in the Surrealist movement that began in the 20s and further developed into the 30s. -
Andre Breton - The Egg in the Church
Surrealism developed as the philosophy behind the period in which psychoanalysis was born, elements of surprise, juxtapositions, and importance of the dream-like worlds and the notion of the subconscious dominated art. One such artist was Andre Breton who published the Surrealist Manifesto in 1924. He's credited for the creation of surrealism photograph. -
Prometheus by Paul Manship
Located outside of Rockafeller Center, Prometheus is thought to be the most photographed monumental sculpture in New York City. Manship was inspired by mythology and the statue serves as a symbol of mankind's desire to strive for greatness and advance civilization. -
Swing and Big Bands
By the mid-30s Jazz had evolved into genres of Swing and Big Band music. The following is "Sing, Sing, Sing" written by Louis Prima in 1935, performed by Benny Goodman.
[Link text] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2S1I_ien6A&list=PLXkLwx3USrbXz6Ogrwvox1XXnxJ7dmAMv -
Metropolis
[Text link] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0D4fHieW8o
The first full-length science fiction film that incorporated the dazzling styles of art deco and fashions of the 20s with commentary on growing class separation. -
Gone with the Wind (novel)
One of the most successful novels of the decade, many felt that the anxieties of the Civil War in the novel reflected the anxieties felt during the great depression. -
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Prior to The Hobbit, fantasy was seen as a children's genre, but Tolkien's masterful use of language and the desire to escape reality lead to the novel's success with adults and the birth of a few demographic for fantasy. -
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Was meant to be a devastating commentary on the cost of greed and capitalism that had lead to the Great Depression, Steinbeck is even quoted as having written the following about the book in a letter to a friend, "It is a mean, nasty book and if I could make it nastier I would. I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this. I've done my damnedest to rip a reader's nerves to rags.' Its considered being an accurate portrayal of life for many in the early 30s. -
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
The first full-length traditionally animated film that sparked Disney's long-lasting fame. Even at its initial release, the film was considered a genuine work of art and praised for its animation that many left was realistic/accurate depiction of human movement. Many scenes were influenced by earlier films from the 20s. It was one of the first 25 films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. -
Wizard of Oz
While not the first adaption of the book, the 1939 film pioneered numerous new effects in film making including special effects. Upon its release, it was compared to Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, which many critics claiming it was one of the most successful films to come out since Snow White. It's considered the most-watched film in history.