This essay examines the defining characteristics of modernism in the 20th century, tracing how a belief in naturalism and individual autonomy replaced the classical and Renaissance emphasis on universal meaning and tradition. Drawing on examples from philosophy, visual art, literature, and music, the paper analyzes how figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Edouard Manet, Virginia Woolf, Louis Armstrong, Franz Kafka, Salvador Dalí, and Arnold Schoenberg each departed from classical form and content to assert the primacy of the individual spirit. Together, these examples illustrate modernism's sweeping rejection of inherited cultural frameworks and its embrace of experimentation across the humanities.
A discernible trend in 20th-century humanities — broadly described as modernism — is the assumption that the autonomy of the individual is the sole source of meaning and truth. This belief, which stemmed from the application of reason and natural science, led to a perpetual search for unique and novel forms of expression (Keep, McLaughlin, & Parmar). It is therefore evident that modernism discarded the Renaissance period's interest in the classical tradition and universal meaning in favor of a belief in the primacy of the individual.
The influence of naturalism on modernism is highly evident in its humanistic philosophy, especially in Jean-Paul Sartre's philosophical school of thought, existentialism. In a radical departure from the classical belief in a purposeful universe created and governed by God, Sartre set out to disprove the existence of God while simultaneously establishing that only individual free will can define or change the essence of being (Wyatt, 2004).
The same emphasis on naturalism and the individual spirit can be seen in the Impressionist school of painting. For example, Edouard Manet's Luncheon on the Grass departs from the classical emphasis on formal arrangement to suggest new, more naturalistic possibilities in the use of light and color in open-air painting (Pioch, 2002).
Modernism's departure from tradition in favor of individuality is equally evident in modern literature and music, as demonstrated by Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and Louis Armstrong's composition Heebie Jeebies. Woolf flouted all conventional notions of feminism and instead advocated that women should develop their own style and write "as women write, not as men write" (Lawrence University). Similarly, Armstrong displayed individualism in Heebie Jeebies by introducing rhythmic "nonsense syllables" — a vocal technique called "scat" — for the first time in recorded music (Smithsonian Jazz, 2004).
Thus, it is apparent that the humanities in the 20th century discarded the Renaissance interest in classical traditions and chose instead to emphasize the importance of the individual spirit.
"Kafka and Dalí use surrealism to reject objective reality"
"Schoenberg's twelve-tone method breaks from classical harmony"
Across philosophy, painting, literature, and music, 20th-century modernism consistently discarded the Renaissance interest in classical tradition and universal meaning, choosing instead to emphasize the importance of the individual spirit. Whether through Sartre's existentialist philosophy, Manet's naturalistic painting, Woolf's feminist literary manifesto, Armstrong's invention of scat, Kafka's surreal fiction, Dalí's dreamlike canvases, or Schoenberg's twelve-tone compositions, the same underlying conviction prevailed: that the individual — not inherited tradition — is the ultimate source of authentic expression and truth.
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