Faculty of philology department of english philology viktorija mi

reassured with easily digestible meanings”. Indeed, in his study, the theorist argues convincingly 
that we can understand this aspect of Modernism as a natural reaction to the increasing consumer 
culture, which developed in Europe and North America in the late nineteenth century. Despite the 
fact that most manufacturers aimed to make products that would be popular and would make 
reasonable profit, high modernists rejected such materialistic attitudes in order to reformulate and 
reshape conventional thinking which the was basis of the theory of Modernism. Nicholls (1995:16) 
associates these innovations in art with the revolutionary rejection of capitalism and consumerism 
and argues convincingly that modernist art was a new powerful way of increasing people’s interest 
in the psychological and mental power hidden in each human being instead of just scanning and 
mimetically portraying devastated areas of daily life. 
According to Nicholls (ibid.), the modernist movement is clearly associated with the term of 
modern art, both characterized by a departure from emphasis on literal representation. Indeed, 
modernists rejected tradition and discriminated between relevant and irrelevant issues in life. 
Moreover, they made a collaborate effort to redefine and rediscover the fundamentals of art tracing 
back to the prehistoric times. Modernist artists embraced their newfound freedom of expression, 
experimentation, and radicalism. For instance, Paul Cezanne, who is often called the Father of 
Modernism, believed that the nucleus of art consists of the appropriate choice of colour and form, 
whereas depiction of the natural world can only diminish the value of the work of art. Nicholls 
believes that modernist architecture, which developed as a reaction to the one-dimensional style of 
the Victorian and the Edwardian period, also put the main emphasis on simplified, unornamented 
building styles and forms inspired by the idea of aesthetics. Modernists determined the form of a 
building according to its functional requirements and the materials to be used. Typically, modernist 
architects gave priority to light materials like glass, steel, and iron, which were widely used in the 
constructions. Besides, strict geometrical forms were preferred, and all unnecessary details were 
banished in order to reflect the idea of transparency and minimalism.
Interestingly enough, Berman (1988) contradicts Nicolls’ statements about the simplicity of 
the modernist art and architecture and argues convincingly that in general, modernist culture was an 
attempt to recover the variety of different component of human nature that the Victorians had 
sought to suppress and, at the social level, on bringing together all that the nineteenth century had 
struggled to keep apart. Viewing Victorian life as totally incoherent with reality, modernists sought 

---

15 
to reorient human existence toward the cultivation of direct experience, no matter how 
discomforting that might be. Inspired by the ideas of Sigmund Freud, they insisted on reconnecting 
the abilities of the mind governing rationality and logic with those subconscious forces governing 
the senses and emotions in order to rediscover the value of unique human character, conscience, and 
mind. In Sigmund Freud’s opinion (1964:84), it is possible to say that modernists rejected the 
importance of the Victorian conception of a stable, predictable Universe controlled by a certain 
divine power, putting in its place an abstract notion of endless unfinished Universe characterized by 
constant and unforeseeable change. Consequently, knowledge of the empirical world would always 
be imperfect at best, and the moral values constructed on the basis of that knowledge would remain 
debatable, evolving to keep pace with the ceaseless evolution of historical circumstances. It seems 
clearly that the one thing of which human beings can be sure is that they can never obtain certainty 
about anything. (Freud 1964:85) 
There is enough evidence to claim that the reality discovered by Modernism may have been 
filled with innovations and fragmentations, but the foremost impulse within the culture manifested 
in constant human struggle for integration in all aspects of life, namely: one’s identity, origin, 
values, beliefs, and mission in life. Indeed, Peter Trudgill believes (2000 :68) that modernists 
attempted to neglect and reject the many divisions that the Victorians had established in their life 
and art, from those separating mind from body and thought from emotion to those involving race, 
social class, and education. Besides, as Berman claims, “the maelstrom of Modernism has been fed