"Speedway"
linocut print by Sybil Andrews, 1934

#motorcycles #motorsport #linocut #printmaking #1930s #sybilandrews #modernism #modernart #UK

Centre Point, New Oxford Street

1966

George Marsh of Richard Seifert and Partners

http://modernist-london.weebly.com/blog/empty-vessel-centre-point-at-60

#modernism #architecture #concrete #london

💡 Did you know?

The answer to "What type of experience did Expressionist artists seek to express?" is Emotional!

More trivia on Telegram: t.me/QuizWhizGame
Download free: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.macukadam.QuizWhiz

#QuizWhiz #movies #film_and_tv #Modernism #Art

Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel, Piccadilly Plaza, 2025

📸 View HD images at https://modernistdelights.com/mercure-manchester-piccadilly-hotel-piccadilly-plaza-2025/?utm_medium=organic_social&utm_source=mastodon

#photography #dslrphotography #favourite #hotel #manchester #modernism #urbanphotography #urban #architecture #architecturephotography

‘Spring Storm’ by William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) was one of the most important American poets of the 20th century: a modernist of the imagist kind, he was known for using simple and colloquial language to express his ideas—a feature many critics now consider typical of modern American poetry. This can be contrasted with the modernists such as T. S. Eliot, whose works, to the contrary, resort to complex vocabulary, imagery and symbolism, and which can give off a rather elitist vibe.

The poem presented here, ‘Spring Storm’, serves as a good example of imagism: there are no complex, intertextual references or intellectual pretences. Instead, the poet shares an image coming straight from everyday life, one we are all familiar with. Of course, the image is not here for its own sake: it does stand for something.

After you read the poem, reflect on the symbolism of a spring storm and the change of seasons. There’s the literal change from winter to spring; what can it mean as a symbol? What does it mean to you?

VOCABULARY EXERCISE

Find the words in the poem with the following meaning:

• an unpleasantly sharp taste; a feeling of anger and unhappiness
• the surface of the earth
• a very small stream
• quickly, with great speed
• marked with small spots or patches
• a trough or channel that carries off rainwater
• a tiny amount of liquid
• the main body of a plant, a stalk
• dry, shrivelled, decaying

To check you answers, click here for the answer key.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Free e-books by William Carlos William (via Project Gutenberg)

Image credit: cover photo by Pratik Gupta on Unsplash.

"Guitar in Front of the Sea," Juan Gris, 1925.

As I've said before, I don't care much for Cubism, except for Juan Gris' style.

Spaniard Gris (1887-1927) started off as an illustrator and cartoonist, but moved to Paris and plunged himself into the avant-garde art world. He became a passionate Cubist, and in my view the best, as he practiced "Crystal Cubism" where he broke down things to their component shapes, but kept them still recognizable. His remarkably clean lines appeal to me.

The guitar here is two intersecting triangles with a rectangle thrust in it...the newspaper is two trapezoids together...the sea is some white lines on blue with a plain white triangle indicating a sailboat. We also have sheet music, a pear, and what may be the Ace of Diamonds....and while they're all distinctly Cubist, you still easily recognize them.

Poor health meant he died young and never moved to another style. As some critics have said, he's the purest Cubist of the lot.

From the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.

#Art #JuanGris #Cubism #StillLife #CrystalCubism #Modernism #MyFavoriteCubist