Nordic Modernists in the Circus. On the Aesthetic Reflection of a Transcultural Institution
Around 1900 the circus was not only an important and highly popular cultural phenomenon all over Europe, but also an inspiration to writers and artists at the onset of Modernism. As an intrinsically intermedial form with international performers, it can be seen as an expression of certain important...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2018-11-01
|
| Series: | Humanities |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/7/4/111 |
| _version_ | 1828722999679778816 |
|---|---|
| author | Annegret Heitmann |
| author_facet | Annegret Heitmann |
| author_sort | Annegret Heitmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Around 1900 the circus was not only an important and highly popular cultural phenomenon all over Europe, but also an inspiration to writers and artists at the onset of Modernism. As an intrinsically intermedial form with international performers, it can be seen as an expression of certain important characteristics of modern life like innovation, mobility, dynamics, speed and vigor. Its displays of color and excitement, of bodies in motion and often provocative gender relations were experienced by authors as a challenge to create new aesthetic forms. However, the circus does not only figure prominently in well-known works by Kafka and Thomas Mann and paintings by Degas, Macke or Leger, it is also thematized in texts by Scandinavian authors. When writers like Henrik Ibsen, Herman Bang, Ola Hansson and Johannes V. Jensen referred to the circus in their works, they represented it as an experience of modernity and addressed themes like alterity, mobility, voyeurism, new gender relations and ambivalent emotions. As a self-reflexive sign, the circus even served to represent the fragile status of art in modernity and thus made an important contribution to the development of Modernism. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T12:42:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d998035e6d93433488ac6cef908f6649 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0787 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T12:42:10Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities |
| spelling | doaj.art-d998035e6d93433488ac6cef908f66492022-12-22T03:32:45ZengMDPI AGHumanities2076-07872018-11-017411110.3390/h7040111h7040111Nordic Modernists in the Circus. On the Aesthetic Reflection of a Transcultural InstitutionAnnegret Heitmann0Institut für Nordische Philologie Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 85304 München, GermanyAround 1900 the circus was not only an important and highly popular cultural phenomenon all over Europe, but also an inspiration to writers and artists at the onset of Modernism. As an intrinsically intermedial form with international performers, it can be seen as an expression of certain important characteristics of modern life like innovation, mobility, dynamics, speed and vigor. Its displays of color and excitement, of bodies in motion and often provocative gender relations were experienced by authors as a challenge to create new aesthetic forms. However, the circus does not only figure prominently in well-known works by Kafka and Thomas Mann and paintings by Degas, Macke or Leger, it is also thematized in texts by Scandinavian authors. When writers like Henrik Ibsen, Herman Bang, Ola Hansson and Johannes V. Jensen referred to the circus in their works, they represented it as an experience of modernity and addressed themes like alterity, mobility, voyeurism, new gender relations and ambivalent emotions. As a self-reflexive sign, the circus even served to represent the fragile status of art in modernity and thus made an important contribution to the development of Modernism.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/7/4/111Scandinavian modernismcross-fertilizationcircusmeta-cultural codemodernist aesthetics |
| spellingShingle | Annegret Heitmann Nordic Modernists in the Circus. On the Aesthetic Reflection of a Transcultural Institution Humanities Scandinavian modernism cross-fertilization circus meta-cultural code modernist aesthetics |
| title | Nordic Modernists in the Circus. On the Aesthetic Reflection of a Transcultural Institution |
| title_full | Nordic Modernists in the Circus. On the Aesthetic Reflection of a Transcultural Institution |
| title_fullStr | Nordic Modernists in the Circus. On the Aesthetic Reflection of a Transcultural Institution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nordic Modernists in the Circus. On the Aesthetic Reflection of a Transcultural Institution |
| title_short | Nordic Modernists in the Circus. On the Aesthetic Reflection of a Transcultural Institution |
| title_sort | nordic modernists in the circus on the aesthetic reflection of a transcultural institution |
| topic | Scandinavian modernism cross-fertilization circus meta-cultural code modernist aesthetics |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/7/4/111 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT annegretheitmann nordicmodernistsinthecircusontheaestheticreflectionofatransculturalinstitution |