--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What do I think was modernism’s subject…" description: "\"“What do I think was modernism’s subject, then? What was it about? No doubt you can guess my starting point. It was about steam—in both the Malevich an..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0a/t-j-clark-105837_modernism_what-do-i-think-was-modernism-s-subject_288559.jpg" --- # What do I think was modernism’s subject, then? What was it… ![“What do I think was modernism’s subject, then? What was it about? No doubt you can guess my starting point. It was about steam—in both the Malevich and the de Chirico a train still rushes across the landscape. It was about change and power and contingency, in other words, but also control…” quote by T. J. Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0a/t-j-clark-105837_modernism_what-do-i-think-was-modernism-s-subject_288559.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0a/t-j-clark-105837_modernism_what-do-i-think-was-modernism-s-subject_288559.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0a/t-j-clark-105837_modernism_what-do-i-think-was-modernism-s-subject_288559.jpg) > ““What do I think was modernism’s subject, then? What was it about? No doubt you can guess my starting point. It was about steam—in both the Malevich and the de Chirico a train still rushes across the landscape. It was about change and power and contingency, in other words, but also control, compression, and captivity—an absurd or oppressive orderliness is haunting the bright new fields and the sunlit squares with their eternally flapping flags. Modernism presents us with a world becoming a realm of appearances—fragments, patchwork quilts of color, dream-tableaux made out of disconnected phantasms. But all of this is still happening in modernism, and still resisted as it is described. The two paintings remain shot through, it seems to me, with the effort to answer back to the flattening and derealizing-the will to put the fragments back into some sort of order. Modernism is agonized, but its agony is not separable from weird levity or whimsy. Pleasure and horror go together in it. Malevich may be desperate, or euphoric. He may be pouring scorn on the idea of collective man, or spelling the idea out with utter childish optimism. We shall never know his real opinions. His picture entertains both. Modernism was certainly about the pathos of dream and desire in twentieth- century circumstances, but, again, the desires were unstoppable, ineradicable. The upright man will not let go of the future. The infinite still exists at the top of the tower. Even in the Picasso the monster flashing up outside the window is my monster, my phantasm, the figure of my unnegotiable desire. The monster is me—the terrible desiring and fearing subject inside me that eludes all form of conditioning, all the barrage of instructions about what it should want and who it should be. This is Picasso’s vestigial utopianism. You think that modernity is a realm of appetite and immediacy! I’ll show you appetite! I’ll show you immediacy! I shall, as a modernist, make the dreams of modernity come true. Modernism was testing, as I said before. It was a kind of internal exile, a retreat into the territory of form; but form was ultimately a crucible, an act of aggression, an abyss into which all the comfortable “givens” of the culture were sucked and then spat out.”” T. J. Clark ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Modernism explores fragmented, dream‑like realities, balancing pleasure and horror, while confronting control, chaos, and the relentless desire within the self. **In simple terms:** Modern art mixes chaos, desire, and fragile order. Key Takeaway Embrace complexity and question norms. Themes modernism art fragmentation desire control chaos Mood thoughtful analytical curious Type Artist:1 Modernism:1 Patchwork quilt:1 Starting point:1 Modernism Subject:1 Think Modernism:1 Modernism Certainly:1 Modernism Agonized:1 When to use this quote - museum visits - art education - creative projects Key Concepts philosophy of art psychology cultural critique Questions to Reflect On - How does fragmentation affect meaning? - What role does desire play in modern art? A Different Perspective May be abstract for some audiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Modernism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernism/) [Patchwork quilt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patchwork-quilt/) [Starting point](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/starting-point/) ## Related quotes > [“Post-Modernism (n.): That period that comes between Modernism (q.v.) and Post-Post-Modernism. Modernists think that Science makes it possible for us to know everything perfectly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-t-williams/post-modernism-n-that-period-that-comes-between-modernism-q-v-and/) Donald T. 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Modernism presents us with a world becoming a realm of appearances—fragments, patchwork quilts of color, dream-tableaux made out of disconnected phantasms. But all of this is still happening in modernism, and still resisted as it is described. The two paintings remain shot through, it seems to me, with the effort to answer back to the flattening and derealizing-the will to put the fragments back into some sort of order. Modernism is agonized, but its agony is not separable from weird levity or whimsy. Pleasure and horror go together in it. Malevich may be desperate, or euphoric. He may be pouring scorn on the idea of collective man, or spelling the idea out with utter childish optimism. We shall never know his real opinions. His picture entertains both. Modernism was certainly about the pathos of dream and desire in twentieth- century circumstances, but, again, the desires were unstoppable, ineradicable. The upright man will not let go of the future. The infinite still exists at the top of the tower. Even in the Picasso the monster flashing up outside the window is my monster, my phantasm, the figure of my unnegotiable desire. The monster is me—the terrible desiring and fearing subject inside me that eludes all form of conditioning, all the barrage of instructions about what it should want and who it should be. This is Picasso’s vestigial utopianism. You think that modernity is a realm of appetite and immediacy! I’ll show you appetite! I’ll show you immediacy! I shall, as a modernist, make the dreams of modernity come true. Modernism was testing, as I said before. It was a kind of internal exile, a retreat into the territory of form; but form was ultimately a crucible, an act of aggression, an abyss into which all the comfortable “givens” of the culture were sucked and then spat out.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "T. J. 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