The 1920s

Roaring 20s

The Roaring 20s

Belief in progress and reason shattered by WWI

People looked at the world very differently from the optimism of the Enlightenment period

Literature reflected a disillusionment about war and the failure of reason and progress

The Roaring 20s

Sigmund Freud– Father of Psychology

Developed theories concerning the subconscious mind

Friedrich Nietzche (late 1800s)

– Believed through willpower and courage, you could create supermen that could rise above and control the common herd of men

Greatly influenced Hitler and the Nazi Party

The Roaring 20s

New scientific theories– Albert Einstein

Theory of Relativity: only the speed of light is constant

– Space and time can change relative to the movements of other objects moving at the speed of light

Also helped develop other theories including the atomic bomb

– E = mc2

The Roaring 20s

Art showed society’s disillusionment after WWI

Showed an inner world of imagination and emotion

Weeping Woman by Picasso

The Roaring 20s

Pablo Picasso– Developed cubism,

an early form of abstract art The Three Musicians

Self-portrait

The Roaring 20s

Salvador Dali– Surrealism; links reality with a

dreamlike state

The Roaring 20s

Jazz– Uniquely American music form that was

developed mostly by black musicians

The Roaring 20s

1921 Miss America bathing suit contest– Winner was 16

year old Margaret Gorman, third from left

The Roaring 20s

Styles changed from corsets, long dresses and Gibson girl hairdos….

The Roaring 20s

…to bobbed hair, short shirts, and dancing the Charleston; Flappers