Making Modernism

Illustrations are an important product of western modernism,which can be testified by either mass assembly lines,or by the media,styles,technology,etc.The graphic works in the 19 th century not only appeared in museums,salons,or art exhibitions for people to appreciate,but also prevailed as a mode of cheap publication for the public to savour at leisure.If the “replicate production” is the dominant feature of the “graphic works” in the 19 th century,it should be the key factor that separates them from the traditional arts.The thesis aims to discuss the issue of American illustrations and modernism by taking the Harper's New Monthly Magazine in America as the case and extending the research of mass culture into the field of American modernism.It unfolds in five chapters as follows.The first chapter briefly introduces the historical background of the Magazine illustrations from three parts about “artist”,“corporatization” and “printing(technology)” respectively.The second chapter discusses four different illustrators and examines their styles and contributions.The third chapter discusses the “modern shift” on the basis of urban and mechanic industrialism and attempts to demonstrate the reformation of magazine illustrations carried out by the emerging industrial technology at that historical period.The fourth chapter is dedicated to discuss the issue of “modern shift” of illustrations and afterwards reiterates the modern significance of illustrations.Considering the close relations between modern illustrations and early American modernism,the last chapter examines the possible changes of early American modernism from the perspective of the conflicts between classic and popular cultures.After a relatively clear presentation of the history,the study thinks that the “modern shift” of illustrations promoted the reformation of American modernism at the end of the 19 th century.Those American illustrators,subject to oblivion with time,are supposed to be valued and maybe it is exactly those “commercial” illustrators who started the history of American modern arts.