Main content

Modernism around the World

Presenter Rana Mitter and guests put aside modernism鈥檚 Eurocentricism and look at pioneering art, writing and architecture from India, South Africa, Japan and Latin America.

Murals which aimed to synthesise the history and culture of Mexico, Japanese novels exploring urban alienation, an exhibition of Bauhaus paintings from Germany which inspired a generation of Indian artists.

Presenter Rana Mitter is joined by Jade Munslow Ong, Christopher Harding, Maria Blanco, and Devika Singh.

Amongst the Modernist writers and artists mentioned are:
Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro
Mexican artist Diego Rivera, and poet Manuel Maples Arce
Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral
Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier, and painter Wifredo Lam
Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges
Indian writer and artist Rabindranath Tagore, and artist Amrita Sher-Gil
South African writers Olive Schreiner, Roy Campbell, Solomon Plaatje, Rolfes Dhlomo
Japanese theorist Okakura Kakuz艒, and writers Edogawa Ranpo, and Ry奴nosuke Akutagawa

Producer: Luke Mulhall

Image: the Indian polymath and modernist Rabindranath Tagore
Image credit: Keystone France/Getty Images

Originally broadcast as part of the Modernism season on 成人快手 Radio 3 and 4 and 成人快手 Sounds. There is a collection on the Free Thinking programme website /programmes/p07p3nxh

And across the Proms season, various interval features are focusing on cultural openings and events from 1922. You can find those available to download as Arts and Ideas podcasts.

Available now

44 minutes

Last on

Thu 21 Jul 2022 22:00

Broadcasts

  • Wed 2 Feb 2022 22:00
  • Thu 21 Jul 2022 22:00

Featured in...

The Arts & Ideas Podcast

The Arts & Ideas Podcast

You can download all the past episodes of Radio 3's Free Thinking

Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019

Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019

Angry politics, what we can鈥檛 say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV

Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional

Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional

Angry politics, what we can鈥檛 say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many

We examine the fast-changing relationship between the individual & the crowd

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE all programmes, images, clips & features from 2017's festival

Free Thinking Festival 2017: The Speed of Life