Criticism of social class and wealth

as seen through The Garden Party

(1922) and Self-portrait on the
Borderline Between Mexico and the
United States (1932)
 INDEX

1. The main characteristics of the modernist movement

2. The garden party
3. Brief summary of the piece
4. About the author
5. Form
6. Themes
7. Ideas
8. Self-portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States
9. Description of the painting and biography of the author
10. Themes
11. Form
12. Ideas
13. Why did we choose these works of art, points to relate in both works
THE MODERNIST MOVEMENT
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Rejection of the certainty of the Enlightenment

Use of parody to get message across

A rejection of history and conservative values

Focus on social organization and the industrial world

Rejection of religious beliefs

A study to find out what was holding back progress

Rejection of realism
 THE GARDEN PARTY

Publication date: 1922

Author: Katherine Mansfield

Important date for the modernist movement “The Waste Land”

Female author and female representation in the novel

Transition short story, contains modernist ideas.

PLOT SUMMARY

- Protagonist: Laura
- Outcoming story: nature and protagonist’s blossoming
- Social context: New Zealand’s high society
- Representation of the different worlds

- Natural aesthetic vs Superfluous aesthetic

- Difference in the social positions

- High society (family) vs. Workers (low society)

About the author

Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)

Family background: high socioeconomic status

Representative figure of short-novels

Criticized by the society of the time

Successful literary life

Bohemian lifestyle
Social context of the Author

1922: Important year for the Modernist Movement

Female writer

After the WW2

Modernist remarks on the novel

Coming-of-age story

Internal limited narration

Chronology and time and space limits

 FORM, THEMES AND MAIN IDEAS

Highly decorated text (abundance of subjective adjectives)

Language centred around peace, beauty and wellbeing in the first part

Language centred around poverty, sadness and death in the second part

MAIN THEMES: empathy, the difference between social classes, indifference, beauty, nature, colonisation.

IDEAS:

The beauty of the upper class garden in contrast to the ugliness of the slums

How Laura's mother tries to repress her empathy (The Hat symbolism)

The difficulty of growing up poor vs growing up rich

The importance of one life over another

 Self-portrait on the
Borderline Between
Mexico and the
United States

Publication date: 1932

Painter: Frida Kahlo

DESCRIPTION OF THE PAINTING AND BIOGRAPHY OF
THE AUTHOR
FRIDA KHALO
Born in 1907, Mexico
Proud of her "Mexicanidad" and cultural tradition
set against the reigning Americanization
Polio and bus accident lead to multiple operations
Life plagued by suffering

Of her 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits which

often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical
and psychological wounds.

Worked as a painter in the US but ultimately moved

back to Mexico.
 FORM, THEMES AND MAIN IDEAS

- Form: Dark colours in the background. Light colours used in the foreground or
to make elements stand out.

Left side represents ancestry, richness of culture, the “old” world, poverty,
authenticity.

Right side represents coldness, industrialization, war, colonial superpower,

modernity.

- Self-portrait: importance to the author

THEMES: indecision, industry, culture, loneliness, loss of hope, old world values,
heritage, race.

Social context and background “we can see the roots of the mexican beauty”

Frida’s indecision. She must choose between the old world and her roots or the
new world and industry.
WHY ARE THESE TWO WORKS OF ART
RELATED?

- Main themes of both the story and the painting revolve around class
- Criticism of colonialism (Theory that the people in the garden party are white and the
people in the slums are indigenous; the cultural colonisation of Mexico by the USA)
- The link between poverty and race ( The oppressed class is usually the poorest)
- The presence of beauty amidst ugliness
- Strong female protagonists that somehow betray their ideals for an easier life
Conclusion

- Importance on both artists

- Background importance
- Discomfort with society; different ways to face the social reality
- Poverty working for the wealth’s life