The Modernist World: A Critical Analysis 1,500 Words
A critical written analysis of a ‘Modernist object’ of your choice. A modernist object such as: a sculpture, painting, or other physical object.
The Modernist Object chosen is a painting by Amrita Sher-Gil, Mother India, 1935.

This Critical Analysis must include:
⦁ Introduce and contextualise your object: Explain what it is, who made it, and in what context. This aspect of the tasks assesses your skills in accessing and presenting accurate and relevant information.

⦁ Explain why it should be considered a modernist object, paying attention to the form of the object and how it is formally innovative. Explain what is meant by ‘modernism’, using appropriate critical sources and definitions, and explain in detail how your chosen object demonstrates characteristics associated with modernism (these might include, for instance, abstraction, primitivism, dissonance, distortion, flatness, rejection of realism, critical attitude to ‘civilisation’). You should pay attention to how the object challenges formal conventions in its field (that is, how the way the object is made and the techniques used represent a break with earlier traditions in that genre), and explain how these innovations are linked to modernist ideas.

⦁ Present an argument about why your object is significant for our understanding of modernism. You might, for example, make an argument about what it reveals to us about the modernist movement, how it constitutes a particularly good example of a particular aspect or tendency within modernism, how it intervenes in debates about modernism, or how it reveals particular limitations, contradictions, or tensions within modernism. These suggestions are not exhaustive; you will need to carry out research using critical sources that discuss your object to develop a well-informed and independent argument.