Activity 1

During the later years of the nineteenth century, many Western painters became fascinated with Japanese art, particularly Japanese woodblock prints from the eighteenth century. Take a look at a few examples of these prints: Rain Shower on Ohashi Bridge by Hiroshige, Applying Makeup at the Mirror by Utamaro, and two prints by Buncho. Now examine three works by artists who were especially inspired by Japanese art: Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge (1872-5) by James McNiell Whistler; Woman in Front of Mirror (1891), by Mary Cassatt; and Divan Japonais (1893) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a Post-Impressionist who specialized in designing posters. What did these artists take from Japanese prints like the ones you examined? In what ways did Japanese prints help Western artists of this period break with the Renaissance tradition?

Activity 2

You have read about the varieties of irrationalism that fascinated Europeans during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As you know, these ideas-extreme nationalism, Social Darwinism, the Nietzschean will to power-threatened the democratic tradition and the humane liberal values of the Enlightenment. Let's consider another manifestation of irrationalism during this period, one peculiar to the West's largest democracy, the United States. During the early twentieth century, lynching became in America an all-too-frequent form of popular "justice." Ignoring the rule of law, mobs of vigilantes would seize people-usually African-Americans-suspected of certain crimes and kill them. The mobs generally hung their victims, sometimes beating and/or torturing them before passing sentence. Take a look at Without Sanctuary, a Web site featuring photographs taken of lynchings and made into postcards. NOTE: the pictures on this site are very disturbing, so be prepared. When you arrive at the Web site, click on "gallery of photos." Examine photos 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 11, 14, 15, 18, 34, and 47. What is most striking to you about these pictures? Who are the victims? Do their identities confirm or complicate your conception of lynching? Why do you think people at that time would have wanted to send each other postcards with such images? Recall the theories of or responses to irrationalism about which you read in Chapter 28: do any of those help you to understand these photos and the actions behind them? If so, how? If not, what additional information or conceptual tools do you think you would need to understand them?