Hello Researchers!

I have a very short deadline on this!  Due to the 4 hurricanes in
Florida, I was unable to attend many of the lectures for Art History
senior level class, "Early 20th Century Art:  Modernist Theory". 
Tommorrow, I have a midterm exam.

I have done the required class readings, but they are very boring and
don't give an overview of the major precepts of modernism.

The exam will be four essay questions, where we will be shown a piece
of artwork from this time period and will be asked to identify the
major theories and ideals that drove the artist's intention. 
Basically, "why did Picasso use cheesecloth in this collage?"  Also,
we will be asked to back up our theories with at least one reference
per essay.

I need an overview of the modernist theories, as well as the timeline
with which they were introduced.  Also, links to good websites
(please, no more boring reading!) that talk about these theories and
how they influenced the artist's work would help me out greatly!

Here is a sample from the syllabus, taken from the Course Description:
-----------------------------------
EARLY MODERNISM: THEORIES AND HISTORIES

This course introduces the early history of Modern artistic practices
from the 1860s to the 1920s, and the major critical and historical
accounts of Modernism in the arts as they were developed in this
period.

Focusing specifically on the interrelationships between avant-garde
culture and the emerging mass cultural formations of the industrial
societies in Europe, the United States and the former USSR, the course
will address a wide range of historical and methodological questions:
the emergence of Modernism in the arts, the new technologies of
cultural production, the utopian projects of the avant-gardes, the
development of abstract art, the materialization of the Readymade, as
well as the transformation of concepts of artistic autonomy and
cultural institutions.

The course will first introduce key concepts of Modernism as they were
developed in the second half of the nineteenth century as well as
crucial work of some of the artists of that moment.

*****************************

Not covered on the Mid-term Exam:
[The second part will focus on the unfolding of Cubism, Fauvism, and
various forms of Expressionism in the first decade of the twentieth
century, setting the stage for the debate concerning abstraction in
the arts.  The course will conclude with critical responses to the
phenomena of War and Revolution in the period of 1914-1933, primarily
by the Italian artists of Futurism, the German avant-garde in the
context of Weimar culture and Dadaism, the Russian and Soviet
avant-gardes in the context of Constructivism and Productivism, and
the development of a Surrealist aesthetic in France.]
----------------------------------

When you reach cubism (1920-1930 and beyond?) I think you can stop,
because that will be on the next exam.

I need this within 6 hours.

Thanks so much!

Take care,

... Christopher