Modernism is both a philosophical movement and an art movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the factors that shaped modernism were the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed by reactions to the horrors of World War I. Modernism rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, although many modernists rejected religious belief. Modernism, in general, includes the activities and creations of those who felt the traditional forms of art, literature, religious faith, social organization, activities of daily life, sciences were becoming ill-fitted to their tasks and outdated in the new economic and political environment of an emerging industrialized world; the poet Ezra Pound's 1934 injunction to "Make it new!" was the touchstone of the movement's approach towards what it saw as the now obsolete culture of the past.

In this spirit, its innovations, like the stream-of-consciousness novel and twelve-tone music, divisionist painting and abstract art, all had precursors in the 19th century. A notable characteristic of modernism is self-consciousness and irony concerning literary and social traditions, which led to experiments with form, along with the use of techniques that drew attention to the processes and materials used in creating a painting, poem and other works of art. Modernism explicitly rejected the ideology of realism and made use of the works of the past by the employment of reprise, rewriting, recapitulation and parody. While some scholars see modernism continuing into the 21st century, others see it evolving into late modernism or high modernism. Postmodernism refutes its basic assumptions; some commentators define modernism as a mode of thinking—one or more philosophically defined characteristics, like self-consciousness or self-reference, that run across all the novelties in the arts and the disciplines.

More common in the West, are those who see it as a progressive trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create and reshape their environment with the aid of practical experimentation, scientific knowledge, or technology. From this perspective, modernism encouraged the re-examination of every aspect of existence, from commerce to philosophy, with the goal of finding that which was'holding back' progress, replacing it with new ways of reaching the same end. Others focus on modernism as an aesthetic introspection; this facilitates consideration of specific reactions to the use of technology in the First World War, anti-technological and nihilistic aspects of the works of diverse thinkers and artists spanning the period from Friedrich Nietzsche to Samuel Beckett. According to Roger Griffin, modernism can be defined in a maximalist vision as a broad cultural, social, or political initiative, sustained by the ethos of "the temporality of the new". Modernism sought to restore, Griffin writes, a "sense of sublime order and purpose to the contemporary world, thereby counteracting the erosion of an overarching ‘nomos’, or ‘sacred canopy’, under the fragmenting and secularizing impact of modernity."

Therefore, phenomena unrelated to each other such as "Expressionism, vitalism, psychoanalysis, eugenics, utopian town planning and architecture, modern dance, organic nationalism – and the cult of self-sacrifice that sustained the hecatomb of the First World War – disclose a common cause and psychological matrix in the fight against decadence." All of them embody bids to access a "supra-personal experience of reality", in which individuals believed they could transcend their own mortality, that they had ceased to be victims of history to become instead its creators. According to one critic, modernism developed out of Romanticism's revolt against the effects of the Industrial Revolution and bourgeois values: "The ground motive of modernism, Graff asserts, was criticism of the nineteenth-century bourgeois social order and its world view the modernists, carrying the torch of romanticism." While J. M. W. Turner, one of the greatest landscape painters of the 19th century, was a member of the Romantic movement, as "a pioneer in the study of light and atmosphere", he "anticipated the French Impressionists" and therefore modernism "in breaking down conventional formulas of representation.

The dominant trends of industrial Victorian England were opposed, from about 1850, by the English poets and painters that constituted the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, because of their "opposition to technical skill without inspiration." They were influenced by the writings of the art critic John Ruskin, who had strong feelings about the role of art in helping to improve the lives of the urban working classes, in the expanding industrial cities of Britain. Art critic Clement Greenberg describes the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as proto-Modernists: "There the proto-Modernists were, of all people, the pre-Raphaelites; the Pre-Raphaelites foreshadowed Manet, with whom Modernist painting most begins. They acted on a dissatisfaction with painting as practiced in their time, holding that its realism wasn't truthful enough." Rationalism has had opponents in the philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Niet

Babsie Steger is an Austrian television actress, dancer and television presenter. Babsie Steger was born in Waidhofen an der Ybbs in Lower Austria, she left her native Austria at age 18 after studying classical dance at the Vienna State Opera, where she worked with Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov in the ballets of Maurice Béjart. She arrived in France studying at the École de Danse Princesse Grace in Monaco with prestigious teachers like Mariska Besobrasova, she came to Paris learning French and Italian while working as a dancer and model. She appeared in fashion shows and advertisements, took theater classes with John Strasberg at the Actors Studio, her first job was a classical dancer and permitted her to know well the human body and the correct way to feed herself. She has always been interested on dietetic and the welfare, thus for over 20 years, she founded in 2003 a restaurant in Paris, where she tested for the first time her Austrian pastry recipes, which appeared in 2011 in her book Strudel, Kouglof et Cie.

A few months after arriving in Paris, she was engaged as a dancer in the television series Palace. She was noticed by Jean-Luc Azoulay who engaged her to portray the role of Hilguegue in the series Salut les Musclés, declining; the series became successful once again and Babsie Steger became famous. After over a hundred episodes broadcast until 1994, the series were re-titled La Croisière foll'amour and still with the same actors; this spin-off of Salut les Musclés was successful until 1997 on TF1. In 1993, she became a singer at AB Groupe with the single "Dance with Me", which permitted her to perform live during the first part of the concert s of Hélène Rollès at the Zénith de Paris and on tour in France in autumn 1993, she released two singles, "Juste un petit peu d'amour" and "Le Yaya". She is known for her minor roles in French television series where she played along with Roger Hanin, Pierre Arditi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Gérard Depardieu, Bernard Le Coq, Pierre Mondy, Mimie Mathy, Patrick Timsit and many others.

She has appeared in series such as Navarro, Le G. R. E. C. Fabien Cosma, L'Été rouge, Joséphine, ange gardien, Nestor Burma, Père et Maire, Le fond de l'air est frais, Le Proc, Commissaire Moulin, Avocats et Associés and Désiré Landru. In addition to her acting career, Babsie Steger is a television presenter on the channels IDF1 and Vivolta from 2008 to 2012, she presents from 2012 to 2013 the pastry program Les pâtisseries de Babsie on channels Chérie 25 and Cuisine+. Official website Babsie Steger on IMDb

Tim Brent is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played over 200 games in the National Hockey League, most notably for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes. Tim is married to Eva Shockey. Brent grew up in the Cambridge, Ontario area playing minor ice hockey for the Hespeler Shamrocks of the OMHA and the Cambridge Hawks of the Alliance Pavilion League, he played in the 1998 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a team from Cambridge. At age 15, Brent signed with the Cambridge Winterhawks Jr. B. team of the OHA Midwestern Ontario Hockey League in the 1999–2000 season. After completing his Jr. B. season, Brent was the 2nd overall selection of the OHL's Toronto St. Michael's Majors in the 2000 OHL Priority Selection. Brent began his major junior career on the Toronto St. Michael's Majors of the Ontario Hockey League in the 2000–01 season, he played on the team for four seasons, until 2003–04. During that time, he was drafted twice, both times by Anaheim, he was first drafted 37th overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, but was re-entered into the draft two years after not signing with Anaheim.

In the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, he was selected 75th overall, again by the Ducks. In the 2004–05 season, he started his professional career with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks; the next season, he played on the Portland Pirates, the Ducks' new minor league affiliate. He began his 2006–07 season with Portland, but was recalled to the Stanley Cup-winning Ducks and scored his first NHL goal February 20 against the Vancouver Canucks. Brent did receive a Stanley Cup Ring, but did not play enough games to be included on the Stanley Cup. On June 23, 2007, the Anaheim Ducks traded Brent to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for centre Stephen Dixon. On July 17, 2008, Brent was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Danny Richmond. On July 6, 2009, Brent signed a one-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. During his first preseason game of the 2009–2010 season, Brent tore his pectoral muscle – requiring surgery that would see him miss 4 months of action. After recovering, Brent returned to play with the Toronto Marlies, recording 28 points in 33 games.

He was called up for the final game of the season to make his debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Montreal Canadiens. A strong training camp with Toronto saw Brent dress for the Maple Leafs in the season opener on October 7, 2010 versus the Montreal Canadiens. Brent made an impact, scoring the first goal of the game at 6:42 of the first period. Brent went on to suit up for 79 games this season. A game on February 3, 2011 against the Carolina Hurricanes saw him block 5 shots and clear the puck in a single penalty kill; this play earned him a standing ovation at the Air Canada Centre as well as TSN's "No Guts, No Glory" award. It was a nomination for NHL Play of the Year. Brent signed a two-year contract with the Carolina Hurricanes on July 1, 2011. Upon completion of his contract with the Hurricanes, Brent signed his first contract outside North America, on a one-year deal with Russian club, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL on July 30, 2013. After eighteen games with Torpedo, he was traded to Metallurg Magnitogorsk for Justin Hodgman.

With Metallurg he won the Gagarin Cup. Brent returned to North America following the 2014–15 season, signing a one-year, two-way contract with the Philadelphia Flyers on July 1, 2015, he was assigned for the duration of the 2015–16 season, to AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. In 52 games with the Phantoms, Brent contributed with 10 goals and 28 points before announcing his retirement from professional hockey at seasons end on May 25, 2016. Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database, or TSN.ca