ABSTRACT
During the first half of the twentieth century, the terror and uncertainty that filled the world seemed to belie the optimistic beliefs of earlier generations. One response to the profound moral crises of the twentieth century was formulated by a group of intellectuals known as existentialists. Many existentialist thinkers of the twentieth century have rejected traditional religious structures. Much of twentieth-century literature and art has explored such problems of contemporary life as alcoholism, drug addiction, violence, and insanity, and has identified despair as the underlying cause of these problems. Paul Tillich is a twentieth-century theologian who has formulated responses to the individual's sense of alienation. Artistic freedom and creative experimentation were championed by the artist Naum Gabo. Gabo believed that new forms and new media should be used by artists to express the realities of twentieth-century existence.
