Modern political developments in the early 20th century inspired artists in the United States to use puppets to convey political ideas-an active counterpart to the equally effective use of puppets in advertising. Political Puppetry Wherever they emerge in societies around the globe, puppets have played a central role as commentators-most often satirical!-on social and political life.

Immigrant artists in New York City represented Yiddish culture and contemporary politics and as union struggles and the threat of fascism emerged in the 1920s and 30s, giant puppets in the streets and hand puppets in booth stages sounded alarms. Modernist puppeteers also realized puppetry as a strong and clear way to share political, social, and cultural ideas. Daring puppet experiments of the European avant-garde inspired expatriate artists such as Gertrude Stein and Alexander Calder to pursue similar projects when they returned home.

In addition to European forms, American puppet modernists began to recognize and utilize Asian rod-puppet and shadow-puppet traditions, and developed an understanding of puppetry as a global tradition. American puppeteers embraced this dynamism in a variety of ways, taking advantage of new technologies of transportation, engineering, and communication as they toured across the country, invented such wonders as giant inflatable puppets, and figured out how puppets worked best with film and television. The early 20th-century world considered the United States a dynamic engine of progress. This combination produced American puppet modernism.

European marionette and hand puppet traditions had proliferated across the country for four centuries, and by the early 1900s, two new ideas emerged: that puppetry was an ideal form for childrenвЂ™s education and entertainment and that puppetry could be an ideal way to represent modern questions of culture, identity, and politics. American Puppet Modernism: The Early 20th Century New energies, ideas, technologies, and cultural contexts marked United States puppetry in the first half of the 20th century.

Puppetry art institute