What makes Death of a Salesman a modernist work?

Answer 1

It talks about the decline of the "old America" and families when the country was becoming industrial. There's parallels between the time Willy lives in and the modern era...people are working all the time, nobody can have a small-time job, the American Dream of having a perfect family and owning a nice house is dead.

Answer 2

Modernism is really an off-shoot of Futurism, Dadaism and Surrealism and typically a commentary on our industrial age.

Also, the main character -- Willy Loman -- is "everyman." Not a king or a hero. Other plays from the same time that explored this idea were; The Fantasticks, Pippin, Our Town, Candide and Waiting for Godot. .

"Modern" is a tricky art movement -- it influenced dance, art, architecture and music. Some aspects are stripping of convention -- sometimes suggested scenery, for example. The Minimalist movement was of the same time -- and I think, in many ways, go hand in hand.