Postmodernism emerged in the late 1960s as a reaction against modernism's rigidity and lack of context. It manifested in new art forms like conceptual art, minimalism, and performance art. Postmodernist architecture moved away from modernism's formal rules by incorporating symbolic references and classical elements. Major postmodern architects included Venturi, Moore, Piano, and Johnson, whose works emphasized eclecticism and challenged notions of universal truths. Postmodern practices in the visual arts involved appropriating and questioning existing works through the works of artists like Kruger, Sherman, and Levine.

1. Chapter 24
POSTMODERNISM

2. Postmodernism, which emerged in the late 1960s, is considered:
• a reaction against the modernism’s
• rigidity,
• uniformity,
• and lack of local context of modernism
• a period that followed modernism
The reaction manifested in forms such as:
• Conceptual art,
• Minimalism,
• Video art,
• Performance art,
• and Installation art.
Postmodernism is associated with:
• skepticism,
• irony
• critiques of the concepts of universal truths.

3. The Pruitt-Igoe public
housing complex in St
Louis. Built 1952-53.
Photograph:
Bettmann/Corbis
• Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986)
• Japanese-American architect, born of Japanese parents.
• grew up in a tenement in the Yesler Hill district of Seattle
• was commissioned to design a public housing project federally
financed under the Housing Act of 1949, in St. Louis.
• at first designed a mixed-rise cluster of buildings
• Designed World Trade Centre which was completed in 1973

4. • The Public Housing Administration
• insisted on a cost-saving uniform tower height of eleven-
story.
• The Korean War and disagreements in Congress placed
restrictions on the construction budget resulting in
• poor build quality
• cheap fixtures
The demolishing of Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex in St Louis
marked the failure of the rules of Bauhaus.
The Pruitt-Igoe public
housing complex in St
Louis, shortly after its
completion in 1956.
Photograph:
Bettmann/Corbis

5. Postmodernist architecture
• moved away from the rigid
formalities of modernism,
• began to incorporate references that
were symbolic,
• used techniques from classical
architecture to modern designs,
• is characterised by highly decorative,
whimsical and kitsch aesethetic,
• refuses to draw inspiration from a
single source,
• and often focussed on form over
function,
• had a metaphoric nature.
• incorporates designs that are based
on forms from nature,
The Lotus Temple in New Delhi,
India. Architect: Fairborz Sahba.
The design was inspired by the
lotus flower which has long been a
unifying symbol in India’s religions.
Postmodernism in
Architecture

6. Robert Venturi is considered the father
of Postmodernism.
His book Complexity and Contradiction
in Architecture
• was first published in 1966,
• has become an essential document
in architectural literature
• was Venturi's "gentle manifesto for a
nonstraightforward architecture"
• expresses in original terms the
postmodern rebellion against the
purism of modernism
A second book, Learning from Las
Vegas, was very provocative as it was
perceived to be an indictment of
modernism.
“Complexity and Contradiction”: The Reaction
Against Modernism Sets In
The Las Vegas Strip, one of the
most visited places on Earth.
Photograph: David Levene for
the Guardian

7. In Praise of “Messy Vitality”:
Postmodernist Eclecticism
Ventury, Rauch, Scott Brown, and Moore
Venturi and his partner, Denise Scott Brown
• were pioneers in post-modern architecture
• were opposed to a minimal, austere and impersonal contemporary
architecture
The Best
Products Catalog
Showroom in
Langhorne, Pa.,
designed by
Venturi, Scott
Brown and
Associates
opened in 1978.

8. The Chestnut Hill House is
considered the first
postmodern building.
Venturi wrote Complexity
and Contradiction in
Architecture (1966) at the
time of the construction of
this house.
Together the book and the
house, became a manifesto
for the principles of modern
culture.
Robert Venturi, Chestnut Hill House, 1962.
Philadelphia.

9. Charles Moore ,
Piazza d'Italia, New
Orleans, 1978.
Piazza d'Italia, New Orleans
• illustrates Moore's ideas
of an "inclusive"
architecture
• was designed for wide
public appeal and
enjoyment
• was conceived as an
urban redevelopment
project and a tribute to
the city's Italian citizens –
past and present.
• was commissioned by
Italian-American
community leaders

10. Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. Centre
National d’Art et de Culture Georges
Pompidou, 1971-78, Paris.
Piano, Rogers, and a
Postmodern Museum
• The archictects exposed the
anatomy of the building.
• A competition to design the
building attracted 650
entries.
• Renzo Piano and Richard
Rogers won the competition
and went instantly from
unknown to celebrity status.
• The Centre Pompidou
includes an art gallery, two
libraries span over three
floors.
• There are 25,000 visitors per
day

11. Hollein, Stern, and Isozaki
Hans Holein - a known postmodernist
architect who valued meaning over
function.
Hollein studied architecture at the
Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna before
continuing his education in the United
States - first at IIT in Chicago, then at
U.C. Berkeley.
Robert Arthur Morton Stern in the
1970s, and early 1980s, developed a
reputation as a postmodern architect. He
integrated classical elements into his
designs for contemporary buildings

12. Arata Isozaki studied
architecture at the University of
Tokyo.
After graduation, he became an
apprentice for nine years to
Tange Kenzō, a leading
Japanese architect.
In 1963 Isozaki formed his own
design studio. He was a visiting
professor at a number of
universities throughout the
United States.
He also designed the Los
Angeles Museum of
Contemporary Art (1986).
Arata Isozaki. Los Angeles Museum of
Contemporary Art (1986).
The museum has three levels above
ground and three under level ground.

13. Philip Johnson
The AT&T Headquarters
building is regarded as the
first Postmodern
skyscraper.
The building featured a
number of ornamental
elements, most notable are
its granite cladding and
"Chippendale" roof line.
Example of Chippendale
style highboy chest
Philip Johnson and
John Burgee. The
AT&T Headquarters
New York, 1978-83
Ironic Grandeur: Postmodernist
Architecture and History

14. Stirling, Jahn, Armajani,
and Foster
James Stirling (1926-1992),
is considered one of the
most prominent architects
of his generation.
The . Neue Staatsgalerie is
considered the first stage of
Post-Modernism.
James Stirling. Neue Staatsgalerie. 1977-84.
Stuttgart, Germany.

15. Helmut Jahn
German-born American
architect, became
renown in the late
1970s and ’80s for
designing extravagant
buildings that
combined historical
and contextual
references.
Helut Jahn,
James R.
Thompson
Center, 1985,
Chicago.

16. Norman Foster
The focus of the design of
the Gherkin was energy
efficiency.
A number of features
enhance its efficiency
• open shafts built in
between floors for
ventilating the building
that do not require energy
to function.
• 30 St. Mary Axe uses only
half of the energy that a
similarly-sized tower
would use.
Norman Foster. 30 St. Mary Axe: The
Gerken, 2002. London

17. I. M. Pei. Grand Louvre Pyramid
1988, Paris
Pei and Freed
I. M. Pei
• is a Chinese American architect.
• Was born in Guangzhou and
raised in Hong Kong and
Shanghai,
• Came to United States in 1935, to
study architectural engineering.
• He graduated in 1939
• unable to return to China because
of the outbreak of World War II
• He became a U.S. citizen in 1954.
• Established his own architectural
firm, I.M. Pei & Associates (later
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners), in
1955.

18. Ando and Pelli
Tadao Ando
The relationship with
nature is the principal
concept of Ando’s work.
The Chapel-on-the-Water is
located in the heart of the
island of Hokkaido,
northern Japan.
It is a small chapel, with its
back attached to the Alpha
Resort hotel.
Tadao Ando. The Chapel-
on-the-Water, 1988.
Hokkaido, Japan.

19. Cesar Pelli’s, Petrtonas Towers
Between the two towers is a two-
story bridge, located between the
41st and 42nd floors.
The bridge connects the buildings
and contains spaces shared by
both.
Number of Floors: 88 (+ 5 below
the ground)
Height: 1,483 ft.
Cesar Pelli, Petrtonas Towers,
1988. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

20. Constructivist architects, like Zaha Hadid,
consider the built environment as a means to
raise self-awareness.
Iraqi-British architect, Zaha Hadid, as the first
woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture
Prize, in 2004.
Deconstructivism
• is a development of postmodern architecture
that began in the late 1980s,
• is characterized by
• ideas of fragmentation,
• an interest in manipulating ideas of a
structure's surface,
• and non-rectilinear shapes which serve
to distort spaces.
What is a Building?: Constructivist
and Deconstructivist Architecture
Zaha Muhammad Hadid
1950-2016.
Iraqi-British architect

21. The Binoculars Building is
a commercial office
building located in Venice,
California.
It was designed by
architect Frank Gehry in of
1985.
The front of the building
includes a sculpture of
binoculars that functions
both as pedestrians as
well as car entrance.
The original purpose was
to be a theatre and library.
Frank O. Gehry, Chiat/Day Building, and Claes
Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
Binoculars, steel frame, concrete, and cement
plaster painted with elastomeric paint
45 × 44 × 18’ 1991 Venice, California
Structure as Metaphor:
Architectural Allegories

22. Diller Scofidio + Renfro
,Eyebeam Museum of Art and
Technology Project, New York,
New York, 2004.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro
• is an interdisciplinary design
studio
• integrates architecture, the visual
arts, and the performing arts.
• The studio’s principals, Elizabeth
Diller and Ricardo Scofidio,
received the MacArthur
Foundation award in 1999.

23. Platter-Zyberk and Duany
• Andres Duany and Elizabeth
Plater-Zyberk founded DPZ in
1980 developed
• the principles of the New
Urbanism movement to
replace suburban sprawl with
neighborhood-based
planning.
• the Seaside project on
Florida’s Gulf Coast. The
project of won worldwide
praise.
Seaside became the foundation of
New Urbanism.
Flexible Spaces:
Architecture and Urbanism
New Urbanism. Seaside Town,
Florida.

24. Koolhaas and the OMA
Rem Koolhaas (Rotterdam, 1944)
founded OMA in 1975 with Elia
and Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon
Vriesendorp.
Almere dates from 1976.
OMA won the competition to
design the city center in 1994.
Largely completed in 2007 with
fw buildings still being finished.
Rem Koolhaas, Dutchtown,
city center plan for Almere,
The Netherlands.

25. Appropriation: Kruger, Levine,
Prince, and Sherman
Barbara Kruger uses imagery from
magazines, makes them black and
white prints aggressively
directive over them.
This is appropriation because
Kruger took the photographs from
magazines and use as her own. The
text she superimposed on images
creates puts them in a different
context
Postmodern Practices:
Breaking Art History
Barbara Kruger, Untitled
(Your Gaze Hits the Side of My
Face), 1981. Photograph
60 × 40”. Collection Vishak
Mahdavi Bernardo Nadal-Ginard.

26. Sherrie Levine
• was born in Hazelton, Pennsylvania.
• grew up in a suburb of Saint Louis, Missouri.
• used photographic appropriations of other
works of art which established her as a key
figure of postmodernism.
• questions the concept of ownership and
meaning by appropriating original works by
renown artists.
Richard Prince
• is best known for his use of appropriated
imagery.
• provoked a controversy in 2014 over issues of
ownership and content, with hes series of
portraits from images he got from selfies on
Instagram.
Sherrie Levine, After Piet
Mondrian , 1983,
Watercolor, 14 x 11 inches.
Private Collection.

27. Cindy Sherman
• creates self-portraits as critiques of
gender and identity.
• uses of her own body in roles or
personas in her work to examine
femininity as a social construct.
• In addition to the Untitled Film Stills
series, she has continued to explore
women as subject matter, often
donning elaborate disguises in
large-scale color photographs,
throughout her career.
Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film
Still #35, 1979. Photograph.
10 × 8”. Courtesy of the artist
and Metro Pictures

28. Jenny Holzer, Selection from Truisms.
1982, Spectacolor Board. 20 × 40’
Installation Times Square, New York
Holzer, McCollum and
Tansey
Jenny Holzer
• explores how language is
used to communicate and
control
Allen McCollum
• blurs the boundary between
unique artifacts and mass
production.
• focusses on how objects
attain cultural value, the
value of authorship.

29. Mark Tansey, The
Innocent Eye Test, 1981.
Oil on Canvas,
78 x 120 in.
Metrtopolitan Museum
of Art, Gift of Jan
Cowles and Charles
Cowles, in honor of
William S. Lieberman,
1988
Mark Tansey
• creates artworks that have a photographic quality
• is influenced by René Magritte
• analyzes how photographs have changed the way we describe reality.