Postmodernism: A Coming of Cycle of Western Art History
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This document provides an overview of postmodernism across various artistic disciplines from the 1960s onward. It summarizes some of the key characteristics and qualities of postmodernist works, including extreme self-reflexivity, the breakdown of boundaries between high and low cultural forms, a questioning of grand narratives, and a focus on visuality, simulacra, and temporal experimentation. Various postmodern artists and artworks are referenced as examples that demonstrate these postmodern concepts and traits.
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Postmodernism: A Coming of Cycle of Western Art History
- 2. POSTMODERNISM • 1960s/1970s– architecture and visual arts • A clear challenge to the dominance of modernism Jeff Koons, Pink Panther, Porcelain on formica base, 1988
- 3. Federico de Onis, 1934 Arnold Toynbee, 1938 A Study of History A minor reaction to modernism A coming of cycle of Western art history
- 4. • 1970s- architecture • Buildings that fused modernism with selective eclecticism (classical or neo- classical origin) Philip Johnson 190 s. La Salle Classical allusion, gothic peaked roof
- 5. • Mid-1980s – painting • Works that offered a more biting comment of current cultural values Georg Baselitz (Hans Georg Kern) Clown 1981
- 6. • 1960s -growing anti- modernism • 1980s – growing pluralism in art and architecture Andy Warhol Campbell’s Tomato Juice Box Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen Ink on wood 1964
- 8. Qualities of Postmodernist Aesthetic 1) Extreme self-relexivity (ability to reflect)- pushed further, tend to be more playful, irreverent. Roy Lichtenstein Masterpiece 1962
- 9. Frank Gehry Nationale-Nederlanden Building Prague, Czech Republic 1992-96
- 10. 2) Irony and Parody – connected to being self-reflexive playful and parodic Scary Movie Comedy Keenen Ivory Wayans 2000 Vampires Suck Comedy Aaron Seltzer, Jason Friedberg 2010
- 12. 3) Breakdown between high and low cultural forms Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Tomato Soup, 1968 Is this high or low art?
- 13. Jean Michel Basquiat Philistines acrylic, crayon on canvas 1982
- 14. Bansky Shop Until You Drop 2012 Bansky On the Thekla social Entertainment boat 2005 Bristol, England Bansky –freehand graffiti artist Bristol and London anti-war, anti-capitalist, anti- establishment Rats, apes, policemane, children
- 15. • 4) Retro Casa Kimball Rangr Studio Dominican Republic
- 17. 5) Questioning of Grand Narratives • Lyotard sees the breakdown of the narratives that formerly legitimized the status quo as an important aspect of the postmodern condition. Mideo Cruz Poleteismo Installation 2009
- 18. • Postmodern artists will employ pop and mass culture in their critiques and pop culture itself tends to play with traditional concepts of temporality, religion, and subjectivity. "I have a great sense of guilt and sin from Catholicism that has definitely permeated my everyday life, whether I want it to or not. And when I do something wrong... if I don't let someone know that I have wronged, I'm always afraid that I'm going to be punished. And that's something you're raised to believe as a Catholic. Both the song and album stemmed from this uneasiness; my direct prayers to God, it is beautiful and divine." —Madonna talking to Los Angeles screenwriter Becky Johnston about the album and the title track Madonna Like A Prayer 1989 Album: Like A Prayer
- 19. 6) Visuality, simulacrum, temporality • Gravitation to the visual due to the dominance of visual media (film, tv, media advertising, computer/internet) Simulacrum – something that replaces reality with its representation Substituting the signs of the real for the real. --Jean Baudrillard
- 20. • General breakdown in narrative linearity and temporality. • Line separating reality from representation has broken down. (lost touch with reality) -Baudrillard
- 21. 7) Late capitalism – values of capitalist acquisition, globalization or opening of borders and trade, sense of paranoia X-Files The Matrix Bladerunner Etc.
- 22. 8) Disorientation –MTV, architecture, interior space, movies Daniel Libeskind Royal Ontario Museum Michel Lee-Lyn Crystal
- 23. Frank Gehry Walt Disney Concert Hall 2003
- 24. Manuel Ocampo Burnt Out Europe oil paint and decal on canvas 1992
- 25. Alvin Zafra Argument from Nowhere 2000 7 meter long, 14 days, “To paint a beautiful image of death.”
- 26. 9) Secondary orality – reversal of rising literacy in the modern period, functionally illiterate due to reliance on oral media sources (TV, movie, radio) Performace Art Various shots
- 27. Conceptual Art/Conceptualism “In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” Sol Lewitt, 1967
- 28. • Should not be confused with the artist’s intent or intention. • Anything other than painting or sculpture. Marcel Duchamp Fountain Signed urinal 1917 Early prototype
- 29. Joseph Kosuth One and Three Chairs 1965 "All art (after Duchamp) is conceptual (in nature) because art only exists conceptually". -Kosuth
- 30. Lawrence Weiner laser-cut aluminum typography on brick. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota 2004
- 31. Roberto Chabet Peiro acrylic, plywood, oil on panel, parachute, metal brackets dimensions variable 1999
- 32. Performance Art Performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or via media; the performer can be present or absent.
- 33. It can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body, or presence in a medium, and a relationship between performer and audience. Marina Abramovic Seven Easy Pieces – 1st Night 2005
- 34. Performance art can happen anywhere, in any venue or setting and for any length of time. The actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work.
- 35. Installation Art • Installation art describes an artistic genre of three- dimensional works that are often site-specificc and designed to transform the perception of a space. Christo
- 36. • Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called land art; however, the boundaries between these terms overlap. Motoi Ymamoto Salt Labyrinth
- 38. end
Editor's Notes
- According to the Lichtenstein Foundation website, Masterpiece was part of Lichtenstein's first exhibition at Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles from April 1 – April 27, 1963, featuring Drowning Girl, Portrait of Madame Cézanne and other works from 1962 and 1963[1] When discussing another work (I Know...Brad), Lichtenstein stated that the name Brad sounded heroic to him and was used with the aim of cliched oversimplification.[2] Drowning Girl is another notable work with Brad as the heroic subject.[3] The source of this image was a comic book panel with the two subjects positioned similarly to their position here, but they were situated in an automobile. In the source image the narrative content of the speech balloon said "But someday the bitterness will pass..."[4] Masterpiece was part of the largest ever retrospective of Lichtenstein that visited The Art Institute of Chicago from May 16 to September 3, 2012, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from October 14, 2012 to January 13, 2013, the Tate Modern in London from February 21 to May 27, 2013 and the The Centre Pompidou from July 3 to November 4, 2013.[5][6][7] Several publications presented Masterpiece as part of their announcement of the retrospective.[ Masterpiece is regarded as a tongue in cheek joke that reflects upon Lichtenstein's own career.[5] In retrospect, the joke is considered "witty and yet eerily prescient" because it portended some of the future turmoil that the artist would endure.[8] In the painting, the blonde female's speech bubble, "Why, Brad darling, This painting is a masterpiece! My, soon you'll have all of New York clamoring for your work!" conveys her remark as she gazes at the painting, of which a corner of the back is shown. Silent Brad conveys his agreement by his facial expression.[10] Adrian Searle ofThe Guardian says that the 1962 work, whose narrative and graphical content were both borrowed, was timely because Lichtenstein had his first exhibition in New York City at Leo Castelli Gallery that year, making the painting aspirational in an ironic way that comments on success and "the socio-sexual status of the hot young artist".[10] The satirical commentary on Lichtenstein's career, followed the inside joke made the year before in Mr. Bellamy.[11] According to Roberta Smith of The New York Times, Masterpiece was one of Lichtenstein's works created in a way that produced "faint and uneven" Ben Day dots.[12]
- In postmodern architecture, this effect is achieved by keeping visible internal structures and engineering elements (pipes, support beams, building materials, etc.). Consider, for example, Frank Gehry's postmodern Nationale-Nederlanden Building, which plays with structural forms but in a decidedly humorous way (which has led to the nickname for the building, Fred and Ginger, since the two structures—clearly male and female—appear to be dancing around the corner).
- Connected to the former point, is the tendency of postmodern artists, theorists, and culture to be playful or parodic. (Warhol and Lichtenstein are, again, good examples.culture and media advertising abound with examples; indeed, shows or films will often step outside of mimetic representation altogether in order to parody themselves in mid-stride. See especially the Hutcheon module on parody, which discusses this element in particular.
- Of course, modernists also questioned such traditional concepts as law, religion, subjectivity, and nationhood; what appears to distinguish postmodernity is that such questioning is no longer particularly associated with an avant-garde intelligentsia