The document provides an overview of developments in art from the modern to the postmodern era in the late 20th century. It discusses the emergence of site-specific and environmental art in response to ecological concerns. It also examines new organic and fluid forms in modernist architecture by architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and others. Finally, it outlines key characteristics of postmodern art like the inclusion of traditional elements, historical references, and self-consciousness, as well as the political and social commentary inherent in much postmodern work.

1. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages,
12e
Chapter 34
From the Modern
to the Post-Modern and Beyond:
Art of the Later 20th Century
1

2. Site Specific Art
• Understand the development of Environmental and Site
Specific Art as an outgrowth of ecological and environmental
concerns.
2

3. Figure 34-37 ROBERT SMITHSON, Spiral Jetty, 1970. Black rock, salt crystals, earth, red water
(algae) at Great Salt Lake, Utah. 1,500’ x 15’ x 3 1/2’. Estate of Robert Smithson; courtesy James
Cohan Gallery, New York; collection of DIA Center for the Arts, New York. 3

4. Figure 34-39 RICHARD SERRA, Tilted Arc,
1981. Cor-Ten steel, 12’ x 120’ x 2 1/2”. Installed
Federal Plaza, New York City by the General
Services Administration, Washington D.C.
Removed by the U.S. Government 1989. 4

5. New Models for Architecture
• Examine the organic and fluid forms developed as new
models for modernist architecture.
• Recognize the distinctions between the works of Modernist
and Postmodern architects.
5

6. Figure 34-40 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (exterior view from
the northwest), New York, 1943–1959 (photo 1962).
6

7. Figure 34-41 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT,
Interior of the Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, New York, 1943–1959.
7

8. Figure 34-42 LE CORBUSIER, Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, 1950–1955.
8

9. Figure 34-43 LE CORBUSIER, Interior of Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, 1950–1955.
9

10. Figure 34-44 JOERN UTZON, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, 1959–1972. Reinforced
concrete; height of highest shell, 200’. 10

11. Figure 34-45 EERO SAARINEN, Trans World Airlines terminal, Kennedy Airport, New York,
1956–1962. 11

12. Figure 34-46 LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE
and PHILIP JOHNSON, Seagram Building, New
York, 1956–1958.
12

13. Figure 34-47 SKIDMORE, OWINGS AND MERRILL, Sears
Tower, Chicago, 1974.
13

14. Figure 34-48 CHARLES MOORE,
Piazza d’Italia, New Orleans,
Louisiana, 1976–1980.
14

15. Figure 34-49 PHILIP JOHNSON and
JOHN BURGEE with Simmons Architects,
associated architects, a model of the AT&T
Building, New York, 1978–1984.
15

16. Postmodern Architecture
• Examine the elements and issues of Postmodern architecture
in its use of classical and colonial forms as well as later
deconstructivist forms.
16

17. Figure 34-50 MICHAEL GRAVES, The Portland Building, Portland, Oregon, 1980.
17

18. Figure 34-51 ROBERT VENTURI, JOHN RAUCH and DENISE SCOTT BROWN, house in
Delaware (west elevation), 1978–1983.
18

19. Figure 34-52 RICHARD ROGERS and RENZO PIANO, Georges Pompidou National Center of
Art and Culture (the “Beaubourg”), Paris, 1977.
19

20. Figure 34-53 GÜNTER BEHNISCH, Hysolar Institute Building, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart,
Germany, 1987. 20

21. Figure 34-54 FRANK GEHRY, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, 1997.
21

22. Postmodernism in Painting, Sculpture, and
New Media
• Understand the inclusion of traditional elements, historical
references, and artistic self-consciousness in Postmodern art.
• Examine Neo-expressionist interest in intense emotions and
in the physicality of paint and media combinations.
• Understand the contemporary political content of feminist
and cultural heritage art.
• Examine the use of new video and digital technologies
available in the making of art.
• Understand cultural criticism as inherent to Postmodernism.
22

23. Postmodern Painting
and Other Media
• Understand the traditional elements, historical references,
and artistic self-consciousness.
• Examine Neo-expressionist intense emotions and the
physicality of media combinations.
23

24. Figure 34-55 JULIAN SCHNABEL, The Walk Home, 1984–1985. Oil, plates, copper, bronze,
fiberglass, and bondo on wood, 9’ 3” x 19’ 4”. Broad Art Foundation and the Pace Gallery, New
York.
24

25. Figure 34-56 SUSAN ROTHENBERG, Tattoo, 1979. Acrylic, flashe on canvas, 5’ 7” x 8’ 7 1/8” x
1 1/4”. Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
25

26. Figure 34-57 ANSELM KIEFER, Nigredo, 1984. Oil paint on photosensitized fabric, acrylic
emulsion, straw, shellac, relief paint on paper pulled from painted wood, 11’ x 18’. Philadelphia
Museum of Art, Philadelphia (gift of Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art).
26

27. Figure 34-58 CHRIS OFILI, The
Holy Virgin Mary, 1996. Paper collage,
oil paint, glitter, polyester resin, map
pins, elephant dung on linen, 7’ 11” x 5’
11 5/16”. The Saatchi Collection,
London. 27

28. Postmodern Art as Political Weapon
• Understand the social content and political statements of
feminist art along with innovative and expressive use of
materials.
• Understand the use of art to express gender and cultural
heritage issues, as well as the experimental forms and
innovative use of materials.
28

29. Figure 34-59 JUDY CHICAGO, The Dinner Party, 1979. Multimedia, including ceramics and
stitchery, 48’ x 48’ x 48’ installed.
29

30. Figure 34-60 MIRIAM SCHAPIRO, Anatomy of a Kimono (section), 1976. Fabric and acrylic
on canvas, 6’ 8” x 8’ 6”. Collection of Bruno Bishofberger, Zurich.
30

31. Figure 34-61 CINDY SHERMAN,
Untitled Film Still #35, 1979. Black-and-
white photograph, 10” x 8”. Metro
Pictures, New York.
31

32. Figure 34-62 BARBARA KRUGER,
Untitled (Your Gaze Hits the Side of
My Face), 1983. Photostat, red painted
frame, 6’ 1” x 4’ 1”. Courtesy of Mary
Boone Gallery, New York. 32

33. Figure 34-63 ANA MENDIETA, Flowers
on Body, 1973. Color photograph of
earth/body work with flowers, executed at El
Yaagul, Oaxaca, Mexico . Courtesy of the
Estate of Ana Medieta and Galerie Lelong,
New York. 33

34. Figure 34-64 HANNAH WILKE, S.O.S.—Starification Object Series, 1974-82. 10 Black-and-white
photographs with 15 chewing-gum sculptures in Plexiglas cases mounted on ragboard, from a series
originally made for S.O.S. Mastication Box and used in an exhibition-performance at The
Clocktower, January 1, 1975, 3’ 5” x 5’ 8”.
34

35. Figure 34-65 KIKI SMITH, Untitled, 1990.
Beeswax and microcrystalline wax figures on
metal stands, female figure installed height 6’
1 1/2” and male figure installed height 6’ 4
15/16”. Collection Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York 35

36. Figure 34-66 FAITH
RINGGOLD, Who’s Afraid
of Aunt Jemima?, 1983.
Acrylic on canvas with
fabric borders, quilted, 7’ 6”
x 6’ 8”. Private collection. 36

37. Figure 34-67 ADRIAN PIPER, Cornered, 1988. Mixed-media installation of variable size; video
monitor, table, and birth certificates. Collection of Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
37

38. Figure 34-68 LORNA SIMPSON, Stereo Styles, 1988. 10 black-and-white Polaroid prints and
10 engraved plastic plaques, 5’ 4” x 9’ 8” overall. Collection of Raymond J. Learsy, Sharon,
Connecticut.
38

39. Figure 34-69 MELVIN EDWARDS,
Tambo, 1993.Welded steel, 2' 4 1/8" x 2' 1
1/4" . Smithsonian American Art
Museum,Washington, D.C.
39

40. Figure 34-70 DAVID HAMMONS, Public Enemy, installation at Museum of Modern Art,
New York, 1991. Photographs, balloons, sandbags, guns, and other mixed media. 40

41. Figure 34-71 JAUNE QUICK-TO-SEE SMITH, Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White
People), 1992. Oil and mixed media on canvas, 5’ x 14’ 2”. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk,
Virginia (museum purchase 93.2).
41

42. Figure 34-72 LEON GOLUB, Mercenaries (IV), 1980. Acrylic on linen, 10’ x 19’ 2”.
Collection Mr. and Mrs. Ulrich Meyer, Chicago.
42

43. Figure 34-73 MAGDALENA
ABAKANOWICZ, artist with
Backs, at the Musée d’Art
Moderne de la Ville de Paris,
Paris, France, 1982. Copyright ©
Magdalena Abakanowicz/
Licensed by VAGA, New York,
NY/Marlborough Gallery, NY.
43

44. Figure 34-74 DAVID WOJNAROWICZ, "When I Put My Hands On Your Body", 1990. Gelatin-
silver print and silk-screened text on museum board, 2’ 2” x 3’ 2”. Collection of Tom Rauffenbart.
44

45. Figure 34-75 KRZYSZTOF
WODICZKO, The Homeless Projection,
1986–1987. Outdoor slide projection at the
Soldiers and Sailors Civil War Memorial,
Boston, organized by First Night, Boston. 45

46. Figure 34-76 NAM JUNE PAIK, Video still from Global Groove, 1973. 3/4 videotape, color,
sound, 30 minutes. Collection of the artist.
46

47. Figure 34-77 DAVID EM, Nora, 1979. Computer-generated color photograph, 1’ 5” x 1’ 11”.
Private collection.
47

48. Figure 34-78 JENNY HOLZER, Untitled (Selections from Truisms, Inflammatory Essays, The
Living Series, The Survival Series, Under a Rock, Laments, and Child Text), 1989. Extended helical
tricolor LED electronic display signboard, 16” x 162’ x 6”. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New
York, December 1989–February 1990 (partial gift of the artist, 1989). 48

49. New Technologies for Art
• Examine the expressive use of video and digital technologies
by Postmodern artists.
49

50. Figure 34-79 BILL VIOLA, The
Crossing, 1996. Installation with two
channels of color video projection onto
screens 16’-high.
50

51. Figure 34-86 MATTHEW
BARNEY, Cremaster cycle,
installation at the Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, 2003.
51

52. Criticism of Commodity Culture, Art
History, and Art Institutions
• Understand Postmodernist criticism of contemporary
commodity culture, and criticism of galleries and museums.
• Examine Postmodern art that draws attention to global social
injustice and world problems.
52

53. Figure 34-80 TONY OURSLER, Mansheshe, 1997.Ceramic, glass, video player, videocassette,
CPJ-200 video projector, sound, 11” x 7” x 8” each. Courtesy the artist and Metro Pictures, New
York. 53

54. Figure 34-81 JEFF KOONS, Pink Panther,
1988. Porcelain, 3’ 5” x 1’ 8 1/2” x 1’ 7”.
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art,
Chicago (Gerald S. Elliot Collection).
54

55. Figure 34-82 MARK TANSEY, A Short History of Modernist Painting, 1982. Oil on canvas,
three panels, each 4’ 10” x 3’ 4”.
55

56. Figure 34-83 ROBERT ARNESON, California Artist, 1982.
Glazed stoneware, 5’ 8 1/4” x 2’ 3 1/2” x 1’ 8 1/4”. San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art (gift of the Modern Art
Council). Copyright © Estate of Robert Arneson/Licensed by
VAGA, New York, NY. 56

57. Figure 34-84 HANS HAACKE, MetroMobiltan, 1985. Fiberglass construction, three banners,
and photomural, 11’ 8” x 20’ x 5’. Collection Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
57

58. Figure 34-85 GUERRILLA GIRLS, The Advantages of Being A Woman Artist, 1988. Poster.
58

59. Discussion Questions
 How are the two main processes of Abstract
Expressionism different? Name and processes and one
artist for each.
 What do Minimalist sculptors mean by the concept of
objecthood?
 What is meant by Conceptual Art and the elimination of the
object?
 Why do you think Modernist art and architecture alienated
the public? Do you agree that Postmodern art and
architecture are more in tune to the public’s interests?
 In what ways has new technology already changed our
perception of what art is?
59