The Emergence of Postmodernism

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The Emergence of Postmodernism
WORLD WAR II AND ITS AFTERMATHThe destruction
and extensive loss of life during World War II
had long-term personal, cultural, political, and
economic consequences. After the war, the United
States and the Soviet Union emerged as rival
superpowers. Disruption and UpheavalAfter Wo
rld War II, disruption and dislocation took place
throughout the world. Unrest continues in many
countries. Hostilities and political uncertainty
still characterize the world situation. In the
1960s and 1970s there emerged in the United
States a counterculture that had considerable
societal impact and widespread influence. The
civil rights movement and the women's liberation
movement rejected racism and sexism. Feminists
charged that Western society's institutions
perpetuated male power and subordination of
women. The Dynamics of Power Various ethnic
groups and gays and lesbians mounted challenges
to discriminatory policies and attitudes and
battled discrimination with political action.
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The Emergence of Postmodernism
THE ART WORLD'S FOCUS SHIFTS WESTThe art world
also changed as the center of Western art shifted
from Paris to New York. Modernism, Formalism,
and Clement GreenbergModernism shifted course
in conjunction with the changing historical
conditions and demands and became increasingly
identified with a strict formalism. The
influential art critic Clement Greenberg
identified Modernism as a rejection of
illusionism and an exploration of each artistic
medium's properties. Meanwhile, the distance
between progressive artists and the public
widened. The Emergence of Postmodernism Post
modernism may be viewed as a rejection of
modernist principles. Postmodernism accommodates
a wide range of styles, subjects, and formats.
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Post War Expressionism FR
ANCIS BACON Painting 1946 Oil and pastel on lin
en
approx. 6' 5" x 4' 4"
POSTWAR EXPRESSIONISM IN EUROPEWorld War II
resulted in a pervasive sense of despair,
disillusionment, and skepticism.
Existentialism The Absurdity of Human
ExistenceThe philosophy of existentialism, which
asserted the absurdity of human existence and the
impossibility of achieving certitude, reflected
the cynicism of the period. The spirit of
pessimism and despair emerged frequently in the
European art.
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Post War Expressionism
JEAN DUBUFFET Vie Inquiète 1953 Oil on canvas

approx. 4' 3" x 6' 4"
Scraped and Smeared Canvases In Vie Inquiète, or
Uneasy Life, Jean Dubuffet presents crudely
scrawled or scribbled images painted or incised
on a thickly encrusted surface of plaster, glue,
sand, asphalt, or other common materials.
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Abstract Expressionism
Abstract ExpressionismAbstract Expressionism is
the first major American avant-garde movement.
Abstract Expressionist paintings are usually
abstract and express the artist's state of mind.
Some Abstract Expressionists adopted Surrealist
improvisation methods and created works that had
a look of rough spontaneity and exhibited a
refreshing energy. Abstract Expressionism
developed along two lines gestural abstraction,
which relied on the expressiveness of
energetically applied pigment, and chromatic
abstraction, which focused on the emotional
resonance of color.
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Abstract Expressionism JACKSON P
OLLOCK Lavender Mist Number 1, 1950 1950 Oil,
enamel, and aluminum paint on canvas
7' 3" x 9' 10".
The Primacy of Process Jackson Pollock's
large-scale gestural abstract painting Lavender
Mist Number 1, 1950 is composed of rhythmic
drips, splatters, and dribbles of paint. Emphasis
is on the creation process.
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Abstract Expressionism WIL
LEM DE KOONING Woman I 19501952 Oil on canvas
approx. 6' 4" x 4' 10"
A Ferocious and Intense Woman Willem de
Kooning's Woman I, although rooted in figuration,
displays the sweeping gestural brushstrokes and
energetic application of pigment typical of
gestural abstraction.
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Abstract Expressionism BAR
NETT NEWMAN Vir Heroicus Sublimis 19501951 Oil
on canvas
7' 11 3/8" x 17' 9 1/4"
Color's Enduring Resonance Vir Heroicus Sublimis
by the chromatic abstractionist painter Barnett
Newman consists of a single slightly modulated
color field split by narrow bands that serve as
accents that energize the field and give it
scale.
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Abstract Expressionism MAR
K ROTHKO Untitled 1961 Oil on canvas 5' 9" x 4
' 2"
"Tragedy, Ecstasy, Doom" Mark Rothko's Untitled
consists of large shimmering rectangles of
intensely luminous pure color with hazy edges
that seem to float on the surface of the canvas
in front of a colored background. Rothko relies
on color and shape to create emotion in the
viewer.
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Post-Painterly Abstraction
ELLSWORTH KELLY Red Blue Green 1963 Oil o
n canvas
approx. 7' x 11' 4"
Post-Painterly AbstractionPost-Painterly
Abstraction developed out of Abstract
Expressionism and exhibits a cool, detached
rationality with an emphasis on pictorial
control. The hand of the artist is conspicuously
absent in Post-Painterly Abstraction.
Elemental Hard-Edge Painting
Ellsworth Kelly's completely abstract Red Blue
Green has razor-sharp edges and clearly
delineated color shapes in a simple composition.
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Post-Painterly Abstraction
FRANK STELLA Nunca Pasa Nada 1964 Metallic po
wder in polymer emulsion on canvas
approx. 8' 9" x 17' 6"
"What You See Is What You See" Frank Stella's
Nunca Pasa Nada is a simplified image of thin,
evenly spaced pinstripes on a colored ground.
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Post-Painterly Abstraction
HELEN FRANKENTHALER Bay Side 1967 Acrylic o
n canvas
6' 2" x 6' 9"
Flat Color Field Painting In Bay Side, Hellen
Frankenthaler poured diluted paint onto unprimed
canvas and allowed the pigments to soak into the
fabric.
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Post-Painterly Abstraction
MORRIS LOUIS Saraband 1959 Acrylic resin on
canvas
8' 5 1/8" x 12' 5"
Stained Canvases In Saraband, Morris Louis
impregnated the canvas with paint by holding up
the edges and pouring diluted acrylic resin to
create billowy, fluid transparent shapes that run
down the length of the unprimed canvas.
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Minimalism TONY SMI
TH
Die 1962 Steel 6' x 6' x 6'.
Emphasizing Objecthood Tony Smith's Die is a
simple volumetric construction without an
identifiable subject, color, surface texture, or
narrative element. By reducing experience to its
most fundamental level, Minimalist artists seek
to inhibit any form of interpretation and to
prevent the viewer finding any meaning in the art
before them.
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Minimalism DONALD JUDD
Untitled 1969 Brass and red fluorescent
plexiglass ten units 6 1/8" x 2' x 2' 3" each,
with 6" intervals
An Unambiguous Visual Vocabulary Donald Judd
sought to avoid ambiguity and falseness in his
Minimalist sculpture Untitled, which is comprised
of basic geometric boxes constructed of brass and
red plexiglass.
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Minimalism MAYA YING LI
N Vietnam Veterans Memorial Washington, D.C. 19
811983
Black granite each wing 246' long
Healing Psychic Wounds Maya Ying Lin's simple
and austere design for the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial is a V-shaped wall constructed of
polished black granite panels set into the
landscape.
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Minimalism EVA HESSE H
ang-Up 19651966 Acrylic on cloth over wood and
steel
6' x 7' x 6' 6"
Compelling Nontraditional Materials Eva Hesse's
spare and simple Hang-Up uses nontraditional
sculptural materials to create a disquieting and
compelling sculpture that extends into the room.
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Minimalism DAVID SMITH
Cubi XVIII and Cubi XVII, 19631964. Polished
stainless steel Cubi XVIII, 9' 7 3/4" high Cubi
XVII, 8' 11 3/4" high x 5' 4 3/8" x 3' 2 1/8"
Monumental Metal Sculptures David Smith's
large-scale Cubi XVIII and Cubi XVII consist of
simple geometric forms made of stainless steel
piled haphazardly on top of one another.
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Performance Art
Performance ArtPerformance Art used movements,
gestures, and sounds of persons to communicate
with the viewer. Generally, Performance Art
survives only in documentary photographs taken at
the time. It was informal and spontaneous in
nature and employed the human body as its primary
material. A Composer's Influence John Cage
composed music using methods such as chance to
convey the unpredictable and multilayered
qualities of daily existence.
Happenings and Fluxus Allan Kaprow developed
a type of largely participatory event known as a
Happening that was performed according to plan
but without rehearsal, audience or repetition.
The Fluxus group explored the nontraditional and
commonplace in performances that were more
theatrical than Happenings. Many Fluxus
performances followed a compositional "score" and
focused on single actions that were usually
executed on a stage but without costumes or added
decor.
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Performance Art JOSEPH BE
UYS
How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare 1965
Performance as Ritual Joseph Beuys created
actions aimed at illuminating the condition of
modern humanity. His How to Explain Pictures to a
Dead Hare incorporates fat and felt to symbolize
healing and regeneration.
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Performance Art JEAN TINGUE
LY Homage to New York 1960, just prior to its se
lf-destruction in the garden of the Museum of
Modern Art, New York
Destruction as Creation Jean Tinguely created
the kinetic artwork Homage to New York, which was
designed to "perform" and then destroy itself in
a large courtyard area at the Museum of Modern
Art in New York City.
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Conceptual Art JOSEPH KOSUTH One a
nd Three Chairs 1965 Wooden folding chair, photo
graphic copy of a chair, and photographic
enlargement of a dictionary definition of a chair
Conceptual art asserted that the "artfulness" of
art lay in the artist's idea, rather than in its
final expression.
What Constitutes "Chairness"? Joseph Kosuth's
One and Three Chairs consists of an actual chair
flanked by a full-scale photograph of the chair
and a photostat of a dictionary definition of the
word chair.
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POP ART
The Development of Pop ArtPop artists embraced
representation and produced an art grounded in
consumer culture, the mass media, and popular
culture. Employing familiar imagery of the
contemporary urban environment, Pop artists made
art more accessible and understandable to the
public.
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POP ART RICHARD HAMIL
TON Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So D
ifferent, So Appealing? 1956 Collage 101/4" x 9
3/4"
British Pop and the Independent Group Richard
Hamilton's small collage Just What Is It That
Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?,
which contains references to the mass media,
advertising, and popular culture, reflects the
values of modern consumer culture through figures
and objects cut from glossy magazines.
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POP ART JASPER JOHNS
Flag 19541955 Encaustic, oil, and collage on
fabric mounted on plywood
3' 6 1/4" x 5' 1 15/8"
American Pop Art and Consumer CultureThe Pop art
movement that flourished in the United States
through the 1960s drew its imagery from mass
media, mass production, and advertising. Jasper
Johns and Robert Rauschenberg introduced elements
from popular culture into their art.
Things That Are Seen but
Not Looked At In Flag, Jasper Johns selected a
common object that he painted in encaustic.
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POP ART JASPER JOHN
S Painted Bronze 1960 Cast bronze, paint, appro
x. 51/2" high, 8" wide, 43/4" deep
Beverages of Bronze In Painted Bronze, Jasper
Johns reconstituted Ballantine Ale cans in
bronze, thereby reconstituting what is
customarily discarded and presenting it as
something worthy of the attention.
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POP ART ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG Canyon
1959 Oil, pencil, paper, fabric, metal, cardboard
box, printed paper, printed reproductions,
photograph, wood, paint tube, and mirror on
canvas, with oil on bald eagle, string, and
pillow 6' 9 3/4" x 5' 10" x 2'.
"Combining" Painting and SculptureIn his combine
Canyon, Robert Rauschenberg attached a stuffed
bald eagle and pieces of printed paper and
photographs to the canvas. Below the eagle a
pillow dangles from a string attached to a wood
stick.
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POP ART ROY LICHTEN
STEIN Hopeless 1963 Oil and acrylic on canvas
3' 8" x 3' 8"
A "Comic" Focus in Art In Hopeless, Roy
Lichtenstein excerpted an image from a comic book
and reproduced it in monumental scale, retaining
the comic strip's visual vocabulary and employing
the printer's benday dot system to modulate
colors.
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POP ART ANDY WARHOL
Green Coca-Cola Bottles 1962 Silk screen on ca
nvas
6' 11" x 4' 9".
The Art of Commodities For Green Coca-Cola
Bottles, Andy Warhol selected an icon of
mass-produced, consumer culture and used a visual
vocabulary and a printing technique that
reinforced the image's connections to consumer
culture. The repetition of the image of the Coke
bottle reflects the omnipresence and dominance of
the product in American society.
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POP ART ANDY WARHOL
Marilyn Diptych 1962 Oil, acrylic, and silk sc
reen enamel on canvas
A Mythical Celebrity In Marilyn Diptych, Warhol
reproduced a publicity photograph of a Hollywood
celebrity in a way that emphasizes the commodity
status of the subject.
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POP ART CLAES OLDENBU
RG Clothespin 1976Cor-Ten and stainless steels
45 ft. x 12 ft. 3 in. x 4 ft. 6 in.
Supersizing Sculpture Claes Oldenburg made both
plaster reliefs of food and clothing items and
large-scale, stuffed sculptures of sewn vinyl or
canvas that comment on American consumer culture.
He also made huge outdoor sculptures of familiar,
commonplace objects.
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Superrealism AUDREY
FLACK Marilyn (Vanitas) 1977 Oil over acrylic
on canvas
8' x 8'.
Exploring "Photo-Vision" In her still-life
painting Marilyn (Vanitas), Audrey Flack explored
the nature of photography and the extent to which
photography constructs an understanding of
reality. Flack duplicates the smooth gradations
of tone and color found in photographs with
careful attention to detail. She also alludes to
traditional vanitas paintings.
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Superrealism CHUCK
CLOSE Self-Portrait 1968 Acrylic on canvas 9'
x 7'
Large-Scale Portraits Chuck Close's large-scale
Self-Portrait is based on a photograph.
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Superrealism GERHAR
DT RICHTER Iceberg in Fog (Eisberg im Negel) oil
on canvas
27 ½ X 39 3/8
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Superrealism DUANE HANSON
Supermarket Shopper 1970 Polyester resin and f
iberglass polychromed in oil, with clothing,
steel cart, and groceries life size
Casts of Stereotypical Americans Duane Hanson's
Supermarket Shopper is a life-size figurative
sculpture made of polyester resin cast from a
plaster mold made from a live model. The
sculpture is painted and decorated with a wig,
clothes, and other accessories.
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Environmental Site-Specific
ROBERT SMITHSON Spiral Jetty Great Salt Lake,
Utah April 1970 Black rocks, salt crystal, earth
, red water, and algae 1,500' long, 15' wide
Most Environmental art (also called Earth art or
earthworks) is site specific and exists outdoors.
Environmental artists used natural or organic
materials, including the land itself, and used
their art to call attention to the landscape.
The Enduring Power of Nature Robert Smithson's
Spiral Jetty is a huge spiral of black basalt,
limestone rocks, and earth that extends out into
Great Salt Lake in Utah.
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Environmental Site-Specific
MICHAEL HEIZER Double Negative, near Over
ton, Nevada
19691970 1,500' x 50' x 30'
Sculpture as Void Michael Heizer's Double
Negative consists of two massive cuts in the
Mormon Mesa near Overton, Nevada. The cuts face
each other across a deep indentation in the
cliff-like ridge
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Environmental Site-Specific
CHRISTO and JEANNE-CLAUDE Surrounded Islands, Bis
cayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida
19801983 Pink woven polypropylene fabric 61/2 m
illion sq. ft.
The Art of Wrapping For Surrounded Islands,
created in Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida,
Christo and Jeanne-Claude surrounded 11 small,
human-made islands in the bay with specially
fabricated pink, polypropylene fabric. The piece
survives only in photographs, films, and books
documenting the project.
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Environmental Site-Specific

CHRISTO and JEANNE-CLAUDE
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Environmental Site-Specific

CHRISTO and JEANNE-CLAUDE
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Environmental Site-Specific
RICHARD SERRA Tilted Arc Federal Plaza, Fole
y Square, New York, New York
1981 removed 1989
A Massive Wall of Steel Richard Serra's
site-specific sculpture Tilted Arc is an enormous
120-foot curved wall of Cor-Ten steel that
bisected the large public plaza in front of the
Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in lower
Manhattan. The sculpture significantly altered
the space and traffic flow across the square.
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Postmodernism
POSTMODERNISM IN PAINTING, SCULPTURE, AND NEW
MEDIAMany postmodern artists reveal a
self-consciousness about their place in the
art-historical continuum. They resurrect artistic
traditions to comment on and reinterpret those
styles or idioms. Postmodern artists challenge
the avant-garde's claim to originality and
creativity by addressing issues of the copy or
reproduction and the appropriation of images or
ideas from others. Another major characteristic
of postmodernism is the erosion between high
culture and popular culture. For many recent
artists, postmodernism involves examining the
process by which meaning is generated and the
negotiation or dialogue that transpires between
viewers and artworks. Many postmodern artists
reject the notion that each artwork contains a
single fixed meaning, and in their work they
explore in part how viewers derive meaning from
visual material.
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Postmodernism Neo-Expressionism
JULIAN SCHNABEL The Walk Home 1984198
5 Oil, plates, copper, bronze, fiberglass, and bo
ndo on wood 9' 3" x 19' 4".
Neo-Expressionism Neo-Expressionism reflects
postmodern artists' interest in reexamining
earlier art of the German Expressionists and the
Abstract Expressionists.
An Extension of Paint's Physicality In
The Walk Home, Julian Schnabel explored
superficially the work of the gestural
abstractionists. The work is an amalgamation of
painting, mosaic, and low-relief sculpture.
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Postmodernism Neo-Expressionism
SUSAN ROTHENBERG Tattoo 1979 Acryli
c on canvas
5' 7" x 8' 7"
Horses as Metaphors for Humanity The loose
brushwork and agitated surface in Susan
Rothenberg's painting Tattoo identifies her as a
Neo-Expressionist.
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Postmodernism Neo-Expressionism
ANSELM KIEFER Shulamite 1983 Oil, acr
ylic, emulsion, shellac, and straw on canvas,
with woodcut 9' 6 3/16" x 12' 1 11/16"
Confronting German History Anselm Kiefer's
compelling painting Shulamite has a thickly
encrusted surface and images that function on an
historically specific level, as well as on
mythological or metaphorical levels. Kiefer
reexamines German history. The design of the
darkened room is based on a building constructed
as a memorial to Nazi soldiers but is subverted
in the painting and presented as a memorial to
Shulamite, the Jewish woman in the Paul Celan
poem titled "Death Fugue."
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Postmodernism Neo-Expressionism
SANDRO CHIA Rabbit for Dinner 1980

Oil on canvas 6' 9" x 11' 1 1/2"
Transforming Art History Lessons The color,
energy, and power of Sandro Chia's painting
Rabbit for Dinner are drawn from previous art and
captivate the viewer.
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Postmodernism Art as Political Weapon
JUDY CHICAGO The Dinner Party
1979 Multimedia, including ceramics and stitchery
48' x 48' x 48' installed
The persuasive powers of art to communicate with
a wide audience is freshly embraced by artists
who investigate in their own artwork the dynamics
of power and privilege, especially in relation to
issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and class.
A Dinner Party Celebrating Women In The Dinner
Party, Judy Chicago used crafts techniques
traditionally practiced by women to celebrate the
achievements and contributions women made
throughout history.
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Postmodernism Art as Political Weapon
MIRIAM SCHAPIRO Anatomy of a Ki
mono (section) 1976 Fabric and acrylic on canvas
6' 8" x 11' 11"
"Femmages" and Women's Invention of Collage
Mi