Context for Postmodernism: Equal Rights Movement, Feminist Movement, Protests
against Vietnam, Sexual Revolution
(a "revolutionary" atmosphere in which traditionally "marginalized"
groups gain increasing public attention)
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MODERN VS. POSTMODERN:
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MODERN "TERMS" to compare to POSTMODERN "TERMS"
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THREE THINGS ALMOST EVERYBODY AGREES UPON:
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1. POSTMODERNISM BREAKS DOWN BARRIERS -- between sexes, between genres, between media, between the audience and the artwork. 2. POSTMODERNISM HAS A DIALOGUE WITH THE PAST AS IT PUSHES TOWARDS THE FUTURE (through "appropriation" especially) 3. POSTMODERNISM ENCOURAGES VIEWER PARTICIPATION & INTERACTION ----performance, happenings, installations, site art = a physical way ----"conceptual art" and being encouraged to draw your own conclusions = an intellectual way 4. ELEMENTS OF POSTMODERNISM CAN BE FOUND EARLIER IN RELATIVELY ISOLATED CIRCUMSTANCES ----it can be argued that Duchamp blurs the boundaries b/w "art" and "functional object" ca. 1917; his use of a print of the Mona Lisa in L.H.O.O.Q. could be seen as an early example of "appropriation"; much of his work could be argued as "conceptual" ----any works that include elements of language (e.g. Picasso's and other's cubist works; Magritte's surrealist works) could be argued as "conceptual" ----it can be argued that work produced by Malevich, Mondrian and others is "conceptual" as well as "minimal"; Malevich also "appropriates" earlier work. ----it can be argued that Rauschenberg and Johns (who of course are inspired by Duchamp) blur the boundaries between painting and sculpture. 5. IT IS REALLY DIFFICULT TO PIN DOWN A PRECISE DATE FOR THE START OF POSTMODERNISM ----in particular both Pop and Minimalism *could* be argued as either the "end" of modernism *or* the "beginning" of postmodernism. ----you are safe in saying that "Modernism" begins somewhere around the middle of the nineteenth century. Some use 1839, the invention of photography as a starting date, or 1855-60 when you really start to see its influence on painting. Then you could parallel that with the development of the television/computer in the twentieth century to signal postmodernism. You could use 1855... the date of Courbet's one-man show ... the first ever ... if you are mostly interested in the relative independence of the artist (from the academy = Modernism and then dependence on the independent gallery system = po-mo). ---I hope you're getting the idea here that there is no "one" answer to when postmodernism is, or what it consists of. This is in part because the term "postmodern" as applied to architecture means something different than "postmodern" when it's applied to criticism, or art history, or art theory, or the art itself. There is no single unified theory of "the postmodern" which covers all of the above. ---So how do you discuss it? Well, you choose an explanation that makes sense to you (or come up with one of your own) and then argue it using examples. |
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