Modernism and Postmodernism are powerful movements within the art world that sought to both challenge and progress the standards of the world of art that had been the norm for centuries prior. Modernism, in its essence, includes the many different types of art that all fall into the general understanding of modernism itself. It aims to stray away from the norms of art as it has been done throughout history and pursue a more intellectual path, making it feel as though art is only for the select few. These styles of art include cubism, abstraction and Dadaism, among others.
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| Sonia Delaunay, "Prisme Electriques" |
Modernism looks at history and agrees that the pinnacle of what painting is has been reached, in turn putting an emphasis on innovation, or being the first. In her book, “Women, Art, and Society,” author Chadwick explains, “More recently, art historians have argued for a view of modernity as more than just the desire to be “of the time.”....Modernity is linked both to the desire for the new that fashion expresses so well, and culturally tied to the development of a new visual language for the twentieth century- abstraction,” (Chadwick 253). This notion of an artistic freedom was reinforced by both modernism and abstraction and many paintings from this time period, which lasted roughly from the end of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, showed that. Paintings utilized extremely strong yet bright colors and brushstrokes themselves were extremely thick. Geometric shapes were often put in place, successfully implementing a very unique art style that would come to define the ways in which modernism sought to change the art world.
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| Suzanne Valadon, "Grandmother and Young Girl Stepping into the Bath" |
Women artists in Europe influenced the techniques and developments of both modernism and the other movements within modernism in that they were integral to the development and utilization of these art styles. The female body itself was a very common topic during modernism and female artists were quick to use this to their advantage. In her piece, “Grandmother and Young Girl Stepping into the Bath,” from 1908, artist Suzanne Valadon depicts the female form against the backdrop of domesticity, a common archetype of women and one that provides a striking contrast against the male gaze of which the female form is often depicted for. We see this same ideology being expressed in another Valadon painting, entitled, “The Blue Room.”
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| Suzanne Valadon, "The Blue Room" |
In this, we see a woman who is in control of her own movements and actions, her pose simple and implying a sense of relaxed confidence that is completely unbothered by the negative perceptions of the male gaze. The male gaze is completely disregarded here, reinforcing the notion that modernism is a breakaway from the outdated contraptions that the art world has grown so used to. Circumstances that aided how women were integral in applying the techniques of design and craft in these new approaches to art were important in that they provided women a platform in which this stylization of their art could be influential.
Chadwick writes, “As we become more conscious of the fact that we do not possess unmediated access to our own bodies- that our understanding and conceptualization of the body is structured by discourses from those of art to medicine and law- the work of earlier generations of women artists who addressed the interaction of gender… in representations of the female body provides important precedents,” (Chadwick 282).
Postmodernism is the opposite of modernism, as it completely enforces the notion that modernism itself is dead and does little to revive it. Postmodernism aimed to break with traditional ways of thinking to more modernized ways and views of making art. Art from this time was highly stylized and almost theatrical in a way.
Female artist Betye Saar sought to confront white culture stereotypes of African Americans and her piece, “The Liberation of Aunt Jemima,” does exactly that by utilizing these stereotypes in a way that empowers women as opposed to belittling them.
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| Bette Saar, "The Liberation of Aunt Jemima" |
Likewise, the Guerilla Girls were formed in 1985 as a collective of women fighting for gender and racial equality within the art community that had been lacking significantly at that time. Their work was provocative and because of their sarcastic honesty, they shed light on the truth of the matter, which was that women artists were extremely underrepresented within the greater art community. These postmodern ideas persisted through the use of this styles blatant reversal of what modernism had done for the art world. Postmodernism challenged traditional art and, like modernism, was largely inspired by the political and social climates of the time. There was an emphasis on new ways of making art and implementing new art forms, such as billboards, into a new culture of thinking and art.
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| Guerilla Girls, "Do Women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum?" |
Works Cited:
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. Thames & Hudson, 2007
Guerrilla Girls, The Guerrilla Girls’ Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 1998.
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