Modernism/Postmodernism

Modernism and Postmodernism were both movements that worked to challenge the art world before them. Modernism focused on modifying the past, whereas Postmodernism focused its efforts on displacing modernism with art that spoke truth. Because modernism placed great emphasis on innovation, many “isms” or new forms of art such as Dadaism, Surrealism, Cubism, and more were developed. While modernism worked towards a single universal truth, postmodernism contrasted this greatly and signified the value in many differing perspectives. Art works from the postmodern movement were very social and political, and they were made to asks questions as artists held the belief that art was made to uncover diverse ideas and change lives. Although modernism and postmodernism varied greatly among their goals and concepts, postmodernism essentially being the opposite of modernism, both challenged works before them, which helped guide the art world to be more flexible in regard to what can be considered art, the function of art in society and media, and its inclusiveness of other groups than white males in art.

Modernism began at the end of the nineteenth century and continued till the mid twentieth century. Abstraction, what Chadwick asserts has a, “desire to break with nature and infuse the resulting art with a profound spiritual content,” went hand in hand with modern

Sonia Delaunay, Simultaneous Contrasts, 1912

ism (Chadwick, 252). Modernism and abstraction wanted to promote individual artistic freedom. Art during this period mainly consisted of paintings and sculptures with vivid colors, thick applications of paint, and real-life subjects, which is similar to Impressionism, but also implemented the use of geometric forms, distortion form for expressive effect, and unnatural or arbitrary color. Sonia Delauny, a Russian artist, exemplifies these characteristics of modernist art exceptionally. Her work Simultaneous Contrasts, reflects her use of unique use of bold colors and surface design. Many of Delauny’s works were influenced by Russian peasant designs, and she commonly used an art form known as simultanism, making ““simultaneous” fabric, clothing, furniture, environments, and even cars” (Guerrilla Girls, 60).

Alexandra Exter, Composition, 1914

Another form of art during modernism was Cubism, in which objects were analyzed, broken up, and resembled in abstract form to depict a subject from multiple viewpoints. Alexandra Exter used cubist form in some of her works, “producing effects of expansive space through wedges of flat, crude color” (Chadwick, 268). Exter studied French cubism and Italian futurism, and during the Russian Revolution of 1917 she even designed what is called agitprop, which is a form of propaganda through the use of art.

Hanna Hoch , a German artist, was known for her use of dada, “an art movement that challenged evert convention (except male supremacy) and scandalized bourgeois society” (Guerrilla Girls, 66). Hoch is known for the photomontages she made. These photomontages were made with a technique similar to collaging. As seen in her works such as Made for a Party, she used images from the media and put together new works that challenged such ideas as the male gaze.

Hannah Hoch, Kitchen Knife, 1919-20

Hannah Hoch, Made for a Party, 1936

Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room, 1923

A topic of great interest during modernism was the female body. Artists like Chinese painter Pan Yuliang work to challenge the male gaze and objectification of women. In her nude self-portrait Yuliang combines western artistic influences to create a softness in her painting with eastern influences that are seen in the bold, smooth lines. Yuliang paints herself with a very realistic and natural posture and facial gaze, celebrating her own body and giving herself power to use her body as she, a female, wants. Another artist that painted he female body in rejection of the male gaze was Suzanna Valadon. In her oil painting The Blue Room, Valadon portrays the modern woman, wearing pants and smoking (a symbol for feminism during the 1920’s), of curvier and thicker body weight, and with books next to her, which conveys empowerment through knowledge and education. The woman in the work breaks taboos and expresses independency, challenging past works by white males that unrealistically portray woman as objects that should appear certain ways and remain submissive.

Labelled as a surrealist though she asserts that her works were her reality, Frida Kahlo, painted works that reflected the pain of the tragic trolley accident that physically impaired her forever, several miscarriages she endured, and the suffering she experienced from being involved with her womanizing husband Diego Rivera. Her paintings reflect her Mexican roots, her strong support of the Communist party, her and rejection of Catholicism. Works such as The Broken Column reflect the surrealism that many see in her art. In full body casts and in need of many surgeries after her trolley incident, she paints a self portrait of the top of her naked body in a spine mechanism, reflecting the pain she felt. She also painted nails in her skin, which shows her rejection of Catholicism. The painting appears to reveal Kahlo’s unconscious mind, although she stands firm that for her this was her reality.

Frida Kahlo, The Broken Column, 1944

Eva Hesse, Repetition Nineteen III, 1968

Post World War II, Postmodernism began to emerge. The war and movements after in the 1970’s and 80’s such as the Civil Rights Movement and LGBTQ Movements shaped postmodernist art to be highly social and political. Postmodernism emphasizes that all are forms were equal and art was for everyone. Works by artists like Maria Montoya Martinez’s matte-black design over polished black Pueblo ancestral inspired pottery and Eva Hesse, a German woman who fled her home country during the Holocaust, works of organic objects question what is considered art. Hesse’s work questions sculpture and form, and in works such as Repetition Nineteen III the function and placement of the handmade vessels is unclear. This reflects postmodern regard for uncertainty.

Betye Saar, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, 1972

Postmodern art can be characterized as ironic and expressive. Works like Betye Saar’s The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, in which syrup icon Aunt Jemima is fastened with the objects of grenade and rifle, “deals with white culture’s stereotypical images of black,” and in fact liberates that stereotype of the black woman and empowers her instead (Chadwick, 342).

Modernism brought about a long list of new art forms. While it meant to build on to the past, it was limiting in that it constrained art to a single narrative, still placed male artists as superior, and excluded certain groups and art forms. Postmodernism worked to reverse the ideas posed by modernism and began to shift thinking to that of asking questions and completely challenging traditional art. Art from modernism and postmodernism was greatly influenced by the social and political climate during their time periods, and most importantly both movements guided the flexibility for women artists to be able to produce works of their own. While women still receive judgement and criticism in the art world today, these movements gave more freedom for women to prove that when given this liberty, amazing works can be the result.  

Nicole Arena

Works Cited:

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th ed. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.
The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998. Print.