Modernism and Post-Modernism Around the World

Being introduced to Modernism and Post-Modernism these past couple of weeks was a refreshing change of exposure to the art world and all its significant artists. These movements convened very strong and controversial messages that decades of art before Modernism and Post-Modernism did not even dare to imagine such artistic measures.  Modernism is an art movement based on society and its culture, architecture and innovations on the first decades of the twentieth century. The end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century were heavily influenced by the industrial revolution happening in multiple parts of Europe. The artwork during that period was a reflection of  the vivid and contemporary realities of the industrial exposure around. In the book Guerrilla Girls it states “In Western art, movements and “isms” appeared, one after another: impressionism, postimpressionism, fauvism, cubism, futurism, constructivism, dada-ism, surrealism, expressionism, abstract expressionism, etc. Put them together and what do you get? Modernism.” (Guerrilla Girls 59).  This quote from the Guerrilla Girls demonstrates how inclusive Modernism is in terms of artistic movements. This was an opportunistic time in art and expression and various women artists show that in their pieces.  

Sonia Delaunay, costume for Cleopatre with Chernichova in the title-role, 1918
 https://www.pinterest.com/elcelia/sonia-delaunay/

Abstraction was a vital movement in modernism, Chadwick describes it as “painting and sculpture developed simultaneously in a number of European capitals during the first decade of this century. Its course, inextricably bound up with the formal developments of post-impressionism and cubism, and with a desire to break with nature and infuse the resulting art with profound spiritual content, has been extensively traced.” (Chadwick 252). Sonia Delaunay was considered to be an abstract painter and also a participant in the Dada movement. Sonia and her husband moved to Spain after the Russian Revolution to find a market for her creations in the applied arts. Her first chance was through Diadhilev, their costumes and ballet sets were extremely important to constructing the visual art and theatrical design. In Women, Art and Society it states “The Dada contempt for traditional painting as static, materialistic form, unable to communicate the vitality of modern life, found a sympathetic spirit in Delaunay, but it was her employment of variety of media and her liberal attitude to breaking down the distinction between art and craft that probably inspired the Dadaist.” (Chadwick 272). 

Henry Ford Hospital/The Flying Bed by Frida Kahlo, 1932
https://www.artehistoria.com/es/obra/henry-ford-hospital

Surrealism was yet another significant movement for women in art. This movement reflected ideas of the unconscious mind and art that pushed boundaries of many realties. A famous female surrealist was Frida Kahlo. Frida was an extremely powerful woman who was not afraid to explore her sexuality and freedom. She had a very difficult life as she had multiple accidents that physically prevailed her from being her true-self (miscarriages/bus accident). Her husband Diego, was also a very toxic partner who was unfaithful to her while also being a great influencer of her art. Frida expressed a lot of her suffering and tragedy on her art in very eccentric ways which made her such a great example of a surrealist artist. Frida Kahlo is a very well-known latina artist who laid the path to many other women who wished to pursue art in the purest and unapologetic form.  

Post-Modernism is all the artistic movements included in the last decades of the Twentieth-century. The art during this period revolved around challenging the philosophies of modernism. The artistic forms in Post-modernism were very-forward thinking and technologically-based. There is multiple interpretations about the definition of this movement but due to its inclusiveness of multiple artistic methods and diversity of expression, it can really be anything the artist wants it to be. In the book Women, Art and Society it states “The term Postmodernism has been used to characterize the breaking down of the unified (though hardly monolithic) traditions of Modernism. From the beginning, feminism in the arts, committed to exposing the assumptions underlying many of the beliefs that defined vanguard art, engaged in a dialectic with Modernism.” (Chadwick 380). This quote from Chadwick  shows how Post-modernism almost contradicts the ideas of modernism. The definition itself should have some relation to deconstructing the traditions of modernism. 

Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #58, 1980
https://www.guggenheim.org/arts-curriculum/topic/cindy-sherman

The book also states “The fact that Post Modernism draws heavily on existing representations, rather than inventing, new styles, and that it often derives its imagery from mass media or popular culture, has focused attention on the ways that sexual and cultural difference are produced and reinforced.” (Chadwick 381). This quote expresses how Post-modernism isn’t about working harder but working smarter. There was very little need for new methods of art to be created, they just needed to be innovated and used in different creative forms. Post-modernism is also heavily based on popular culture and mass idea – which can highlight many themes that the public in engage with. One of the famous female artists during the Modernism period is Cindy Sherman. Her art revolves around interpreting how women are viewed in the media. It is almost like she is a different kind of woman stereotype in each of her art pieces and through that she demonstrates how the world is unaware of how dimensional women can be. She challenges the comfort of misogynistic interpretations and she extends conversations about feminism by showing multiple kinds of eccentric females. She enjoys being her own model because she says its hard directing people to model her vision. 

Untitled, Barbara Kruger, 1990
http://www.thehistorialist.com/2015/11/1990-barbara-kruger-untitled-you-cant.html

Barbara Kruger is also an instrumental female artist in the Post-modernism era. Her work with graphic work and provocative phrases is brilliant. The message is so direct and the graphic work is usually so controversial. There is a direct communication between the art piece and the viewer and the messages are usually political or socially challenging. Feminism is a large spectrum of her work and imposes phrases and questions that make people think beyond the normalized sexiest barriers of society. I find her work very confrontational which is good because art should have a strong message that provoke people and Kruger does it beautifully.   

Talk is Cheap, Barbara Kruger, 1985 
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/barbara-krugers-exhibition-the-american-artist-thats-still-shooting-her-mouth-off-with-her-bold-text-9571133.html 

WORKS CITED 

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. Langara College, 2016.

Guerilla Girls. The Guerilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art.

https://www.artehistoria.com/es/obra/henry-ford-hospital

https://www.guggenheim.org/arts-curriculum/topic/cindy-sherman

http://www.thehistorialist.com/2015/11/1990-barbara-kruger-untitled-you-cant.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/barbara-krugers-exhibition-the-american-artist-thats-still-shooting-her-mouth-off-with-her-bold-text-9571133.html 

https://www.pinterest.com/elcelia/sonia-delaunay/