According to the Guerrilla Girls, "From the end of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th, revolution was on everyone's mind, even artists. Some wanted to change the world, others wanted to change art. In Western art, movement and isms appeared one after another: impressionism, postimpressionism, fauvism, cubism, futurism, constructivism, dada-ism, surrealism, expressionism.. etc. Put them all together and what do we get? 'Modernism'"(Guerrilla Girls, 59). Taking place in late 19th century and early 20th century, artists began to paint real life experiences - how their lives were away from the traditional church, monarchy narrative. They began to be more driven by social and political issues of prevalent during this time. There was an emphasis on innovation and a sense of optimism. During modernism, every artist wanted to be the first to do something and the art was not available to everyone because art was seen as an intellectual pursuit.
Women began to attain freedom through suffrage (as seen in the passing of the 19th amendment in US). This empowered more women to be artists and to express themselves without shame or fear. Even still, many women had their light dimmed by their husbands who either forced them into domestic duties or took credit for their work.
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Sonia Delaunay, "Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours)"
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Women in Europe had better opportunity to become artists.Though they still had to deal with patriarchy, "Russia became the first nation ever to grant women equal rights" (Guerrilla Girls, 65) and respect female artists as their male counterparts. Sonia Delaunay had a rough childhood and ended up losing all of her money supply from Russia during the Revolution. Her husband, also an artist, continued on with his life even after Delaunay's tragedy that caused her to lose the opportunities she had a hold of/ or the potential to get a hold of. Even still, Delaunay did not allow this to define her. She took her domestic life and made it into a piece of art. She painted her walls, floors, and ceilings. Soon, she had her own boutique where she designed an array of fabrics such as costumes, tapestries and rugs. Her passion for fashion and complexity of colors and shapes was the essence of the modernism.
Not all women had an easy time accepting male dominance or the domestic lifestyle. Hannah Hoch, from Germany, was that woman. While she is now credited as being the mother of dadism, it was an uphill battle where she had to constantly demand that she be acknowledged as the genius that she is. Dadaism is a movement in art that started during World War 1 where artists displayed their disgust at the propaganda being spread and how the public accepted and promoted it. They displayed this disgust through disturbing images, or images that depict no definite object. On contrary to popular belief, dada "challenged every convention (except male supremacy)" (Guerrila Girls, 66). Hannah was one of the first artists to create as collage influenced by the media (as seen above) but her male partners refused to include her, or view her as equal. It was not until she made a skit of a male artist having a breakdown about washing dishes that her peers included her into their circle. Not only did Hoch break the boundaries of art with her collages, she spoke heavily on feminism, homosexuality, and the politics in Germany. After her divorce, her art shifted to included subjects of the same sex who were also not the ideal aryan. Being a white woman from Europe, Hoch fought for the real depiction of Germany's independent woman AND she made sure that the queer and black women were acknowledged. Though Europe was changing its laws to grant rights to women, they were not ready for women to fight for equality of treatment in society as hard as they did.
Though modernism looked to fight for the truth and to find big answers/narratives for societal issues, it was unrealistic and not always inclusive. After World War II, postmodernism arrived with the goal to overthrow modernism and what it falsely stood for. Postmodernism clarified that there was not one answer for everything. It was complex and skeptical of not only art but the media. While modernism focused on finding an answer, postmodernism questioned it. There is no way to pinpoint where it started and ended as in modernism and that says a lot about postmodernism. Essentially, postmodernism is about pluralism and inclusion of all- people and art forms. Art was no longer only painting; art was all forms about anything and everything proving to be not only about intellectuality but experiment, expression, and irony.
Frances Berry, for example, is an American photographer, painter, and collage maker who desires to "recreate new stories through the distortion of vintage pictures" (Giménez, 1). Berry went on to say in the same interview that she made vintage pictures because nostalgic experiences are painful and stated, "My process explores the complex potential hidden within somewhat rudimentary digital functions. By limiting my tools, I am forced to deconstruct the image with more thoughtful precision" (Giménez, 2). Her pictures opened the doors for artists to use something other than paint as a form of art. In her collection "Lines We Live By" , Berry took images of people doing regular things such as walking down the street or riding a bike and turned it into something with much more complexity and depth. Below are two of her paintings from that collection. Frances Berry is still alive and active on social media.
Another postmodernism artist that cannot go unnoticed is Tracey Emin. She is a British sculptor, painter, photographer, and conceptual artist. Her art goes against all of Britain's societal norms and their ideas of femininity. Most of her art comes from her own personal history which makes her pieces emotional and raw. According to The Art History, "Although she rejects any notions of her work being for a feminist greater good, her courage to be vulnerable and honest through her artwork collapses the edge between life and art, and has brought attention to the discrepancies between men and women's ability to critically and publicly engage with topics such as alcoholism, gender roles, and, most controversially, sex" (theartstory.org,1). It was interesting to find out that Emin had the courage to make art that revealed aspects of sexual assault. It is not easy to be a women at this time and speak up about sexual assault- it never is. My favorite piece of Tracey Emin is "My Bed" which she presented in 1999. The object in the piece is the artist's own bed. The artist herself was bed ridden for days due to depression. The bed itself was essentially a mess. There was condoms, menstrual stained underwear, money, cigarettes, and other pills all over the bed. At first, there was tons of controversy on if this was actually considered art. however, Emin's "My Bed" drew the line between representation and presentation. It did not represent an object, it was the object. This was the essence of postmodernism; art was no longer just painting or sculpting, it was photography and conceptional showcases. To Tracey Emin, it was not just a bed. It was a period of depression in her life and she was not ashamed of it.
I appreciate modernism because it set a path for new methods of art and concepts to be created. However, I appreciate postmodernism more due to the fact that it broke boundaries while also being inclusive. More people got the chance to make art- any form of art.
WORKS CITED
Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. Penguin Books, 2006.
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