Modernism vs. Post Modernism

Modernism is the rejection of previous art techniques and ideas. “Modernism refers to the broad movement in Western arts and literature that gathered pace from around 1850, and is characterized by a deliberate rejection of the styles of the past; emphasizing instead innovation and experimentation in forms, materials and techniques in order to create artworks that better reflected modern society.” (http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/modernism) Modernism is a accumulation of all the “isms” that came about between the 19th century and the 20th century. It includes impressionism, dadaism, surrealism, expressionism, abstract expressionism, and many more. Women artists in Europe influenced the techniques and development of multiple movements in modernism. Recently my group had the privilege of presenting the topics of Dada and Surrealism, where we found that during this time women main purpose behind this movement was to express irrationality,dreams and thoughts, while expressing discontent with prejudice,politics,nationalism and war.  

"Alchemy or the Useless Science" by Remedios Varo, 1958

"Exploring River of the Source Orinonoco" by Remedios Varo,  1955

    Postmodernism rejected all the ideas and was the complete opposite of  modernism. It changed the idea that there was one specific meaning to a work of art or that this meaning was determined by the artist at the time creation. Instead, the viewer became an important determiner of meaning. Some artist like Yoko Ono even allowed audience members to participate in their work and some of their performance pieces.Other artists went further by creating pieces of art that required the audience’s interaction to create and/or complete their work. In the art world, especially during this era, there is this assumption that males are the center of the universe and that women are just spectacles, which goes back into the male gaze. The problem was feminine art was not understood. Feminine art exceeded all the boundaries and all the forbidden corners. As a result of it not being understood it had drawn the attention of critics. Feminist art was almost like a narrative point of view. It told a different story that people was used to. Although it was criticized it was still looked at as something new. Something that has not been seen before. As a result of women going outside the boundaries of what it was thought that art could be, it had changed the definition of art. It allowed people to see art in a different light and it led people to see the different things you can do with art and the extent that you 
can take it. 

    All in all, Modernism is a collection of cultural and regional reforming art movements. Post modernism literally means “after modernism” so therefore the the ideas of this period were a little different even though it was a reaction to modernism. Postmodernism was also influenced by the negative feelings toward World War II. Postmodernism rejected illogical thinking while modernism was based on illogical thinking, in other words the freedom of expressing one's self.