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| postmodernism (art) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Postmodernism (art) |
| Period | Late 20th century |
| Movement | Postmodern art |
| Country | International |
postmodernism (art) is an art historical term describing a plurality of practices and attitudes that reacted against and complicated modernist principles in the late 20th century. It embraces pluralism, pastiche, irony, and a mixing of high and low culture while engaging institutions, markets, media, and identity. Postmodern art developed unevenly across cities, museums, galleries, biennials, and academic contexts, producing contested canons and ongoing debates about authenticity, authorship, and value.
Postmodern art is characterized by appropriation, parody, bricolage, and intertextuality as seen in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Centre Pompidou, Whitney Museum of American Art and private galleries in New York City, Los Angeles, London, Berlin and Tokyo. It rejects the modernist teleology promoted by figures associated with Bauhaus, De Stijl, Constructivism, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism and institutions like the Art Institute of Chicago and the Royal Academy of Arts. Characteristics include plural aesthetics, pastiche of styles linked to Rococo, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Pop Art, Dada, Surrealism and Conceptual Art; a skepticism toward grand narratives propounded by intellectuals such as Jean-François Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes and institutions like École des Beaux-Arts. Emphases on appropriation and citation draw on precedents by Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Hannah Höch, Kurt Schwitters, Man Ray and John Cage.
Origins trace to reactions during the postwar decades centered in New York City and Paris with transatlantic crosscurrents involving collectors and patrons such as Peggy Guggenheim, Saul Steinberg, Samuel Kootz and critics and curators including Harold Rosenberg, Clement Greenberg, Rosalind Krauss, Hal Foster, Lucy Lippard and Benjamin H.D. Buchloh. Key institutions and events—Documenta, Venice Biennale, Whitney Biennial, PARIS 1968 protests and exhibitions at the Guggenheim Museum—shaped trajectories alongside art market forces centered at auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's and galleries such as Gagosian Gallery, Sperone Westwater and Mary Boone Gallery. Intellectual precedents include texts by Fredric Jameson, Jürgen Habermas and Michel de Certeau. Regional scenes in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, London and Berlin developed distinctive forms influenced by institutions like Artforum, October (journal), Art in America and museums including Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Postmodern practices encompass appropriation art linked to Sherrie Levine, Richard Prince and Barbara Kruger; Neo-Expressionism linked to Julian Schnabel, Anselm Kiefer and Georg Baselitz; Photorealism with figures like Chuck Close; Installation art exemplified by Hans Haacke, Rachel Whiteread, Cornelia Parker and Marina Abramović; Performance art traditions tied to Yoko Ono, Carolee Schneemann, Vito Acconci and Chris Burden; Relational Aesthetics associated with Nicolas Bourriaud and artists like Rirkrit Tiravanija; Neo-Pop connected to Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami; Appropriation photography practiced by Cindy Sherman and Richard Avedon; Video art advanced by Bill Viola and Nam June Paik; and Street Art networks including Banksy and Shepard Fairey. Movements intersect with theoretical currents from Structuralism and Post-structuralism and economic shifts in the global art market.
Prominent works associated with postmodern strategies include Andy Warhol's silkscreens exhibited at the Andy Warhol Museum, Jasper Johns's flag paintings held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jeff Koons's balloon sculptures in collections like the Guggenheim Bilbao, Damien Hirst's vitrines shown at the Tate Modern, Barbara Kruger's text-based installations, Cindy Sherman's "Untitled Film Stills" circulated through galleries and museums, Richard Prince's rephotographs, Sherrie Levine's re-presentations, Jenny Holzer's LED texts in public sites, Bruce Nauman's neon works, Laurie Anderson's performance pieces, and Marcel Duchamp's readymades housed in collections at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art. Other key figures include Anish Kapoor, Rachel Whiteread, Kara Walker, Ai Weiwei, Yayoi Kusama, Barbara Kruger, Glenn Ligon, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Maurizio Cattelan, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Serra, Donald Judd, Ed Ruscha, Paul McCarthy, Elizabeth Peyton, Cindy Sherman, Sherrie Levine, Isa Genzken, Kiki Smith, Mona Hatoum, Adrian Piper, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, John Baldessari, Olafur Eliasson, Tracey Emin, Rachel Whiteread, Sean Scully, David Salle, Philip Guston, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe, Andres Serrano, Pipilotti Rist and Kara Walker.
Recurring themes include irony and parody as in works shown at the Stedelijk Museum, Museo Reina Sofía, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Museo Tamayo and Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; identity politics addressed by Graciela Iturbide, Lorna Simpson, Zanele Muholi, Yinka Shonibare, Hank Willis Thomas and Ana Mendieta; globalization reflected in exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, Sharjah Biennial, São Paulo Biennial and institutions like the Asia Society; and media critique practiced by Martha Rosler, Hans Haacke and Michael Asher. Techniques include collage and montage rooted in Dada and Surrealism, appropriation strategies used by Sherrie Levine and Richard Prince, installation and site-specific interventions by Robert Smithson and Gordon Matta-Clark, relational projects by Rirkrit Tiravanija, digital and net art linked to Olafur Eliasson and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and sampling and remix strategies evident in works by Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami.
Critiques of postmodern art were articulated by critics and theorists including Clement Greenberg, Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss, Terry Eagleton, Hal Foster and Arthur Danto who debated authenticity, commodification, and the end of painting at institutions like the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and through journals such as Artforum and October (journal). Debates involve market-driven sensationalism implicated with Sotheby's and Christie's auctions, ethical controversies around works by Andres Serrano and Damien Hirst, and legal disputes involving appropriation as litigated in cases connected to artists such as Jeff Koons and Shepard Fairey. Political critiques emerged from activists associated with ACT UP and scholars like bell hooks and Angela Davis addressing representation and power in museum collections at institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Tate Modern.
Postmodern strategies reshaped museum practices at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Tate Modern, Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art and biennials including the Venice Biennale and Documenta, influencing contemporary generations such as artists represented by White Cube, Hauser & Wirth, Gagosian Gallery and curators at Serpentine Galleries. Its legacy endures in contemporary concerns with identity, globalization, digital culture, curatorial practice, and pedagogy in art schools like Rhode Island School of Design, Yale School of Art, Royal College of Art and California Institute of the Arts. Postmodernism’s pluralism continues to inform debates at institutions including The Getty, Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery (London) and National Gallery of Art about canon formation, restitution, and public engagement.
Category:Art movements