This essay will explore in what ways can postmodernism be seen as a departure from

modernist art. To do this I will attempt to describe modernism within a historical context and
then discuss some of the ideas and theoretical positioning in the modernist era. I will also
present an overview of postmodernism and how it can be seen to have moved away from
modernism. By using examples of both Modern and Postmodern art to talk about the
differences in approach of the respective artists I intend to go some way to answering this
deceptively complex question. Both terms have a myriad of references and ideas
encompassed within them and the definitions can be hard to decipher in a tidy and
contained way for one to do them justice. By using the examples I’ve chosen I hope to
illustrate as clearly as I can how the socio-political and cultural influences are reflected and
the differences between them, that go some way to giving an answer.

Modernist art is a term that, in this instance, loosely covers a time frame, and geographic
reference of Russia Europe between the late 19th century and mid to late 20th century. It is
not a singular artistic movement but a series of artistic approaches, in a time of rapid social
change. The art of recognisable realistic representation creating a window like image
undisturbed by the materiality of the medium for the viewer was being subverted.
Institutions such as the Royal Academy in England and The French Salon in Paris were seen
to have a decisive hold on what was deemed good, appropriate art, stylistically. The
conservatism of that hegemony ignored that artist’s ideas of image making were expanding
to match the rapidly changing landscape of society, pushed along by developments in
Literature, Science, Philosophy, and Industry. An important foundation for this rapid
progression in human endeavour was the Enlightenment. It paved the way for liberalism and
political change which in turn had created a growing middleclass and the expansion of cities
in response to free enterprise and the breakdown of the aristocracy and church as the
primary filters to the creation of wealth.

Out of the Enlightenment came empirical knowledge, a methodical approach based on logic
and reason. This systematic approach was to accelerate progress in scientific developments
and pave the way for a new wave of modernity. The increased availability of printed text for
a growing educated population was harnessed by Diderot and d’Alembert in their
encyclopaedias. The Encyclopaedia (subtitled: (systematic dictionary of the sciences arts and
crafts.) was published in 28 volumes... over 21 years (1751-1772) and consisted of over
70,000 articles, contributed by over 140 contributors, among them many luminaries of the
... enlightenment. ‘The work aims to provide a compendium of human knowledge .... a
transmission intended to contribute to ... progress and a positive transformation of human
society’(2) (Bristow 2017). The cross fertilisation of ideas that came from the enlightenment
would go on to fuel theoretical and artistic avant-garde thinking across Europe in the 1900’s,
this is exemplified by this use of publishing. T

he many isms of art categorisation that go into defining Modernism in art, within this time
frame, seem to begin with Impressionism. Artists such as Claude Monet were fuelled by a
desire to use paint to reflect ideas of the natural world and how the human eye experiences
it as opposed to the type of classical realism used historically. Beyond the motifs the viewer
is asked to see the material, in this case paint as integral to the image. Instead of the canvas
used as a window looking onto the world the artists include the viewer as a participant. New
understandings about the body and its functions, both physical and psychological,
encouraged Artists to think about how the world was viewed. by experimenting with
techniques in laying down the paint, primarily dashes and marks covering the canvas, rather
than slow building of flat layers. They were exploring ways to use chromatics in the
rendering of light moving through space, while en plein air, captured in a working time
frame. The motifs may not have strayed dramatically, but the depictions and approaches to
image making were evolving. Denis Diderot suggests that ‘modern taste was one that
self-consciously distanced itself from the neo classical modes of the ancien régime.’(3).
The post-impressionists were seen to diversify this approach to paint and kept expanding the
use of colour and mark making. Impressionism was a jumping off point for continued
exploration of the laying down of colour which was pushed into new levels of vibrancy
through the sub genres of this period. Exploring ways of depicting the world, some playing
with simplifying shape and form and flattening perspective, others with exaggerated
brushwork or tiny dots of colour. We start to see the bedding in of what would be later
defined as the Modernist era. In his essay ‘Modernist Painting’ Clement Greenberg describes
the distinction between pre and modernist art:
‘Realistic, naturalist art had disassembled the medium, using art to conceal art; Modernism
used art to call attention to art. The limitations that constitute the medium of painting – the
flat surface, the shape of support, the properties of the pigment – were treated by the Old
Masters as negative factors... Under Modernism these same limitations came to be regarded
as positive factors and were acknowledged openly...’ (4) (Greenberg 1960, in Greenberg IV
1993,

The emotional landscape of the artist was beginning to be emphasised. The philosophical
ideas of the self, an inner world that could be channelled was being depicted. Through the
exploration of these narratives Artists were drawn to the stylistic aspects of what they
defined as the primitive nature of tribal art. Colonialism had supplied Europeans with
artifacts from across the world. The symbolism and depictions of animal and humans
through masks and carvings were being used to help interpret elements of humans’ primal
nature. By the early 20th century philosophy such as Freuds The Interpretation of Dreams
was permeating into Literature and Art. The idea of the essential self was a conduit that
would be used to again extend the artistic visual language. Building on the work of artists
like Gauguin and Van Gogh, in France, artist such as Matisse and Durian developed what was
to be known as Fauvism. With this expansion of self-expression and individualism in
interpretation came continued colour play that extended the use of exaggerated spectrums
and increasingly unrealistic colour. At around the same time a similar type of approach to
making art was occurring in Germany. Die Brücke expressionism would use broad brush
marks and colour employed to express the spiritual and emotional onto nature, the
landscape, interior, and human form. Pablo Picasso and Braque developed new visual
language to portray ways of experiencing objects, incorporating geometric angles, they
abstracted the subject into multiple viewpoints within one image in Cubism. Theosophists
like Hilma Klimt and Kandinsky created purely abstracted images channelling their spiritual
mysticism, they were trying to portray what they believed was the scientifically inaccessible
truth. It appeared to different artists in different forms but theoretically came from a similar
source.
Russian Constructivists such as Lissitzky, and Moholy-Nagy felt the nature of a material was
fundamental to the outcome of whatever was being created as opposed to material being
manipulated to fit a compositional style. They believed in arts ability to inform progress and
communicate social purpose, not through representation but resolute use of the honesty of
form and using industrial material to express their values. Moholy-Nagy would go on to
teach at the Bauhaus bringing these ideas and material integrity to his teaching. The
Bauhaus were motivated by developing art and architecture that epitomised a modernist
ideal to transform society for the greater good. Using self-expression to help design and
develop functional, beautiful components for living an optimum life.

If we look at an image of László Moholy-Nagy’s photograph, Berlin Radio Tower, we can see
how he has encapsulated the ideals of the modernist art period seen from the perspective
of Constructivism. Moholy-Nagy’s use of photography was integral to his practice. He was
experimental in his approach with a medium that had become accessible as a useful vehicle
to represent the technological advancements and a move away from traditions of painting.
Through using the camera from a bird’s eye view from the Berlin Radio Tower the artist has
found a way to communicate the changing materiality that industry is having on modern
society. The cameras angle used to frame the image allows for the view to hold abstracted
geometric forms created from the landscape below. How all the materials interact to form
the composition is an important factor. This work can be seen as a celebration of practical
modernity, an image speaking to the present and looking firmly to the future while
embracing change.
Berlin, Radio Tower (Berlin, Funkturm) Lászlo Moholy-Nagy (1928) MOMA
The build up to World War II and the aftermath of regimes that would aggressively censor
and control artistic narrative for propaganda saw the flow of artists between Russia Europe
and the United States increased. Post war would see a shift to the USA becoming a more
dominant presence in the art world. America embraced the immigrant artists who would go
on to help develop schools such as the Black Mountain college and teach in various
institutions throughout the continent. They would also influence architecture and the visual
language of advertising. The war had left Europe and Russia in debt and structurally
damaged while America’s wealth was seemingly intact. The mass murdering of humans
using scientifically developed weapons on a global scale would end the idealism and
optimism of the modern era. The belief that enlightenment through knowledge, scientific
exploration and industrial technological evolution would bring about a unified society built
for the greater good could no longer be perceived as inherent global truths.

Postmodernism like modernism is complex to define. It is a term used to try and explain a
shift in culture that is particularly evident by the late 1970’s. This is not a strictly artistic term
but one coined by critical theory to encompass the zeitgeist. Ihab Hassan In his essay
Postmodern Perspective identifying postmodern characteristics includes ‘indeterminacy....
These include all manner of ambiguities, ruptures, and displacements affecting knowledge
and society.’(3) Knowledge and culture have become readily available, no longer the
preserve of any one class, it becomes democratised and re-evaluated. The visual
communication landscape was changing rapidly with the expansion of television into the
home, advertising being used more extensively and with greater impact to sell infinitely
more carefully branded products. Mass production was increasingly global as was more
affordable travel. Consumerism was being used to sell lifestyles by commodifying choice.
Growing popular culture had been channelled into art by Pop art, co-opting commercial
branding, media imagery and continuing Duchamps lead of challenging what is seen as art
when placed into a gallery setting by an artist. Now high and low culture can be dismantled
and reconfigured into pastiche patchworks used to cross reference eras simultaneously and
create new meanings. This creates a state of pluralism as the consumer can buy into and
therefore to some extent subvert, identity. Postmodernist’s rejection of modernist ideas of
singular truth makes room for new ideas about identity narratives. Realising there is no
succinct societal perspective creates a fracturing, an acceptance that different contextual
experience creates personal truth, which makes space for previously underrepresented
artists to push forward a new dialogue. French Theorist Lyotard would say this dismantling
of singular universal narrative was an important part of understanding postmodernism.

Cindy Sherman’s photographs in Untitled Film Stills series are an example of a Postmodern
artwork that plays with these ideas by juxtaposing images from earlier decades with
contemporary themes. These are a series of self-portraits where Sherman has neutralised
herself and in doing so the works become a type of performance. Presented as Hollywood
B-movie stills shots, the ambiguity of the images plays on a familiar visual language which
confronts the viewers relationship to the cliches portrayed. Throughout the series Sherman
reflects archetypal fictional female characters, using herself as the model and engaging in
fantasy role play, there is a sense of artifice in the styling which stops the images from being
surface perfectionism of the Hollywood glamour shots she mimics. Eleanor Heartney
describes the work as ‘femininity as masquerade’ noting, ‘Sherman slipped from one fictive
pose to another, never betraying any sense of selfhood’ (4) By appropriating the stylistic
approach of the film worlds advertising stills and introducing them into an art context a
dialogue about representation, who is visible and in what context is initiated. To understand
Sherman’s work as playing with Myth the viewer must understand h what sign is being
negotiated, which implies an innate cultural familiarity with the original visual language
being used.

The ways in which Postmodernist art can be seen to move away from modernism are
reflected in the 2 works I’ve chosen. By touching some of the historical and theoretical ideas
around both movements I hope to have shown that the Modernist condition of forward
motion and rejection of previous practises conflicts with the postmodernist ideas that using
existing material is feasible conduit to express ideas. Whereas Modernist artists attempt to
communicate an objective truth postmodernists find truth to be relative and subjective.
Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Still 17(1978)

Peter Childs describes modernism as ‘experimental, formally complex, elliptical, contains

elements of decreation as well as creation, and tends to associate notions of artists freedom
from realism... traditional genre and form.’ (1)
www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history-art/the-enlightenment/content-section-2
.1

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/moholy-nagy-laszlo/
"László Moholy-Nagy Artist Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. 2022. TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Rebecca Seiferle
Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Greg Thomas
Available from: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/moholy-nagy-laszlo/
First published on 01 Aug 2012. Updated and modified regularly
[Accessed 14 May 2022]

https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/11634/volumes/e01/E-01

jstor Pluralism in Postmodern Perspective Ihab Hassan Critical Inquiry Vol. 12, No. 3
(Spring, 1986), pp. 503-520 (18 pages)
Published by: The University of Chicago Press