Postmodernism

Nathaniel Saint-Germain

Professor Cacoilo
Art and Women
21 November 2017

“Weeping Willow”, Pablo Picasso (1937)

Modernism is defined as “broad movement in Western arts and literature that gathered pace from around 1850, and is characterised by a deliberate rejection of the styles of the past; emphasising instead innovation and experimentation in forms, materials and techniques in order to create artworks that better reflected modern society” (Tate 1). Art is a self-expressive mechanism that people use to creatively share their thoughts and ideas. Throughout the years as art evolves, we can see various changes in the styles, methods and themes. Although, there are many changes involved during these different time periods, the art is reflective of the time that they are created. Change and innovation drove these people’s civilizations. They were constantly looking for ways to improve their means of portraying messages of the day. In the late nineteenth-century to the mid-twentieth century, a splurge of movements arose into the forever-changing art world: “movements and ‘isms’ appeared, one after another: impressionism, postimpressionism, fauvism, cubism, futurism, constructivism, dada-ism, surrealism, expressionism, abstract expressionism, etc” (Guerrilla Girls, 59).

During these times, it is a common fact that women were not treated equally to men. Women were to be inherently subordinate to the male species. Women were just as talented as men back then as they are to men now, but it was never able to spoken or embraced. Women artists used to have their ideas and new creations stolen by the male artists in the society. If they had a job that made more money or just sounded better than their husbands, they would refine their careers. They would do all of this marginalizing to the ladies so they would not be able to overthrow or be more powerful than the men. For instance, Hannah Hoch was an artist who is referred to as “The Mama of Dada.” Dadaism is “an art movement that challenged every convention (except male supremacy) and scandalized bourgeois society” (Guerrilla Girls, 66). Despite the fact that she is one of the first artists to adopt this genre of art, men still were opposed to having a women freely making art. Therefore, at one of their soirees, she performed a skit about a man who had a nervous breakdown when she asked him to do basic chores around the house. Oddly enough, this was sufficient to let Hannah Hoch’s artwork into the first international exhibition in 1921.

Hannah Hoch, Domptuese (Tamer) 1930

Another painter who adopted a new genre of art is Claude Cahun. Her paintings were very surreal. Surrealists sought to channel the unconscious as a means of unlocking the imagination. She was one of the first 20th-century females to dress herself and photograph herself for her artwork. Most of her artwork has an underlying theme dealing with sexuality and sexual identity. The Guerrilla Girls said about Claude, “Claude’s pictures were a relief from this sometimes monotonous aspect of art history. Instead of presenting herself as a passive object to be consumed by a heterosexual male gaze, she defiantly presents herself as both object and subject of her own sexual fascinations” (Guerrilla Girls, 63).

Claude Cahun, Self-Portrait, 1928

The introduction of Postmodernism began in the late 20th-century. Definitively, it is

specifically a reaction against modernism which had dominated art theory and practice since the beginning of the twentieth century. The term postmodernism is also widely used to describe challenges that changes to establish structures and belief systems that took place in Western society and culture from the 1960s onward (Tate).

Guerilla Girls, Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met?, 2005

Postmodernism as a movement stresses to the people that there is not just one form of art; art is thoroughly complex and is not simple. As stated previously, innovation is the reason for all this change. Also a difference in mentality with new, thriving artists. “While modernism was based on idealism and reason, postmodernism was born of skepticism and a suspicion of reason. It challenged the notion that there are universal certainties or truths” (Tate).  

http://www.onpostmodernism.com/art

Elizabeth Catlett, ‘Homage to My Young Black Sisters’ (1968)
https://womensartblog.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/womens-liberation-of-art/

Works Cited

Tate. “Postmodernism – Art Term.” Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/postmodernism.

The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. Penguin Books, 2006.