Chapter 30: Modernism and Postmodernism in Chapter Sheet

Europe and America, 1945-1980

Preview: In the decades following World War II, art reflected the upheaval in society, expressing postwar anxiety, the values of the emerging feminist and the civil rights movements, and reflecting on the new consumer society. Some artists chose a more formalist track, pursuing chromatic abstraction in painting and minimalist sculptural form. Architecture developed in two directions—modernists pursued idiosyncratic, expressive forms or more stripped-down, “International Style” designs, while postmodernists combined styles and explicitly employed historical ornaments. Beginning in the 1960s, artists pursued alternative approaches including performance and conceptualism, and by the 1970s, the new media of video, sound, and computer-generated art were widely practiced and exhibited.

List of Artworks (30 Cards Total)

  1. Chapter 30 Context Card

Postwar Expressionism in Europe:

  1. Alberto Giacometti, Man Pointing No. 5, 1947—pg. 901
  2. Francis Bacon, Painting, 1946—pg. 901

Abstract Expressionism:

  1. Jackson Pollock, Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), 1950—pg. 903
  2. Willem de Kooning, Woman I, 1950-1952—pg. 905
  3. Barnett Newman, Vir Heroicus Sublimis, 1950-1951—pg. 906
  4. Mark Rothko, No. 14, 1960—pg. 906

Post-Painterly Abstraction:

  1. Ellsworth Kelly, Red Blue Green, 1963—pg. 907
  2. Helen Frankenthaler, The Bay, 1963—pg. 908

Op Art:

  1. Bridget Riley, Fission, 1963—pg. 909

Abstraction in Sculpture:

  1. David Smith, Cubi XII, 1963—pg. 910
  2. Donald Judd, Untitled, 1969—pg. 911
  3. Louise Nevelson, Tropical Garden II, 1957-1959—pg. 912

Pop Art:

  1. Jasper Johns, Three Flags, 1958—pg. 914
  2. Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon, 1959—pg. 914
  3. Roy Lichtenstein, Hopeless, 1963—pg. 915
  4. Andy Warhol, Green Coca-Cola Bottles, 1962—pg. 916
  5. Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962—pg. 916
  6. Claes Oldenburg, Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks, 1969, reworked, 1974—pg. 917

Superrealism:

  1. Audrey Flack, Marilyn, 1977—pg. 917
  2. Chuck Close, Big Self-Portrait, 1967-1968—pg.918
  3. Duane Hanson, Supermarket Shopper, 1970—pg. 919

Photography:

  1. Diane Arbus, Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, NYC, 1962—pg.920

Feminist Art:

  1. Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1979—pg. 921
  2. Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #35, 1979 **ON THE TEST!!**--pg. 923
  3. Ana Mendieta, Flowers on Body, 1973—pg. 923

Modernism:

  1. Frank Lloyd Wright, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (looking southeast), New York, 1943-1959—pg. 925

Postmodernism:

  1. Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, Great Salt Lake, Utah, 1970—pg.933

Performance Art:

  1. Joseph Beuys, How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (performance at Schmela Gallery, Düsseldorf), 1965—pg. 935

Conceptual Art:

  1. Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs, 1965—pg. 936

New Media:

  1. Nam June Paik, Video still from Global Groove, 1973—pg. 938

Key Figures: Clement Greenberg

Key Cultural Terms & Events: World War II (1939-1945), Existentialism

Key Art Terms: formalism, Abstract Expressionism, color field painting, action painting, Minimalism, Op Art, Pop Art, conceptualism, feminism, performance art, modernism, postmodernism, site-specificity

Exercises for Study:

1. What is feminist art? Select a work of feminist art and describe how it expresses feminist tenets.

2. Select a modernist work of art and a postmodernist work of art. Compare and contrast their treatment of subjects.

3. What is site-specificity? Select a work of architecture or art that is site-specific and discuss how it functions in relation to its site.

4. Compare and contrast the following pairs of artworks, using the points of comparison as a guide.

A. Jackson Pollock, Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist) (fig. 30-6); Ellsworth Kelly, Red Blue Green, 1963 (Fig. 30-11)

  • Style:
  • Application of paint:
  • Themes:

B. Chuck Close, Big Self-Portrait (Fig. 30-28); Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #35 (Fig. 30-35)

  • Media:
  • Formal style:
  • Subjects:
  • Practice of self-portraiture: