1

Chapter 34

From the Modern

to the Post-Modern and Beyond:Art of the Later 20th Century

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages,

12e

2

Map of the World in 1945

3

Map of the World in 2000

4

Goals

• Understand the shift of the Western art center and the growing interests in multiculturalism in art.

• Understand the theories of Modernist formalism and their rejection in Postmodernism.

• Recognize the various Modernist and Postmodernist styles, artists, and representative works of art.

• Recognize the development of Modernist and Postmodernist styles in architecture.

• Understand the cultural and self-criticism inherent in Postmodern art and architecture.

5

34.1 World War II and Its Aftermath

• Understand the shift of the Western art center from Paris to

New York as a result of world events during the after World

War II.

• Recognize the interest in multiculturalism and

the acceptance of art forms beyond the Western canon.

• Examine the theories of Modernist formalism, post-

modernism, and abstract expressionism.

6

34.2 Post-War Expressionism

• Examine the issues, themes, and forms of Post-War

Expressionist art.

7

Figure 34-1 FRANCIS BACON, Painting, 1946. Oil and

pastel on linen, 6’ 5 7/8‖ x 4’ 4‖. Museum of Modern

Art, New York (purchase).

8

Figure 34-2 JEAN DUBUFFET, Vie Inquiète (Uneasy Life), 1953. Oil on canvas, approx. 4’ 3‖ x 6’ 4‖. Tate Gallery,

London.

9

Figure 34-3 ALBERTO GIACOMETTI, Man Pointing, 1947.

Bronze no. 5 of 6, 5’ 10‖ x 3’ 1’ 5 5/8‖. Nathan Emory Coffin

Collection of the Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines. (Purchased

with funds from the Coffin Fine Arts Trust.)

10

34.3 Modernist Formalism

• Understand the origins of modernist formalism and its

theoretical basis.

• Recognize the formal elements of the art styles known as

Abstract Expressionism, Post-Painterly Abstractionism, and

Minimalism.

• Identify individual artists and representative works of art.

11

Abstract Expressionism

• Understand Abstract Expressionism as the first major art

style to be developed in the United States.

• Examine the two main processes of Abstract Expressionism,

gestural abstraction and chromatic abstraction.

12

Figure 34-4 JACKSON POLLOCK, Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), 1950. Oil, enamel, and aluminum paint on

canvas, 7’ 3‖ x 9’ 10‖. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund).

13

Figure 34-5 Photo of Jackson Pollock painting.

14

Figure 34-6 WILLEM DE KOONING,

Woman I, 1950–1952. Oil on canvas, 6’ 3

7/8‖ x 4’ 10‖. Museum of Modern Art, New

York (purchase).

15

Chromatic Abstract Expressionist

• Examine the formal elements and quieter aesthetics of

chromatic abstraction in contrast to the gestural.

16

Figure 34-7 BARNETT NEWMAN, Vir Heroicus Sublimis, 1950–1951. Oil on canvas, 7’ 11 3/8‖ x 17’ 9 1/4‖. Museum

of Modern Art, New York (gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Heller).

17

Figure 34-8 MARK

ROTHKO, No. 14, 1961 Oil

on canvas, 9’ 6‖ x 8’ 9‖. San

Francisco Museum of Modern

Art, Helen Crocker Russell

Fund Purchase.

18

Figure 34-9 David Smith, Cubi XIX,

1964. Stainless steel.

19

Post-Painterly Abstraction

• Examine the formal elements of the style described by

Clement Greenberg as the cool and rational Post-Painterly

Abstraction.

20

Figure 34-10 ELLSWORTH KELLY, Red Blue Green, 1963. Oil on canvas, 6’ 11 5/8‖ x 11’ 3 7/8‖. Collection Museum

of Contemporary Art, San Diego (gift of Dr. and Mrs. Jack M. Farris).

21

Figure 34-11 FRANK STELLA, Nunca Pasa Nada, 1964. Metallic powder in polymer emulsion on canvas, 9’ 2‖ x 18’ 4

1/2‖. Collection of Lannan Foundation.

22

Figure 34-12 HELEN FRANKENTHALER, Bay Side, 1967. Acrylic on canvas, 6’ 2‖ x 6’ 9‖. Private Collection, New

York.

23

Figure 34-13 MORRIS LOUIS, Saraband, 1959. Acrylic resin on canvas, 8’ 5 1/8‖ x 12’ 5‖. Solomon R. Guggenheim

Museum, New York.

24

Minimalist Abstraction

• Examine the formal elements of Minimalism, a

predominantly sculptural movement and its emphasis on

objecthood.

25

Figure 34-14 TONY SMITH, Die, 1962. Steel, 6’ x 6’ x 6’. Museum of Modern Art, New York (gift of Jane Smith in

honor of Agnes Gund).

26

Figure 34-15 DONALD JUDD, Untitled, 1969. Brass and colored fluorescent

plexiglass on steel brackets, ten units, 6 1/8‖ x 2’ x 2’ 3‖ each, with 60 intervals.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington (gift of

Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1972). Art copyright © Donald Judd Estate/Licensed by VAGA,

New York, NY.

27

Figure 34-16 MAYA YING LIN, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C., 1981–1983. Black granite, each wing

246’ long.

28

34.4 Alternatives to Modernist Formalism

• Examine the expressive qualities of directions in sculptural

forms outside of Minimalism.

• Examine the development of Performance Art and

Happenings, combining two- and three-dimensional art

forms along with other arts.

• Examine the development of Conceptual Art and the

elimination of the object.

29

Expressive Sculpture

• Understand the ideas, feelings, and forms of sculpture in

contrast to the Minimalist forms.

30

Figure 34-17 LOUISE NEVELSON, Tropical Garden II, 1957–1959. Wood painted black, 5’ 11 1/2‖ x 10’ 11 3/4‖ x 1’.

Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

31

Figure 34-18 LOUISE BOURGEOIS, Cumul I, 1969. Marble, 1’ 10 3/8‖ x 4’ 2‖ x 4’. Musée National d’Art Moderne,

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Copyright © Louise Bourgeois/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.

32

Figure 34-19 EVA HESSE, Hang-Up,

1965–1966. Acrylic on cloth over wood and

steel, 6’ x 7’ x 6’ 6‖. Art Institute of Chicago,

Chicago (gift of Arthur Keating and Mr. and

Mrs. Edward Morris by exchange).

33Figure 34-20 GEORGE BRECHT, Event Scores.

34

Performance Art and Happenings

• Examine the innovative forms of Performance Art and

Happenings which combined two- and three-dimensional art

along with other arts.

35

Figure 34-21 KAZUO SHIRAGA, Making a Work with His Own Body, 1955. Mud.

36

Figure 34-22 CAROLEE SCHNEEMAN, Meat Joy,

1964. Photograph of performance at Judson Church,

New York.

37

Figure 34-23 JOSEPH BEUYS, How to Explain Pictures to a

Dead Hare, 1965. Photograph of Performance art. Schmela

Gallery, Düsseldorf.

38

Figure 34-24 JEAN TINGUELY, Homage to

New York, 1960, just prior to its self-destruction in

the garden of the Museum of Modern Art, New

York.

39

Conceptual Art

• Examine the development of Conceptual Art and the

elimination of the object and the idea itself as a work of art.

40

Figure 34-25 JOSEPH KOSUTH, One and Three Chairs, 1965. Wooden folding chair, photographic copy of a chair, and

photographic enlargement of a dictionary definition of a chair; chair, 2’ 8 3/8‖ x 1’ 2 7/8‖ x 1’ 8 7/8‖; photo panel, 3’ x 2’

1/8‖; text panel, 2’ 2’ 1/8‖. Museum of Modern Art, New York (Larry Aldrich Foundation Fund).

41

Figure 34-26 BRUCE

NAUMAN, The True Artist

Helps the World by Revealing

Mystic Truths (Window or Wall

Sign), 1967. Neon with glass

tubing suspension frame, 4’ 11‖ x

4’ 7‖ x 2‖. Private collection.

42

34.5 Art for the Public

• Understand the growing interest in the communicative power of art in reaction to art that had alienated the public.

• Understand Pop Art’s interest in traditional artistic devices and consumerism.

• Examine Superrealism and its fidelity to optical fact.• Understand the development of site specific art forms

known as Environmental Art or earth works.

43

Pop Art

• Understand the popular trends of traditional artistic devices

and consumerism in Pop Art.

44

Figure 34-27 RICHARD

HAMILTON, Just What Is It

That Makes Today’s Homes

So Different, So Appealing?,

1956. Collage, 10 1/4‖ x 9

3/4‖. Kunsthalle Tübingen,

Tübingen, Germany.

45

Figure 34-28 JASPER JOHNS, Flag, 1954–1955, dated on reverse 1954. Encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric mounted on

plywood, 3’ 6 1/4‖ x 5’ 5/8‖. Museum of Modern Art, New York (gift of Philip Johnson in honor of Alfred H. Barr, Jr.).

Copyright © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.

46

Figure 34-29 ROBERT

RAUSCHENBERG, Canyon, 1959. Oil,

pencil, paper, fabric, metal, cardboard

box, printed paper, printed

reproductions, photograph, wood, paint

tube, and mirror on canvas, with oil on

bald eagle, string, and pillow, 6’ 9 3/4‖ x

5’ 10‖ x 2’. Sonnabend Collection.

Copyright © Untitled Press,

Inc./Licensed by VAGA, New York.

47

Figure 34-30 ROY

LICHTENSTEIN,

Hopeless, 1963. Oil on

canvas, 3’ 8‖ x 3’ 8‖.

Kunstmuseum, Basel

(permanent loan from

the Ludwig Foundation

Collection).

48

Figure 34-31 ANDY WARHOL, Green Coca-Cola

Bottles, 1962. Oil on canvas, 6’ 10 1/2‖ x 4’ 9‖.

Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art, New

York (purchase, with funds from the Friends of the

Whitney Museum of American Art).

49

Figure 34-32 ANDY WARHOL, Marilyn Diptych, 1962. Oil, acrylic, and silk-screen enamel on canvas. Tate Gallery,

London.

50

Figure 34-33 CLAES OLDENBURG, photo of one-person show at the Green Gallery, New York, 1962.

51

Superrealism

• Examine Superrealism, its fidelity to optical fact and

attention to minute detail and commonplace objects.

52

Figure 34-34 AUDREY FLACK, Marilyn, 1977. Oil over acrylic on canvas, 8’ x 8’. Collection of the University of Arizona

Museum, Tucson (museum purchase with funds provided by the Edward J. Gallagher, Jr. Memorial Fund).

53

Figure 34-35 CHUCK CLOSE, Big Self-

Portrait, 1967–1968. Acrylic on canvas, 8’ 11‖ x

6’ 11‖ x 2‖. Collection Walker Art Center,

Minneapolis (Art Center Acquisition Fund,

1969).

54

Figure 34-36 DUANE

HANSON, Supermarket

Shopper, 1970. Polyester

resin and fiberglass

polychromed in oil, with

clothing, steel cart, and

groceries, life-size.

Nachfolgeinstitut, Neue

Galerie, Sammlung

Ludwig, Aachen.

55

Site Specific Art

• Understand the development of Environmental and Site

Specific Art as an outgrowth of ecological and environmental

concerns.

56

Figure 34-37 ROBERT SMITHSON, Spiral Jetty, 1970. Black rock, salt crystals, earth, red water (algae) at Great Salt

Lake, Utah. 1,500’ x 15’ x 3 1/2’. Estate of Robert Smithson; courtesy James Cohan Gallery, New York; collection of DIA

Center for the Arts, New York.

57

Figure 34-39 RICHARD SERRA, Tilted Arc, 1981.

Cor-Ten steel, 12’ x 120’ x 2 1/2‖. Installed Federal

Plaza, New York City by the General Services

Administration, Washington D.C. Removed by the U.S.

Government 1989.

58

34.6 New Models for Architecture

• Examine the organic and fluid forms developed as new

models for modernist architecture.

• Recognize the distinctions between the works of Modernist

and Postmodern architects.

59

Figure 34-40 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (exterior view from the northwest), New

York, 1943–1959 (photo 1962).

60

Figure 34-41 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, Interior of

the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York,

1943–1959.

61

Figure 34-42 LE CORBUSIER, Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, 1950–1955.

62

Figure 34-43 LE CORBUSIER, Interior of Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, 1950–1955.

63

Figure 34-44 JOERN UTZON, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, 1959–1972. Reinforced concrete; height of

highest shell, 200’.

64

Figure 34-45 EERO SAARINEN, Trans World Airlines terminal, Kennedy Airport, New York, 1956–1962.

65

Figure 34-46 LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE and

PHILIP JOHNSON, Seagram Building, New York, 1956–

1958.

66

Figure 34-47 SKIDMORE, OWINGS AND MERRILL, Sears Tower, Chicago, 1974.

67

Figure 34-48 CHARLES MOORE, Piazza

d’Italia, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1976–1980.

68

Figure 34-49 PHILIP JOHNSON and JOHN

BURGEE with Simmons Architects, associated

architects, a model of the AT&T Building, New York,

1978–1984.

69

Postmodern Architecture

• Examine the elements and issues of Postmodern architecture

in its use of classical and colonial forms as well as later

deconstructivist forms.

70

Figure 34-50 MICHAEL GRAVES, The Portland Building, Portland, Oregon, 1980.

71

Figure 34-51 ROBERT VENTURI, JOHN RAUCH and DENISE SCOTT BROWN, house in Delaware (west elevation),

1978–1983.

72

Figure 34-52 RICHARD ROGERS and RENZO PIANO, Georges Pompidou National Center of Art and Culture (the

―Beaubourg‖), Paris, 1977.

73

Figure 34-53 GÜNTER BEHNISCH, Hysolar Institute Building, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany, 1987.

74

Figure 34-54 FRANK GEHRY, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, 1997.

75

34.7 Postmodernism in Painting, Sculpture, and New Media

• Understand the inclusion of traditional elements, historical

references, and artistic self-consciousness in Postmodern art.

• Examine Neo-expressionist interest in intense emotions and

in the physicality of paint and media combinations.

• Understand the contemporary political content of feminist

and cultural heritage art.

• Examine the use of new video and digital technologies

available in the making of art.

• Understand cultural criticism as inherent to Postmodernism.

76

Postmodern Painting and Other Media

• Understand the traditional elements, historical references,

and artistic self-consciousness.

• Examine Neo-expressionist intense emotions and the

physicality of media combinations.

77

Figure 34-55 JULIAN SCHNABEL, The Walk Home, 1984–1985. Oil, plates, copper, bronze, fiberglass, and bondo on

wood, 9’ 3‖ x 19’ 4‖. Broad Art Foundation and the Pace Gallery, New York.

78

Figure 34-56 SUSAN ROTHENBERG, Tattoo, 1979. Acrylic, flashe on canvas, 5’ 7‖ x 8’ 7 1/8‖ x 1 1/4‖. Collection

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (purchased with the aid of funds from Mr. and Mrs. Edmond R. Ruben, Mr. and Mrs. Julius

E. Davis, the Art Center Acquisition Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts, 1979).

79

Figure 34-57 ANSELM KIEFER, Nigredo, 1984. Oil paint on photosensitized fabric, acrylic emulsion, straw, shellac,

relief paint on paper pulled from painted wood, 11’ x 18’. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia (gift of Friends of the

Philadelphia Museum of Art).

80

Figure 34-58 CHRIS OFILI, The Holy Virgin

Mary, 1996. Paper collage, oil paint, glitter,

polyester resin, map pins, elephant dung on linen,

7’ 11‖ x 5’ 11 5/16‖. The Saatchi Collection,

London.

81

Postmodern Art as Political Weapon

• Understand the social content and political statements of

feminist art along with innovative and expressive use of

materials.

• Understand the use of art to express gender and cultural

heritage issues, as well as the experimental forms and

innovative use of materials.

82

Figure 34-59 JUDY CHICAGO, The Dinner Party, 1979. Multimedia, including ceramics and stitchery, 48’ x 48’ x 48’

installed.

83

Figure 34-60 MIRIAM SCHAPIRO, Anatomy of a Kimono (section), 1976. Fabric and acrylic on canvas, 6’ 8‖ x 8’ 6‖.

Collection of Bruno Bishofberger, Zurich.

84

Figure 34-61 CINDY SHERMAN, Untitled Film Still

#35, 1979. Black-and-white photograph, 10‖ x 8‖.

Metro Pictures, New York.

85

Figure 34-62 BARBARA KRUGER, Untitled

(Your Gaze Hits the Side of My Face), 1983.

Photostat, red painted frame, 6’ 1‖ x 4’ 1‖.

Courtesy of Mary Boone Gallery, New York.

86

Figure 34-63 ANA MENDIETA, Flowers on Body,

1973. Color photograph of earth/body work with flowers,

executed at El Yaagul, Oaxaca, Mexico . Courtesy of the

Estate of Ana Medieta and Galerie Lelong, New York.

87

Figure 34-64 HANNAH WILKE, S.O.S.—Starification Object Series, 1974-82. 10 Black-and-white photographs with 15

chewing-gum sculptures in Plexiglas cases mounted on ragboard, from a series originally made for S.O.S. Mastication Box

and used in an exhibition-performance at The Clocktower, January 1, 1975, 3’ 5‖ x 5’ 8‖.

88

Figure 34-65 KIKI SMITH, Untitled, 1990. Beeswax

and microcrystalline wax figures on metal stands, female

figure installed height 6’ 1 1/2‖ and male figure installed

height 6’ 4 15/16‖. Collection Whitney Museum of

American Art, New York (purchase, with funds from the

Painting and Sculpture Committee).

89

Figure 34-66 FAITH

RINGGOLD, Who’s Afraid of

Aunt Jemima?, 1983. Acrylic on

canvas with fabric borders, quilted,

7’ 6‖ x 6’ 8‖. Private collection.

90

Figure 34-67 ADRIAN PIPER, Cornered, 1988. Mixed-media installation of variable size; video monitor, table, and birth

certificates. Collection of Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

91

Figure 34-68 LORNA SIMPSON, Stereo Styles, 1988. 10 black-and-white Polaroid prints and 10 engraved plastic plaques,

5’ 4‖ x 9’ 8‖ overall. Collection of Raymond J. Learsy, Sharon, Connecticut.

92

Figure 34-69 MELVIN EDWARDS, Tambo,

1993.Welded steel, 2' 4 1/8" x 2' 1 1/4" . Smithsonian

American Art Museum,Washington, D.C.

93

Figure 34-70 DAVID HAMMONS, Public Enemy, installation at Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1991. Photographs,

balloons, sandbags, guns, and other mixed media.

94

Figure 34-71 JAUNE QUICK-TO-SEE SMITH, Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People), 1992. Oil and mixed

media on canvas, 5’ x 14’ 2‖. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia (museum purchase 93.2).

95

Figure 34-72 LEON GOLUB, Mercenaries (IV), 1980. Acrylic on linen, 10’ x 19’ 2‖. Collection Mr. and Mrs. Ulrich

Meyer, Chicago.

96

Figure 34-73 MAGDALENA

ABAKANOWICZ, artist with Backs, at

the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de

Paris, Paris, France, 1982. Copyright ©

Magdalena Abakanowicz/Licensed by

VAGA, New York, NY/Marlborough

Gallery, NY.

97

Figure 34-74 DAVID WOJNAROWICZ, "When I Put My Hands On Your Body", 1990. Gelatin-silver print and silk-

screened text on museum board, 2’ 2‖ x 3’ 2‖. Collection of Tom Rauffenbart.

98

Figure 34-75 KRZYSZTOF WODICZKO, The

Homeless Projection, 1986–1987. Outdoor slide

projection at the Soldiers and Sailors Civil War Memorial,

Boston, organized by First Night, Boston.

99

Figure 34-76 NAM JUNE PAIK, Video still from Global Groove, 1973. 3/4 videotape, color, sound, 30 minutes.

Collection of the artist.

100

Figure 34-77 DAVID EM, Nora, 1979. Computer-generated color photograph, 1’ 5‖ x 1’ 11‖. Private collection.

101

Figure 34-78 JENNY HOLZER, Untitled (Selections from Truisms, Inflammatory Essays, The Living Series, The

Survival Series, Under a Rock, Laments, and Child Text), 1989. Extended helical tricolor LED electronic display signboard,

16‖ x 162’ x 6‖. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, December 1989–February 1990 (partial gift of the artist,

1989).

102

New Technologies for Art

• Examine the expressive use of video and digital technologies

by Postmodern artists.

103

Figure 34-79 BILL VIOLA, The Crossing, 1996.

Installation with two channels of color video

projection onto screens 16’-high.

104

Figure 34-86 MATTHEW BARNEY,

Cremaster cycle, installation at the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2003.

105

Criticism of Commodity Culture, Art History, and Art Institutions

• Understand Postmodernist criticism of contemporary

commodity culture, and criticism of galleries and museums.

• Examine Postmodern art that draws attention to global social

injustice and world problems.

106

Figure 34-80 TONY OURSLER, Mansheshe, 1997.Ceramic, glass, video player, videocassette, CPJ-200 video projector,

sound, 11‖ x 7‖ x 8‖ each. Courtesy the artist and Metro Pictures, New York.

107

Figure 34-81 JEFF KOONS, Pink Panther, 1988. Porcelain, 3’

5‖ x 1’ 8 1/2‖ x 1’ 7‖. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art,

Chicago (Gerald S. Elliot Collection).

108

Figure 34-82 MARK TANSEY, A Short History of Modernist Painting, 1982. Oil on canvas, three panels, each 4’ 10‖ x

3’ 4‖.

109

Figure 34-83 ROBERT ARNESON, California Artist, 1982. Glazed stoneware, 5’

8 1/4‖ x 2’ 3 1/2‖ x 1’ 8 1/4‖. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (gift of the

Modern Art Council). Copyright © Estate of Robert Arneson/Licensed by VAGA,

New York, NY.

110

Figure 34-84 HANS HAACKE, MetroMobiltan, 1985. Fiberglass construction, three banners, and photomural, 11’ 8‖ x

20’ x 5’. Collection Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

111

Figure 34-85 GUERRILLA GIRLS, The Advantages of Being A Woman Artist, 1988. Poster.

112

Discussion Questions

How are the two main processes of Abstract Expressionism different? Name and processes and one artist for each.

What do Minimalist sculptors mean by the concept of objecthood?

What is meant by Conceptual Art and the elimination of the object?

Why do you think Modernist art and architecture alienated the public? Do you agree that Postmodern art and architecture are more in tune to the public’s interests?

In what ways has new technology already changed our perception of what art is?