Modern Art

The art world has always been a means of expression for those who believe they need to have a voice for others. Paintings and other muses of art were not only for depicting a certain scene of life, but to express those feelings that could not be said with words. While the art world was always dominated by men, women were also painting and creating art. Women especially, created art to voice their feelings and express how they were being seen and treated by others. Women artists did this all the time, but when the modernist era came about, women took things to the next level. Modernism was a time in the art and creative world that was meant to question notions of the past and learn from them.
Artists were getting rid of old concepts that altered the lives of many and began creating new ones. Modernism was the new big thing: it was something to get the conversation going. Women especially were big advocates in creating modernist art.

Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait With Monkey, 1940

Modernism explored in creating something new first or putting out an idea that no one had ever done before. Women began putting out art that utilized their own bodies as mediums, something that had not been done before. The New Woman was the new term in which many women were considered under. Whether it was through painting or photographs, women were going against the notions that women were only capable of posing as a stereotypical women roles. It still was not easy to be a women artist, "but there was also more opportunity than ever before for a woman to live her life and make art in her own terms" (Guerilla Girls 59). Women could still prosper and live a stable life, but there was still stigma against them being just as equal as men. Modernist artists such as Frida Kahlo, included ideas in their paintings that were not just traditional. Kahlo would include nature, her culture, and her personal thoughts into her paintings. Not only did she do this, but she utilized herself as the muse for her paintings. What better person to paint than oneself? Her paintings were intricate in color and ideas, and they went against the stigmas of women painting and painting traditionally.  An article that was published this year dives into Kahlo's turbulent life and her beautiful artwork can be seen here.

Paula Moderhson-Becker, Self-Portrait with
Amber Necklace, 1906

Women as well went against the idea of nudity and the male gaze. Women began to paint themselves nude as a means of expression and embracing the naked body. Painter Paula Modersohn-Becker was a female painter who went against the idea of "presenting women as powerless and sexually subjugated" (Chadwick 279). She was one of the first women that painted nude women that exuded power and was shown embracing her nude body. Modernism allowed women to act upon these ideas without being completely belittled. While modernism was still conservative, there was a a new wave in the art world that let women completely express themselves without any care.

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your Gaze Hits
the Side of My Face) 1981

Postmodernism came after modernism and it was revolutionary. Both women and men began creating postmodern art, and it changed the art world completely. Postmodernism has been described as the "breaking down of the unified (though hardly monolithic) traditions of Modernism" (Chadwick 380).  It was a means to break away from the ideas the art was only for the elite and had to be only intellectual. It allowed artists to take former art pieces and create their own version of art work without being held accountable for it. Postmodernism was meant to create art as something fun and playful, but still create though provoking ideas that questioned society. A good example of this is Barbra Kruger. Her artwork was meant to "subvert the meanings of both image and text in order to destabilize the positioning of woman as object" (Chadwick 382). Her art piece on the upper right is a critique to the male gaze and how women will omit the male gaze as it is not important and it does not make a woman what she is thought to be. She also created art work that referenced the female body and how strong women are. Women were always subjected to just their bodies. Their bodies were only meant for sex and birthing children. Kruger goes against that by saying that "Your Body is a Battleground." Women are more than just their body and they have much more to offer than sexual reproduction and male pleasure.

Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 1979

Another example of a postmodernist artist is Cindy Sherman. A woman who also did not utilize painting as a means to challenge women stereotypes. She used a camera, in which she used "...her own body in the conventions of advertising and film images of women" (Chadwick 383). Sherman would create characters and become those characters in order to depict stereotypes that had been enacted by people before. She would pose as many things; model, housewife, anything that a woman has been a victim of being stereotyped as. She took many photographs that challenged these notions and they are still prevalent today. Here is an article just from last year that interviews her and explores her new journey with Instagram.

Modernism and Postmodernism made one big dent in the art universe. Modernism led to the idea of postmodernism, in which resulted in the art world we live with today. It is a beautiful, chaotic, and intellectual world. Art is for everyone as postmodernism made it that way. Although modernism was a time where things began to change, postmodernism really defined a woman's status. Women saw way more success during the postmodernism era. Today, women artists are still challenging and creating art that invokes ideas in so many different people. These artist are creating art that they feel is art and they do not have anyone telling them their air is not worthy of being deemed art. Art is everything and nothing, and hopefully it continues to be that way.



Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, And Society. Fifth ed., Thames & Hudson, 2012.

Guerilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. Penguin Books, 1998.