Modernism and postmodernism are both eras in the art world where traditional art structures and concepts were challenged. The Ancient greek techniques and traditions such as vantage points had turned into abstract planes. Catholic or Christian artwork had turned into scandalized depictions of the lives of the artist. Both male and female artists utilized this new style of art to combat the stringent rules of pre- 20th century artwork. Surrealism, cubism, expressionism, and impressionism are just examples of movements that were apart of the modernism construct. Post modernism is a category of art that does not associate with a movement or any abstract ideas. During the Postmodern era women artist were critically analyzing concepts and ideologies that acknowledged patriarchy and sexism in the media.
The popular male artist of the Modernism era would be Pablo Picasso, Van Gogh, and Manet, however powerful women artist such as Sonia Delaunay, Hannah Hock, and Frida Khalo. The women artist of this era included social injustice ideas into their work and early feminist ideas were being explored. Revolutionary depictions of womens bodies and clothing styles were being created. Women artists begin to reveal their own identities and perspectives of the current social standing of women. Modernism can be defined as a severance from the traditional structures of art. The artistry of embroidery was being incorporated into the paintings and designs of many female artists. Sonia Delaunay designed fabrics in order to support herself, her son, and her Cubist painter husband, Robert Delaunay . Sonia and her husband developed a color theory called simultanism, this is included in the orphism movement. Orphism and simultanism displayed an overlapping of complementary colors. Guerilla Girls explains, “Sonia… applied their idea about color to design, and made simultaneous fabric, clothing, furniture, and environments, and even cars” (Guerilla Girls 60). The gender roles for women were still being enforced for the first time women are at least allowed to participate in the art world as long as they were still engaged with their families and domestic life. The relationship between working to support their families and developing their style as an artist was a circumstance in which women got to incorporate their domestic responsibilities into their skills as artist. Sonia Delaunay painted Prismes Isotiques in 1914 however her husband Robert painted a similar painting and received most of the accolades.
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| Prismes Electriques, Sonia Delaunay (1914) This is a painting that displays the overlapping of colors in the Orphism movement |
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| Simultaneous Contrast: Sun and Moon, Robert Delaunay (1913) This is also a painting that displays the Orphism pattern that Robert and his wife Sonia created |
Kathe Kollwitz was an expressionist artist who used lithography as her medium. Of course she was not the first artist to use lithography, but she was fond of printmaking because she could replicate her work easily. Print-making was a medium that thoroughly conveyed the sadness and misery that she wanted to depict in her work. Circumstances such as war and poverty were influencers of her work. It is explained that the death of her son and the destruction of Germany were frequently depicted in her work.
Expressionism is a movement that aimed to incite emotion and depict the expressions of humans. Kollwitz uses her art to display the bleak futures of citizens. Kathe states, “Later, I worked for years on a memorial to my son killed at the front in Belgium in the Great War 1916. It was about the human price of war, about the grief of two parents over a dead child” (Guerilla Girls 70-71).
The difference between Modernism and Postmodernism art movements is the Post-Modernism female artist not interested in classifying their work, but dismantling patriarchal depictions of women in the media. Modernism artists were depicting their frustrations about sexism and the impact it had on their lives. Post- Modernism artist wanted to actively draw attention to patriarchal structures and address how these constructs were harming women. Chadwick states, “explorations based on a conceptual and social-political paradigms, an engagement with public and/ or activist concerns; work that directly addresses issues of the transgressive body, intimacy, abjection, sexual identity, and censorship” (Chadwick 380).
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| Mother and Dead Child, Kathe Kollwitz (1903) This is a mother and her dead child. This is the result of war and poverty |
For example Kathe Kollwitz paints Uprising to show the pain and suffering of men, the expressions presented on the face of the men lets the audience know this is an expressionist painting. The work is not critically analyzing the aftermath of war of poverty and suffering, it is simply just displaying the mood of the environment.
| Uprising, Kathe Kollwitz (1899) This print captures the proletarian class uprising and protesting labor abuse and poverty |
Marina Abramovic is a performance artist who wants to depict the painful memories of Serbia. She uses bloody cow bones to not only show the destruction caused by war, but she is condemning war because it leads to scenes such as the one she is performing in.
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| Balkin Baroque, Marina Abramovic (19987 The cow bones and blood are symbolic of the violence and death that occurred in the Balkins |
Artist in the post-modernism era begin to practice more feminist art. Paintings were valued over other mediums in the Modernist era however in postmodernism mediums such as printmaking, photography, and performance art began to emerge as a way of experimenting with new ideas. Cindy Sherman is an artist who acquires fame from her film still style photos. Cindy Sherman uses herself to embody different characters that are being depicted in the media. The stereotypes of women that are portrayed in movies are conveyed in her photos however, Sherman is contradicting the ways in which women are portrayed. The longing woman staring out the window is a scene that is depicted in many films, however when Sherman captures this image she is attempting to reenact the scene that tells that women are always longing are going to be unhappy in their current states.
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| Untitled Film Still #15, Cindy Sherman (1978) Cindy is gazing out of her window, a popular movie scene |
This scene is to incite the male gaze and depict the women as an innocent and curious being however she is contradicting that narrative by showing this is just a media portrayal of women but its not a honest depiction.
MLA Citation:
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th Edition. United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1990
The Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998
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