Modernism and Postmodernism... These are two terms that got me extremely confused but I believe I now know what they exactly stand for.
Modernism refers to the artistic movements (surrealism, cubism, abstractionism etc.) that started developing at the beginning of the 20th century and ended when the Second World War began. The term Postmodernism consists of all the artistic movements that emerged after World War II. Some of the main differences between the two are:
- Modernism accomplishes to create new and original styles of art whereas postmodernism has lost faith in originality and is more keen on commercial aspects of art.
- Meaning and bits of truth are included in a modernist's artwork in such way that the viewer feels captured by it and tries hard to interpret it. Meaning cannot be contained or exactly determined in a postmodernist artwork.
- Modernism is all about the ability of the artist to create timeless, captivating pieces of artwork whereas postmodernism works with meaning not only given by the artist but also given from the social and cultural background of each viewer.
Example of Modern Art:
Pablo Picasso - Guernica (1937)
Example of Postmodern Art:
Andy Warhol - Campbell's Soup (1968)
References:
Butler, C. (2002) Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Butler, C. (2010) Modernism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Benz, J.,2009, Contemporary Art 101: What's the difference between 'modern' and 'postmodern'?, examiner.com, [blog] 1 September, Available at: http://www.examiner.com/article/contemporary-art-101-what-s-the-difference-between-modern-and-postmodern
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