Biki Aly
Art and Women
Prof Cacoilo
April 10, 2019
Modernism/Postmodernism
Modernism was a global movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Modernism is disapproval to all traditional forms of art and culture. Modernism influenced men and women who lived in Europe. It was when individuals neglected the old painting styles and began attempting new things. Their inspiration was to create new art. Artist had to step out of their comfort zone so they can be become known. Not only did the artist make art with paint but they also started to make art with photography along with the material of fabric. In Europe women, artists helped influence the techniques and development of Modernism. One thing that women did during modernism that made a huge impact was including different patterns and colors in designing clothes for fashion. The innovation time frame of modernism was an accumulation of developments. In the book “Guriella Girls” the author says “The movements that makeup modernism are: impressionism, post-impressionism, fauvism, cubism, futurism, constructivism, dada-ism, surrealism, expressionism, and abstract-expressionism” (Guerrilla Girls 59). These styles of art allowed a movement to be made for artists and while also allowing women to have the same equal amount of freedom as men. One example is the abstraction of expressionism which is described as the artist not having to be focused on only one thing rather the artist can be focused on multiple things such as shapes, and different colors. One artist who helped build abstract art is Sonia Delaunay. “Delaunay’s work with textiles and embroidery encouraged her to break down forms and emphasize surface structure” (Chadwick, 261). In the painting below she used those colors to convey the world. “Their patterns of abstract forms were arranged both to enhance the natural movement of the body and to establish a shimmering movement of color” (Chadwick 262). By Sonia being able to show off her patterns and colors it enabled her to demonstrate her work. Sonia purposely used all these different shapes and colors in her paintings because she wanted to give her audience the chance to understand that art was more than just following rules. Sonia wanted her viewers to see her art more than just tiles.
Modernism/Postmodernism
Modernism was a global movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Modernism is disapproval to all traditional forms of art and culture. Modernism influenced men and women who lived in Europe. It was when individuals neglected the old painting styles and began attempting new things. Their inspiration was to create new art. Artist had to step out of their comfort zone so they can be become known. Not only did the artist make art with paint but they also started to make art with photography along with the material of fabric. In Europe women, artists helped influence the techniques and development of Modernism. One thing that women did during modernism that made a huge impact was including different patterns and colors in designing clothes for fashion. The innovation time frame of modernism was an accumulation of developments. In the book “Guriella Girls” the author says “The movements that makeup modernism are: impressionism, post-impressionism, fauvism, cubism, futurism, constructivism, dada-ism, surrealism, expressionism, and abstract-expressionism” (Guerrilla Girls 59). These styles of art allowed a movement to be made for artists and while also allowing women to have the same equal amount of freedom as men. One example is the abstraction of expressionism which is described as the artist not having to be focused on only one thing rather the artist can be focused on multiple things such as shapes, and different colors. One artist who helped build abstract art is Sonia Delaunay. “Delaunay’s work with textiles and embroidery encouraged her to break down forms and emphasize surface structure” (Chadwick, 261). In the painting below she used those colors to convey the world. “Their patterns of abstract forms were arranged both to enhance the natural movement of the body and to establish a shimmering movement of color” (Chadwick 262). By Sonia being able to show off her patterns and colors it enabled her to demonstrate her work. Sonia purposely used all these different shapes and colors in her paintings because she wanted to give her audience the chance to understand that art was more than just following rules. Sonia wanted her viewers to see her art more than just tiles.
Sonia Delaunay, Couverture de Berceau, 1911
To continue on, Surrealism is additionally another development that enabled the artists to express their thoughts. One artist who believed in the surrealist movement was Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter, who has achieved great international popularity. Many of Frida’s work include her self portraits hat symbolically express her own pain and sexuality. One of Frida’s famous artwork is the photo down below which is called The Broken Column. Frida made this piece of artwork to express to her viewers the pain and suffering she went through. But at the same time, she wanted to send the message to say that she is strong and still able to continue on.
Postmodernism began around the 1960s. Postmodernism questioned the ideas and values of modernism. For example, postmodernism is about reality and the experiences of those expressing their artwork while on the other hand modernism focuses more on unrealistic abstract ideas. In the reading of Chadwick he says, “Postmodernism was known as the breaking down of the unified traditions of Modernism”, "Postmodernism draws heavily on existing representations rather than inventing new styles, and it often derives its imagery from mass media or popular culture, has focused attention on the ways that sexual and cultural difference are produced and reinforced in these images."(Chadwick 380). Postmodernism mostly questioned modernism. One artist who had a huge impact on Postmodernism is Yoko Ono. Yoko Ono was married to John Lennon. One of her very famous art performances is called “Cut Piece”. Cut Piece was all about Yoko giving herself to the audience and allowing them to cut all of her clothing off. Yoko allowed her audience one by one to come up to the stage allowing each of them to cut off a piece of her cloth. Another famous artist who used her body as art is Cindy Sherman. Cindy used herself in mainly most of her artwork. She would position her body in the way the artist viewed women for years.
The Broken Column, Frida Kahlo
”Cut Piece” Yoko Ono
Cindy Sherman Untitled 1979
During Modernism, women's goal was to give out a message about how they feel about their sexuality. One artist who gave out that message is Suzanne Valadon. Suzanne painted an art piece called The Blue Room. The Blue Room is a piece that conveys a very powerful message for women. In the photo below you can tell that the woman is smoking a cigarette as she lays down in her pajamas not caring what anyone may think. The message that Suzanne was trying to send out with this piece is that women can express themselves in any way they want. The women that Suzanne used as a model was laying comfortably as she embraced her own skin. (116)
Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room
In comparison to modernism and postmodernism, they both had a lot of similarities. Both Modernism and Postmodernism art occurred in two unique occasions that clarify how individuals depicted and began craftsmanship. During Modernism, the artist found ways to come up with new ways to make art. Modernism was a period where the artist focused on topics that did not convey any meaning. It also focused on the writer. In the time period of postmodernism, the focus was on the reader. The same idea of an artist coming up with new art was still being portrayed but the difference between modernism and postmodernism is that women used either their own bodies or other women bodies as art. Women wanted to make it an obligation for people to know that their art existed. Women wanted to show how much an art piece can express.
Links
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Whats-The-Difference-Between-Modernism-and-Postmodernism
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/modernism
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/postmodernism
All of these links were used to help me better understand what is modernism and what is postmodernism
Work Cited
The Guerrilla Girls, The Guerrilla Girls’ Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art (New York, Penguin Books, 1998)
Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society, 4th or 5th edition, (New York: Thames and Hudson), 2007.
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