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8. Contemporary Art (1950 to today, redefining what art is)

After 1940: Abstract Expressionism 1 2

  • A new vanguard emerged in the early 1940s, primarily in New York, where a small group of loosely affiliated artists created a stylistically diverse body of work that introduced radical new directions in art—and shifted the art world’s focus.
  • The movement is named Abstract Expressionism or the New York School.
  • These artists valued spontaneity and improvisation, and they accorded the highest importance to processes.
  • It was characterized by large abstract paintings, all-over compositions, without a clear focal point, and a strong emphasis on the act of painting itself.

After 1950: Postmodern Art 3

  • Modern art is about personal expression.
  • Postmodernism pulls away from the modern focus on originality, and the work is deliberately impersonal.
  • Postmodernism is associated with the deconstruction of the idea, ‘I am the artistic genius, and you need me.
  • The term “contemporary” is not attached to a historical period, as are modern and postmodern, but instead simply describes art “of our moment.” At this point, though, work dating back to about 1970 is often considered contemporary.

1940s-1960s: Pop Art 4

  • “Pop art” first emerged in Great Britain, which suffered great economic hardship after the war.
  • In the late 1940s, artists of the “Independent Group,” first began to appropriate idealized images of the American lifestyle they found in popular magazines as part of their critique of British society.
  • It was in this artistic and cultural context that Pop artists developed their distinctive style of the early 1960s. Characterized by clearly rendered images of popular subject matter, it seemed to assault the standards of modern painting, which had embraced abstraction as a reflection of universal truths and individual expression.
  • In contrast to the dripping paint and slashing brushstrokes of Abstract Expressionism—and even of Proto-Pop art—Pop artists applied their paint to imitate the look of industrial printing techniques.

1960s-1970s: Minimalism 5

  • Simple geometric shapes, primary colors, and industrial materials characterize Minimalist art.
  • Also named: ABC art, Object art, Primary Structure art, and Cool art.
  • It was a rejection of the chaos of Abstract Expressionism.
  • The objects were impersonal, made by machines, and of industrial materials.
  • Artworks had no meaning, no narrative, and no emotion. There were no hidden meanings or symbols.

Performance and Conceptual Art 6 7

  • It is an art in which the body is the medium or live actions are the medium.
  • It is a form of art that is not about the object but about the idea.
  • Every man is an artist.

After 1970: Pictures Generation (Feminism, Consumerism, and PostColonialism) 8 9

  • Through the manipulation of media like film and photography in particular, these artists questioned both the possibility and the significance of “originality.”
  • Many of the artists now known as the “Pictures Generation” were so named mainly because of their inclusion in the 1977 exhibition “Pictures” at Artists Space in New York City.

After 1980: Postcolonial Art (Global Contemporary) 10 11

  • The Swing (After Fragonard) is a three-dimensional recreation of the Rococo painting after which it was titled, which itself offers testimony to the opulence and frivolity of pre-Revolutionary France.

Optional Resources 12 13

References

  1. Paul, A. S. (n.d.). Abstract Expressionism. The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd_abex.htm. ↩

  2. What is abstract expressionism? - Sarah Rosenthal. (n.d.). TED-Ed https://ed.ted.com/lessons/could-just-anyone-make-a-jackson-pollock-painting-sarah-rosenthal. ↩

  3. Gambino, M. (n.d.). Ask an Expert: What is the Difference Between Modern and Postmodern Art? Smithsonian Magazine https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/ask-an-expert-what-is-the-difference-between-modern-and-postmodern-art-87883230/. ↩

  4. Spivey, V. (n.d.). Pop Art. Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/post-war-american-art/popart/a/pop-art. ↩

  5. The Case for Minimalism [Video]. (n.d.). Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/post-war-american-art/minimalism-and-earthworks/v/the-case-for-minimalism-the-art-assignment-pbs-digital-studios. ↩

  6. The Case for Performance Art [Video]. (n.d.). Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/conceptual-and-performance-art/performanceart/v/the-case-for-performance-art. ↩

  7. Dzalto, D. (n.d.). Joseph Beuys, Feet Washing and Conceptual Performance. Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/post-war-european-art/postwar-art-germany/a/joseph-beuys-feet-washing-and-conceptual-performance. ↩

  8. Saggase, J. M. (n.d.). The Pictures Generation. Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/post-minimalism/painting/a/the-pictures-generation. ↩

  9. Folland, T. (n.d.). Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your gaze hits the side of my face). Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/global-culture/concepts-in-art-1980-to-now/identity-art/a/barbara-kruger-untitled-your-gaze-hits-the-side-of-my-face. ↩

  10. James Luna, “Artifact Piece.” (2019, January 31). Marabou at the Museum https://marabouatthemuseum.com/2019/01/31/james-luna-artifact-piece/. ↩

  11. Young, Allison. (n.d.). Yinka Shonibare, The Swing (After Fragonard). Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/global-contemporary-apah/21st-century-apah/a/yinka-shonibare-the-swing-after-fragonard. ↩

  12. The Art Assignment. (2019, May 28). Art or Prank? YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZlrHyzIwcI. ↩

  13. Austin, Chloe. (2020, December 14). Postcolonial art: Eight artists addressing empire, colonial histories and black identities. Art UK https://artuk.org/discover/stories/postcolonial-art-eight-artists-addressing-empire-colonial-histories-and-black-identities. ↩