Post Modern Art
34
FROM THE MODERN TO THE POST MODERN AND BEYOND
ART OF THE LATER 20TH CENTURY
TEXT PAGES 1030–1091
THE ART WORLD’S FOCUS SHIFTS WEST
1. List two characteristics of so-called “Greenbergian formalism”: An emphasis on an artwork’s visual elements rather than its subject. Rejection of illusionism and a focus on exploring the properties of each artistic medium.
2. Why is it difficult to give a precise definition of the term “Postmodernism”? It is a widespread cultural phenomenon. It can be considered a rejection of modernist principles and accommodates seemingly everything in art. In contrast to Modernism, which may be considered to be elitist, Postmodernism is: A naïve and optimistic populism.
3. What is the attitude of Existentialists toward human existence? Human existence is absurd, and it is impossible to achieve certitude. Many existentialists also promoted atheism and questioned the possibility of situating God within a systematic philosophy. List three artists whose work reflects these ideas: a. Francis Bacon b. Jean Dubuffet c. Alberto Giacometti
4. Name the artist who referred to his art as “an attempt to remake the violence of reality itself”: Francis Bacon.
5. List two characteristics of the art of Jean Dubuffet: a. His scenes are painted or incised into thickly encrusted, parched-looking surfaces of impasto. b. Scribblings are interspersed with the images, heightening the impression of smeared and gashed surfaces of crumbling walls and worn pavements marked by random individuals.
6. What is Art Brut? Untaught, coarse, and rough art, done in the way that children or the mentally unbalanced would paint.
7. In what way does the sculpture of Giacometti, like the figure shown on FIG. 34-3, relate to the ideas of the Existentialists? The figures can be seen as the epitome of existentialist humanity—alienated, solitary, and lost in the world’s immensity. They are thin,
FROM THE MODERN TO THE POST MODERN AND BEYOND
ART OF THE LATER 20TH CENTURY
TEXT PAGES 1030–1091
THE ART WORLD’S FOCUS SHIFTS WEST
1. List two characteristics of so-called “Greenbergian formalism”: An emphasis on an artwork’s visual elements rather than its subject. Rejection of illusionism and a focus on exploring the properties of each artistic medium.
2. Why is it difficult to give a precise definition of the term “Postmodernism”? It is a widespread cultural phenomenon. It can be considered a rejection of modernist principles and accommodates seemingly everything in art. In contrast to Modernism, which may be considered to be elitist, Postmodernism is: A naïve and optimistic populism.
3. What is the attitude of Existentialists toward human existence? Human existence is absurd, and it is impossible to achieve certitude. Many existentialists also promoted atheism and questioned the possibility of situating God within a systematic philosophy. List three artists whose work reflects these ideas: a. Francis Bacon b. Jean Dubuffet c. Alberto Giacometti
4. Name the artist who referred to his art as “an attempt to remake the violence of reality itself”: Francis Bacon.
5. List two characteristics of the art of Jean Dubuffet: a. His scenes are painted or incised into thickly encrusted, parched-looking surfaces of impasto. b. Scribblings are interspersed with the images, heightening the impression of smeared and gashed surfaces of crumbling walls and worn pavements marked by random individuals.
6. What is Art Brut? Untaught, coarse, and rough art, done in the way that children or the mentally unbalanced would paint.
7. In what way does the sculpture of Giacometti, like the figure shown on FIG. 34-3, relate to the ideas of the Existentialists? The figures can be seen as the epitome of existentialist humanity—alienated, solitary, and lost in the world’s immensity. They are thin,