Art History Final Exam 1. What is the difference between modernism and postmodernism?

According to Harrisons textbook, there are many differences between modernism and post modernism. Modernism emerged in the 1930s and was mainly art about art. It wanted to move away from the old fashioned portraits and naturalistic works and move towards an abstract way to express ideas. Modern works of art do not have a clear meaning associated to them and usually do not have a connection to the environment for which it is made for. It is a deviation from the traditional painting and sculptures made by artists prior to the ride of modernism. In modernist artwork, one can see a great deal of various shapes, colors, materials and abstract figures that come together to convey a meaning or picture. These distinct parts create an illusion and come together to create a whole. Modernist work has an instantaneity effect to it meaning that there is one moment where you get the point of the work, similar to a religious moment. One example of a modernist work is Jackson Pollocks Autumn Rhythm created in 1950. This work is an abstract painting that rejects the traditional paintings of that time because it shows an illusion effect and the parts come together as a whole. Postmodernism emerged a little later than modernism in the 1950s -1960s and was mainly classified by critics as non-art. Postmodern art was put together by using objects and processed images from the media to make a whole piece of work. The art was usually did not convey a meaning right away when one saw it. The postmodern work had many parts to it that did not flow with each other or come together as a whole. An example of postmodern art is Robert Rauschenbergs Bed completed in 1955. This work has many parts to it that used everyday objects like a pillow, a bed and sheets. This artwork was said to be postmodern work because it used everyday objects and a little paint to get a point across. 2. Focus on the controversy over Richard Serras Tilted Arc. Do you believe the artwork should have been removed? Explain your reasoning and be sure to reference Caroline Levines article on Serra. Tilted Arc by Richard Serra was located at the Federal Plaza in New York and was removed because it was thought to be disruptive to the worker in the federal building across it, it did not look good, and it was inconvenient to the visitors of the plaza. The General Services Administration, the GSA, funded the construction of this art work in the Federal Plaza. Soon after it was put up, the GSA received hundreds of petitions to take the sculpture down or to relocate it elsewhere. In my opinion, I believe that the artwork should have been removed because it impacted many of the workers and visitors of the plaza. Since it was 120 feet, it probably was difficult to pass through the plaza if you were in a hurry because you would have had to walk all the way around it to get to the other side. In Caroline Levines article on Richard Serra (page 50), she states that it was not obscene, did n ot endanger the community or cause any injury, but it was just disliked by the people who encountered it and it was in an inconvenient location. This shows that it was not a bad work of art, but it just did not fit in with the environment that it was located it. 3. Focus on the controversy over Robert Mapplethorpe. Do you believe that Mapplethorpes work should have been censored? Explain your reasoning and be sure to reference Richard Meyers article on Mapplethorpe. Robert Mapplethorpe was criticized a number of times for inclusion of homosexuality and pedophilia in his photographs. His work included male nudes and the exploitation of children, mainly in portraits of the youth. Mapplethorpes 1976 portrait of Jesse McBride sparked a huge controversy about it being child pornography and not artwork. In my opinion, I do not believe that this artwork should have been censored because it was Mapplethorpes idea and he had a right to express what he was feeling. If other artists are allowed to paint and sculpt the nude without a problem, Mapplethorpe should not have been criticized about his photograph because both of them, Jesse and Mapplethorpe, were comfortable in producing it. In Richard Meyers article about Robert Mapplethorpe, he says that Judy Linn produced a similar photograph of Jesse McBride, who was now eighteen years old, in a similar position to the photograph Mapplethorpe took of him. Judy Linn agreed with Mapplethorpe that it was a good idea to remove the clothes for the photograph and supports the idea that the previous photo should not have been censored. 4. Why, according to Linda Nochlin, have there been no great women artists? Explain the ins and outs of her argument. In Linda Nochlins article, she explains the reasoning behind why ther e have not been any great women artists. She talks about the canon at that time, which is a group of artists deemed to be the best, being consisted of males like Picasso and Michelangelo. In the article, she has an easygoing tone while being very informative about the issue of not having any great women artists. Her main reasoning behind writing the article was to investigate why there are social constructions in art and how those social constructions are standardized. Even though she rejects this reasoning, according to Linda Nochlin, there have been no great women artists because many people think that women are not capable of making artwork as well as men are able to. Critics think that there is no such thing as a feminine type of art. From a scientific viewpoint, there have not been any famous women artists because women are

biologically inferior to men and hold a lower social status than them. In the article, Nochlin criticizes the artistic genius because womens lack of major achievement in art is a direct result of lacking an artistic genius. If the women had an artistic genius, it would be easily shown in their work. Also, women have not succeeded in the art field because they have a lack of opportunities to achieve things in their like, like an education, compared to men. In summary, there have been no great women artists because they have not really been given the opportunity to show what they can really achieve. 5. What is primitivism? You may reference the PowerPoint on Blackboard and/or the article by Antliff and Leighton to explain. Primitivism, from a modernism point of view, is an act on the part of the artists and the writer seeking to celebrate the features of art and culture of people who are deemed to be primitive, an early or ancient period of time. Primitivism also has a goal to appropriate the simplicity and authenticity of primitive people by transforming Western art. It is seen as a negative term by many people but is a product of the positive historical experience of the people in Western culture. Primitivism in art can be understood by looking at the relationships between time and space, gender, race, and class. Time and space was shown primitive artists by showing a connection of historical information to current day information. Gender was associated with primitive art because women were commonly related to natural or primitiveness. Race was connected to primitive art because the art commonly represented people from different races, like from both Europe and Africa. Lastly, class was associated to primitive art because issues of social class and hierarchies in society were many times depicted in these artworks. In summary, primitivism dealt with the artwork that shows primitive cultures, races, and classes. Artwork 1: Salvador Dal, Retrospective Bust of a Woman, 1933 (see page 298, Harrison.) Salvador Dal was one of the main artists during the Surrealist movement when it first became popular. Even though most of Dalis works are paintings, his artwork, Retrospective Bust of a Women competed in 1933, is a combination of a sculptures and everyday objects, like bread, an inkwell, and corn. Dal has the bust, bread and inkwell stacked up on each other with the corn around the womens neck. Also, there are ants on the womens face eating the bread. COLORS? Artwork 2: Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm, (No. 30 1950), 1950 (See Page 142, Harrison.) Jackson Pollocks painting Autumn Rhythm is an abstract work done with oil and enamel painting on canvas. He painted this by laying the canvas on the ground and literally splattered paint onto the canvas taking note of the edges of the canvas. Pollocks painting shows the emotions he was going through and the feelings he had while working on it. In Harrisons textbook, Jackson Pollock says in a quote that he himself was in the painting but was not aware that he was doing it. He has coffee cup marks and shoe marks throughout the painting showing that he was in fact in it. The colors used in the work are various shades of the color brown, along with the canvas. Artwork 3: Robert Rauschenberg, Bed, 1955. See Leo Steinbergs The Flatbed Picture Plane Robert Rauschenbergs artwork, Bed, completed in 1955, was criticized many times for blurring the boundary between art and objects. It was said that it was not to be considered art because it used everyday objects that were turned into art. This artwork is made up of an actual bed, that is hung up vertically, that has been modified with paint and other materials. It is usually seen when it is in the flatbed picture frame, meaning that it is laid down horizontally. This work is an example of expressionism because it represents Rauschenbergs emotions and ideas on the canvas, which is a bed in this case. Rauschenbergs Bed shows that there may have been many chaotic and orderly events going on during his life when he made this piece of work. As mentioned before, the Bed artwork shows that there are two parts that show both order and chaos all in one piece. The top of the work where the pillow is located depicts a chaotic time in the artists life because of the random use and splatter of bright colors like reds and oranges. The use of theses colors and thick brush strokes shows the viewers in a way that he may have been angry and frustrated with what was going on at that time. The location of the bright colors near the head of the bed also tells us that he may have been releasing interior feelings and thoughts from his head while painting the textile. Towards the second half of the artwork, there is more order and organization to the canvas. The bed sheet is neatly laid out on the bed reveling the other more orderly side of Rauschenberg, in contrast to the top portion of the bed. In conclusion, Rauschenbergs Bed is commonly criticized because to some people, it is not considered artwork. It combines ideas of art and everyday objects to arrive at a final artwork. The work itself illustrates the two sides of life that Rauschenberg live, a chaotic on shown at the head of the bed, and an orderly one shown at the foot of the bed. The flatbed picture frame is becoming more and more popular among artists because it show a whole different perspective of an artwork.