Postmodernism

Postmodernism is an art movement that emerged in the 20th century as a form of response to modernism. The key idea of postmodernism is in the rejection of universal truths and grand narratives, postmodernism highlights the instability of meaning, embraces the blending of styles and is highly skeptical to established norms. Postmodernism is not just an art movement, it also is a cultural and philosophical phenomenon, which makes it influential and significant for the development and understanding of modern art. As an art form, postmodernism includes a such styles as pop art, conceptual art, minimalism and other approaches.

Among works of art, one of the most pivotal examples of postmodernist influence is Andy Warhol‘s «Campbell‘s Soup» (1968).

This work belongs to pop art, and is an example of blent lines between fine art and commercial design, high and low culture. Campbell‘s Soup Cans are one of the works that brought postmodernist ideas to wide scales of audiences.

In the field of architecture, one of the most famous examples is SIS Building by Terry Farrell (1994), described as «hulking, postmodern fortress». An earlier architectural example is Portland Building (1982), by Michael Graves.

Postmodernism is also established in many other fields, including fashion, for example «Padded dresses» (1997) — the collection by Rei Kawakubo is considered a manifestation of postmodernism fashion.

The term of «postmodernism» was first used back in 1870, by John Watkins Chapman, in his description of postmodern style of painting. However the main theoretical developers of the phenomenon are Fredric Jameson — an American philosopher, Jean Baudrillar — a French sociologist, author of «Simulacres et Simuation» and Jean François Lyotard — a frech philosopher who legitimized the term itself.

In practice, some of the most famous figures related to postmodernism are Andy Warhol, Madonna — a popular music artist and John Cage, whose approach to music influenced the development of postmodernist ideas in music a lot.

As a response to elitism and conventional art forms, the emergence of postmodernism was influenced by globalization, and cultural upheaval. As a mass phenomenon, postmodernism influenced a lot of art approaches, that existed as a part of it, the development of alternative approaches to art, such as fluxus. It was also a huge part of punk culture in music. Later it led to emergence of such approaches as post-postmodernism, and its influence can still be seen in mass media and popular culture.