Differences and relations between classical art and modern art and post-modern art

The best answer to reporting modern art

1. The disintegration of modern art originated from western art along the ancient Mediterranean coast (Egypt, Greece and West Asia) and showed signs of transformation in the late19th century. After entering the 20th century, this symbol has become the mainstream of western art, that is, modern western art..

Western modern art can be regarded as a building. Composed of various visual styles, the principle of building this building is scientific and reasonable. This is the ideological and cultural core of the west for hundreds of years, and what we lack here. Westerners have made rapid progress in technology and social management with these; However, it also brings limitations, which is part of the vitality of life. For example, the attraction of nature is indispensable to both men and women. If we only consider and calculate from the perspective of position, income and family status, we will have a rational attitude, but our feelings will be affected. Therefore, wherever human emotions and spirits are involved, we can't just listen to science.

The creation of modern art is inseparable from scientific thought, structuralism and cubism, industrial technology thought and futurism, de stijl, mechanical manufacturing form and Dadaism mechanical sketch painting, Freud's dream interpretation theory and surrealism, and irrational abstract expressionism of rational means. All this is the result of the joint efforts of science and art People regard artistic creation as a routine creative process, allowing artists to draw drawings and factories to produce them accordingly. At that time, many artists engaged in various industrial and material experiments, invented new synthetic materials, used mechanical devices to become the power system of their works, and acousto-optic electromagnetism became new artistic resources. The following artistic activities can illustrate the situation at that time:

(1) OPArt is an experimental art of psychology based on optical knowledge. The creators create dynamic light and color effects through accurately corrected colors and geometric figures, and the representative artists are Bridgei Riley and Vasa-relev.

(2) Few arts (ninlallsn 1) are characterized by the industrialized production of artistic works and the pursuit of mathematical accuracy. The representative figure is donald judd, whose works are usually repetitions of the same unit.

(3) "Kinetic Energy Art", many representative figures, such as Swiss Jean Tit-ian, made a variant painting machine and made a "fragrant variant car" for the first Paris Biennale; Len Iye made moving sculptures with delicate balance and so on.

(4) Light sculpture (Lighi Ari) is another development direction of sculpture, and its form is similar to neon advertising. The representative figure is the young artist Dan Flavin.

(5) 1966, the new york armory held the "Art and Engineering" experimental exhibition, which exhibited many works of art designed by high-tech means, thus promoting the close cooperation between artists and scientific and technological workers. Subsequently, the' Art and Technology Experiment' organization was established, with 3,000 participants.

There are more similar activities, which frequently appear all over the world, forming a trend. For example, new york Museum of Modern Art has an exhibition of "machinery", Whitney Museum of Art has an exhibition of "light", London has an exhibition of "the power of machinery" and Los Angeles has an exhibition of "industry". The power of science and technology has developed from intermediary art to dominant art, while modern western art has created new achievements with the help of scientific power, it has also sent itself to the point of no return.

The following artists are representatives of the combination of 1960s art and industry:

(1) Barnett-man is an abstract color surface painter, who made a single color block in an almost repetitive way.

(2) David Sitis (1906 ~ 65), a metal sculptor, worked as a welder in a military tank factory in his early years, and later developed a steel sculpture, which provided the audience with its mechanical quality and had no practical function.

(3) The painter Franckenthaler (1928-), who combined performance art with color abstraction, reused abstract expressionist resources and turned art into the expression of some physical information. (4) Frank:tLixlla (1936-), a painter with black stripes, used copper and aluminum to explore different shapes of canvas.

Second, the nature of modern art Some scholars have summarized the history of western art into three stages, namely, pre-modernity, modernity ... post-modernity. In this method of staging, all arts are determined around "modernity", and "modernity" has become the coordinate for dividing history. This staging method is simple and easy to remember, so we might as well cherish it.

In an article about Japanese postmodern culture, NaOki SakiIJi, a Japanese literary theorist living in the United States, said: "The sequence of pre-modernity, modernity and postmodernism implies a time series, which we must remember has always been combined with the geopolitical structure of the modern world. Now it is well known. This order is basically the historical framework of 19 century, through which people can understand the position of nationality, culture, tradition and race in this system. " The division of the official stage is not purely temporal, but intertwined with space. This means that at the same time, different regions may be in different stages of civilization; For example, in the19th century, China was a feudal monarchy, and the west had already entered capitalism. So some people say that all contemporary art is contemporary art: this is wrong. At present, many works of art in our national exhibition do not have the characteristics of contemporary art, or even modern art, which is the result of regional differences between East and West.

Whether it is "pre-modernity" or "post-modernity", it is possible to have opinions after comparing with "modernity". It is the premise of this comparison to find out what "modernity" is. We can observe the reasons for the transformation of "modern art" from two angles.

One is the angle of style and form, which is a concept of quantity. Theoretically, we can calculate the number of visual forms and styles created in the stage of western modernism, which is many, several times more than any previous era, and incomparable to the sum of existing artistic forms and styles in China.

The other is the perspective of values. The so-called value is the standard of what is good and what is not good. Value is a very important qualitative concept. Different values lead to different evaluation results. For example, if you watch today's Chinese paintings with the value of Ming and Qing literati, you will feel that today is not as good as before.

Looking at modern art from a quantitative perspective, we will find that western artists have made great efforts in many aspects in just over half a century. The spirit of all-round exploration has practiced all kinds of possibilities for the transformation of art forms (easel art), and even left little room for future generations to explore. The revolution was successful, and comrades did not have to work hard. Later artists had to find another way.

Looking at modern art from the perspective of value, we will find that it basically belongs to the category of elite culture, can adhere to the integrity of elegant art, and disdains interacting with ordinary people. This concept is essentially a derivative of aristocratic culture in history, but society has changed, and spiritual nobles have lost their hereditary territory and have to work hard in the world.

Specifically, the values of modern art are manifested in the following aspects:

(1) Pursue purity. Modern art pursues the purity of visual products, and only considers formal elements in its creation, ignoring other factors, such as the introduction of history, religion and literature, thus promoting the development of abstract art. Generally speaking, the pursuit of pure elitism and expert thought has limitations, which is equivalent to painting the ground into a prison.

(2) Advocating originality means applying the standards of sports competitions to art and treating artistic creation as a record-breaking competition in the history of art, but sports is the survival of the fittest, and art is not like this. The development of art is not progress, but change. For example, you can't say Rembrandt is not good just because you have Picasso.

(3) Paying attention to form is not a unique habit of modern art, and classical art also pays great attention to the sense of form, but the form of classical art is subordinate to the expression of content, or the form is hidden behind the image, while modern art pays attention to form for the sake of form, giving it independent value and function.

(4) It is called egocentrism. Modern artists often express themselves behind closed doors, regardless of the audience, and often show their uniqueness through strange behaviors and strange clothes, so their works are very personalized and difficult to understand, which helps art critics gain the privilege of explaining such works.

(5) The whole is monotonous. This means that during the popular period of modern art, all non-modern works, such as traditional realistic works, works with national and regional characteristics and works from underdeveloped countries, are excluded, which makes artists all over the world use "cross-border language", thus causing a certain degree of global artistic language poverty.

From the above aspects, we can understand that there are naturally opposing forces.

Third, the emergence of post-modern art The power to oppose modern art did not appear in the1960s.

Just when the power of science and technology swept everything and the elite and pure art were at the end of their tether, new artistic activities appeared. These activities were quite different from the trend at that time, which made western art turn for the better and opened up a new situation. The following are several new artistic activities at that time:

(1) LandArt (Landart or Earth Art) can be regarded as the result of the outdoor development of indoor installation works. The earliest styles can be traced back to the pyramids in ancient Egypt and the circular pillars in Si Tong, England. The vast land of America provides a stage for contemporary artists to display their talents. Taking deserts, mountains and grasslands as raw materials, trimming or attaching huge geometric figures is an early feature of earth art, and the most famous work is r smithson's Spiral Breakwater. The dam is 65,438+05 feet wide, and the audience can walk along it several times, but it has no practical function.

(2) The device is an artistic wooden material. Few three-dimensional exhibits that can be displayed indoors for a short time will also be collected by museums. It is a way to arrange exhibits, not artistic features or styles, so it can serve many art schools. The original installation comes from discarding traditional sculpture materials, and its main definition is: "(1) They are assembled, not painted. Describe, shape or carve; (2) All or part of its components are pre-formed natural or artificial materials, objects or fragments, which are not artistic materials ". The representative of early installation art is the German Dadaist artist Kllrt schw-Itter, who filled his house with various materials in the1920s.

(3) BodV art refers to the material that the creator uses his own body as artistic expression, combined with painting, photography, video recording or other on-site recording means. A non-dramatic performing art, "non-dramatic" means that there is no fiction, performance and affectation. For example, Barry Lewa's works are running between two walls that are more than ten meters apart until they are exhausted. Another Vito Acconci used to be a poet and tended to be psychologically abused. For example, he tried to bite the part of his body that he could bite until he bit the trace. He also masturbated in public, erected loudspeakers to spread the sound, and forced the public to become "peeping tom" in an attempt to break through social taboos. The other is Chris Burton. Another famous work "Shooting" is to let his friend shoot his left arm from the outside of the dagger. This shocking technology immediately made him gain a world reputation.

(4) ConceptuaI Art, which originated from Dada art in the early1920s, holds that art has no sacred and lasting value, and its essence is thought or concept, and the concrete works in physical form are not important, so it is also called Ideaart, post-object art or materialized art. Conceptual artists explore the relationship between art and thought or art and knowledge. The end point of this inquiry is writing, mathematics or aesthetics and philosophy. Theoretically speaking, this kind of works is not for viewing, and the traditional exhibition form is not applicable. But it is still a long-term problem to express inner thoughts and avoid external forms. Those works regarded as conceptual art are mostly temporary installations in public places such as art galleries, such as piling up some wood, bricks or other sundries casually. One example is a huge birdcage with some live birds and other objects in it, and another concept art group is people who write papers. Representative figures include Joseph kossuth, May Botshner, Hanne Dabofen, etc.

(5) Process art, which holds that the production process of art is more important than the conception in advance. It is better to experience the passage of time than to watch static and lasting objects and try to express fleeting existence. This kind of art mostly uses soft materials that easily reflect the changes of time. The original source is the pigment splashed by Pollock and Dekunin in their creation, and the creative process is mostly the author's arbitrary change of the display materials. The representative figure is robert morris. One of his works is to pile up some worthless mixed materials in the exhibition hall He changes the placement of these materials every day and puts them away at the end of the exhibition.

With the above activities, there have been two diametrically opposite development trends of western art since then. One is pure art, that is, maintaining the independence of art to distinguish it from other things. In pure art, there has been a clear qualitative definition of what is painting and sculpture. Another trend is to confuse the boundaries between art and non-art, especially the difference between art and life. The so-called "purity" of the former art is exactly what the latter art tries to exclude. The reason for refusing is that the essence of art is to stimulate creativity, and artificially dividing the scope of art is a constraint on creativity. Art and life are integrated, and artistic creativity can be most widely reflected.

New artistic ideas spread rapidly. Around the year of Sichuan, American art magazines were no longer full of plastic steel and geometric figures. The introduction of natural materials, action process, environment and audience, semantic analysis and photographic records have gradually become the main reports of art media. At this point, great changes have taken place in the concepts, methods and forms of modern art, and it was at this time that people began to talk about postmodern art. Since then, the change of artists is not a military handover. The next meeting will form a completely opposite situation. The so-called new and old, ending and opening often coexist, just for the convenience of narration, discussants are used to separating the intertwined facts. Because of this, we often see that scholars have many views on the beginning of many so-called genre movements. This paper discusses post-modern art because we have to deliberately look for the order of time, and it is impossible to take into account the division of space at the same time, which readers should pay attention to.

There are many reasons why modern western art did not transform in the1960s, which are generally considered to be related to the following social background:

(1) The defeat of the United States in the Vietnam War led to a high anti-war sentiment. Coupled with the cold international environment, Lingren has little hope for human society and real life, and further begins to despise the existing human living standards. There is a tendency to oppose the mainstream and deny eternal value in the cultural field.

(2) How to use the vice of industrial development. The progress of industry shows a bright future to human society, but the side effects are becoming more and more obvious, such as environmental pollution, energy shortage, toxic waste and the danger of nuclear weapons. Lingren realized that science and technology have brought new problems while solving some problems. People began to look at the advantages and disadvantages of industrial progress soberly and doubted the scientific method.

(3) Social problems are outstanding. Rich material life can't solve mental problems, and a "beat generation" appeared after the war. From 65438 to 0968, there was a student movement upsurge in Europe and America.

(4) The emergence of new ideas. Many European philosophers have put forward new views on contemporary culture, which have had an impact on the art world. These philosophers include roland barthes, Foucault, Derrida, Lacan and Lyotard. They questioned the existing theory of social vacillation, which is related to various cultural forms and leads people to doubt any single theoretical framework and final judgment. In the field of art, they reaffirmed the value of concreteness, which led to the separation from the metaphysical pursuit of modern art.

In addition to the above external factors, excessive rationality and technology are the internal reasons for the change of artistic direction. We should know that the spiritual world of human beings, like the natural ecology, is changeable and balanced. If one of the prisoners is overdeveloped, there will be the opposite force to overcome it. If science is mostly involved in art, there will be anti-science forces.

Four. Post-modern artistic values Since 1980s, with the United States as the center, post-modern art has surged and become a new worldwide artistic trend. Combining these artistic phenomena, we can clearly perceive that new values are growing now, mainly in the following aspects:

(1) Not seeking purity, contemporary art is not limited to visual forms, language, music and drama, and mass media. Digital video, acousto-optic electrification, anything that can convey specific information. Painting transcends plane restrictions, sculpture constructs landscapes and buildings, and exhibition venues are not limited to galleries and museums. In the contemporary west, the so-called visual art is indistinguishable from other kinds of art.

(2) Good service tradition. Human beings are rich in traditional cultural resources, and it is a pity to abandon them. Contemporary artists are not against tradition, but use the past to renew themselves. After the change of time and environment, the old symbols may have new meanings, such as the "heavenly book" that divides ice, and Cai Guoqiang's "grass boat cherishes arrows". Always like this.

(3) impersonality, above art, "personal expression" is not the main goal of creation and explosion except from the late19th century to the middle of the J century. Post-modern art emphasizes social function, which makes art go out of the ivory tower and close to public life. Artists take the world as their responsibility, care about social problems and actively participate in social activities. They are no longer an eccentric figure.

(4) A variety of standards, "diversity" is the core concept of contemporary art. Although there are still mainstream artistic trends in the world, they are no longer judged by unified standards, such as recognizing the artistic value of different countries, nationalities and regions, female art, indigenous art and art in underdeveloped countries. But there are also complicated and chaotic situations, which are difficult to systematize.

Based on the above discussion, perhaps we can have a superficial understanding of post-modern art: it stems from the rebellion against modern art, develops new methods of expressing ideas and transmitting information, changes concepts and technologies, and reflects the development trend of western contemporary culture. However, due to the differences in region, culture and system, China art circle can't integrate into this global art movement in a short time.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) Duchamp's inspiration When it comes to the topic of western post-modern art, we can't help but mention that the French painter Macedi Du-Shang is described as the father of western post-modern art. Understanding his art and life is of great help to understand many wonderful phenomena of western post-modern art, but understanding Duchamp is a difficult problem, because his works and life are too far away from ordinary people. It's hard to explain.

Although Duchamp's artistic practice ended in A.D. 1930 and died in A.D. 1968, his short artistic activities during the drought period had a lasting impact on later generations. 19 13 years, he completed his first ready-made artistic work "Bicycle Wheel" to express his contempt for the structure in traditional works. This also implies that the most important factor in artistic creation is concept rather than production skill. Chocolate Grinder No.8 is almost Duchamp's last work on the shelves, which is a mockery of academic oil painting. Duchamp 19 15 settled in new york, and it was completed as a urinal in the spring of 19 17; Another work is L.II.O.O.Q (19 19), which adds a moustache to the print Mona Lisa. Duchamp's most important work is Big Glass, also known as The Bride Was Stripped by Her Man. This work was made from 19 15, and it was still not finished until 1923. After 192O, Duchamp's interest in optics and movies increased day by day. After the Sichuan era, he turned his interest to chess.

Duchamp's most important contribution is "ready-made" art. Although it is absurd to put ready-made industrial products or other items on art exhibitions from a secular point of view, in fact, it has changed the whole view of human beings on art and even the world, and people have begun to question the necessity of traditional values and artistic creation models, at least. In western post-modern art, the influence of "ready-made goods" is everywhere, which inspires people from the following aspects:

Form and beauty are not important. Since ancient times, artists have made it their bounden duty to create beautiful forms, and endowed this kind of work with lofty status and value. However, Duchamp believes that beauty does not exist, and there is nothing particularly lofty about art and people who create art. He tells people that there is no difference between ordinary objects and works of art, and fruit art is beautiful; Ordinary goods are also beautiful. If ordinary goods are not beautiful, works of art are not much better. The so-called aesthetic value of art is just people's prejudice. He sent the urinal to the exhibition, which played a great role in breaking this prejudice.

(2) Environment and time are more important than works, and the decisive factors for the finished product to be a work of art are environment and time. Has nothing to do with the work itself. This shows that under certain conditions. Everything and even behavior can be art; On the other hand, when conditions change, nothing or even behavior can be art, according to China's words, this is right and that is wrong. Because the environment and time are always changing, the classic Mona Lisa of the Renaissance can be painted into the 20th century and become a joke. Putting wheels and stools in an art gallery is equivalent to a structuralist sculpture.

(3) Let art return to a spontaneous and natural state. The initial artistic activities of human beings are spontaneous and natural, and there is no difference between artists and non-artists without special training. But then there was a division of labor, and art became a special job, so there was a special standard about art. Obviously, this division of labor and standard was the product of the previous system. Hinder the sound development of human nature. Under the changing social conditions, it is unreasonable to regard these existing standards as the supreme law. And "ready-made art" is to completely ignore the existing artistic standards and even cultural standards, and use a seemingly ridiculous but profound thought to mock the formality and craftsmanship of human beings in the cultural field, thus calling for the arrival of a new era full of freedom and creative spirit.

(4) It's called lifting the restriction of technology. People have long been accustomed to artistic creation as a special technical operation, so there are fine arts institutes and professional painters. "Ready-made" art has nothing to do with the author's personal technology, but only needs a vision of choice, and choice is a thinking process, which has nothing to do with the production technology of material products. Duchamp told people here that the value of art lies in thought. With thought, any material product can become a work of art. This method of equating art with thought objectively cancels the traditional art discipline and implies the theoretical judgment that art and art history are coming to an end.

De Kunich, an American painter, said: "Duchamp himself launched a movement-this is a real modern movement, which implies everything: every artist can get inspiration from him." This seems to be a "ready-made product", which easily reversed the development direction of western art and is the pioneer image Duchamp left to future generations. After Duchamp, he opposed all established artistic models and norms, and took the unrestrained spirit of freedom as his artistic creation goal, which became the knowledge of western art circles.

Characteristics or trends of post-modern art

Although different kinds of art show different characteristics in the post-modern stage, we can still sum up some general characteristics or trends.

1. Virtualization

Because "signified" is also in the field of "marking", social reality is also composed of symbolic interpretation, and there are no naked facts outside symbolic interpretation, so artistic production has the significance of practical production. In post-modern society, art is no longer a reflection of reality; On the contrary, reality is made up of art, and reality has become a virtual and constructive reality. Image or video production has become a common artistic production method, and it is also a postmodern realistic production method. We can use the theories of Welch and Baudrillard to explain this phenomenon.

2. Events

Because of the abolition of eternal nature, all accidents have their own meaning. Post-modern performance art highlights the unrepeatable nature of events and disintegrates the causal relationship and rational order in daily life with shocking on-site effects. Adorno and Lyotard's theory can explain this phenomenon.

3. Conceptual

The concept of self-discipline in modern art has been subverted. Art itself is not enough to constitute art, what art is always about, and the theoretical explanation of art also involves the composition of art, and art is getting closer to philosophy and becoming an ideological concept. A. danto's theory can explain this phenomenon.

4. Collage

Post-modern art is also considered as post-historical art. In the post-modern art world, the time line linking various arts that appeared in the past has become invalid, and art history has no "arrow of time". Art is no longer the difference between ancient and modern, but the difference between inside and outside. All the art that once appeared can be the object of misappropriation and collage by postmodern artists, so postmodern art no longer requires originality. Schustermann's theory can explain this phenomenon.

Step 5 be popular

Post-modern art no longer pursues eternal value, and at the same time opposes the distinction between elegance and popularity, elite and mass, which makes art, like commodities in consumer society, have the characteristics of fashion and mass. What is popular in the art world is the makeover of various styles that have appeared in history, but no matter what style makeover, it is impossible to occupy a lasting position in the art world.

Basic characteristics of post-modernism art

(1) Try to break through the aesthetic category and break the boundary between art and life. (2) Turn from the morphological category of traditional art and modernist art to methodology, and express various ways of thinking with art. (3) Turn from emphasizing subjective feelings to the objective world. (4) Be indifferent or hostile to personality and style. (5) From the combination of anti-feeling to industrial machinery society and industrial machinery (6) Advocating the popularization of art and widely using mass media.