Post-Modernism
World War II and its Aftermath The Holocaust Post War America The Absurd Existentialism: Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus Theater of the Absurd: Samuel Beckett, Peter Weiss The Existential Hero: Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man Joseph Heller’s Catch-22
The Post-war Era New York: European artists fleeing Europe congregated in N.Y. The New York School Abstract Expressionism: Jackson Pollock Mark Rothko
Pop Art, Minimalism, Avant-garde Pop art: irreverence to tradition: beer cans, flags Andy Warhol: Coca-Cola, Campbell’s Soup Robert Rauschenberg’s “combine paintings” “Minimalism” in sculpture Donald Judd Performance Art: Theatrical presentations with mixed visual arts and media Joseph Beuys Martha Graham’s modern art school
Sculpture Henry Moore: massive human forms. Influenced by Aztec and Mayan sculptures The Recumbent Figure Alexander Calder’s mobiles David Smith: constructed metal sculpture Louise Nevelson: used discarded objects and materials: assemblage
Modern Architecture Mies van der Rohe’s International Style: Chicago Seagram Building Le Corbusier: Chandigarh in Punjab Ronchamp Chapel Notre-Dame-du Haut Frank Lloyd Wright Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Jörn Utzon Opera House, Sydney, Australia
Music/Avant-garde Pierre Boulez: total serialism Electronic music: synthesizers, electronic instruments and computers Milton Babbitt: synthesizer Karlheinz Stockhausen John Cage: aleatory music
Music/Pop Leonard Bernstein Candide West Side Story Rock-and-roll Elvis The Beatles Rhythm and Blues/Soul The civil rights movement
Post-Modernism Skepticism toward any representation of reality that claimed to be universal or objective Focus on the “construction of reality” through language and symbol Emphasis on the local and particular rather than the universal In the arts, a tendency toward parody, pastiche, and an eclectic mixture of styles
Post-Modern Architecture Robert Venturi Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers The Pompidou Center in Paris Charles Moore Piazza d’Italia in New Orleans Michael Graves Portland Services Building, Oregon
Minimalism in Music Philip Glass: opera Einstein on the Beach John Adams: opera Nixon in China The Death of Klinghoffer
Visual Arts Superrealism Chuck Close: photographic image in paint Duane Hanson: sculpted life-sized humans Earth Art Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty Christo, Jeanne-Claude Judy Pfaff: installation art
New Fiction Meta-fiction: stories about stories, fiction about fiction John Barth The Sot-Weed Factor Thomas Pynchon Gravity’s Rainbow Jorge Luis Borges Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis, Tertius
Magic Realism in Fiction Gabriel García Márquez One Hundred Years of Solitude Carlos Fuentes Julio Cortázar Mario Vargas Llosa
Liberated Voices Revision of the canon Africa: Novelist Chinua Achebe (Nigerian) Things Fall Apart
Liberated Voices USA Artist Romare Bearden: photomontage Dancer-choreographer Alvin Ailey: jazz and soul music Cry Poet Gwendolyn Brooks Playwright August Wilson: Fences Artist Judy Chicago: The Dinner Party Novelist Toni Morrison: Beloved Poet Denise Levertov: Mind Architect Maya Lin: Vietnam War Memorial
AIDS The NAMES project John Corigliano “AIDS Symphony” Tony Kushner: Angels in America
A New Century 9/11 The Twin Towers Arata Ozaki: Team Disney Building Renzo Piano: Osaka Airport, Japan Frank Gehry: Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain “Hip-hop”, rap Nam June Paik, video art Painter Ma Liuming Baby 5 Architect Daniel Libeskind: Ground Zero