Postmodern art no longer depends upon traditional aesthetic values.
The term "postmodern" refers to any period of art from around the 1900s on. The term typically refers to any work of art that exists beyond traditional aesthetic criteria. A postmodern painting frame refers to the attitude or prevailing influences surrounding an artist's work.
The Postmodern Frame
The postmodern frame is the social and artistic climate that exists around the time an artist creates his work. In the postmodern era, dating from the turn of the century to contemporary art in the beginning of the new millennium, any work that is made without consideration for traditional standards of artistic beauty must be considered in the postmodern frame, or modern frame of mind. Simply put, one cannot evaluate a modern piece of art based on the standards and criteria one might have used in other eras.
Traditional Criteria
Prior to the invention of photography, most artists strived to recreate realism through artistic expression. All paintings and sculptures tried to simulate life as accurately as possible. Artwork could, therefore, be judged based upon how successful the art work was at creating a believable illusion. The standards by which the illusion was judged included formal design elements such as the proper use of perspective, proportion, anatomy and use of light. Postmodern artists, however, no longer feel bound to observe these guidelines. Figures are intentionally distorted and perspectives altered. Abstract art defies traditional criteria even more by eliminating any trace of recognizable forms or scenes altogether.
Early Postmodern Painting
Postmodern painting evolved slowly as the images made by artists drifted further away from accuracy and precision. Artists began to paint images that made little or no effort to display a realistic scene. Picasso was one of the pioneers of postmodern painting. He began to add sharp angles to the lines and curves of figures and eventually began to paint in a style that would later become known to the world as Cubism. The intention became transmitting emotion and psychological themes through composition and design rather than accurate recreation of a discernible subject. The methods for creating art began to focus more on mood and emotion rather than anatomy and proportion. Other artists such as Henri Matisse and Marcel Duchamp helped advance these ideas as well.
Evolution of Postmodern Painting
While critics and the public were slow to accept these new art languages, artists themselves embraced the freedom of expression that abandoning traditional standards allowed. As every household began to acquire and experiment with photography, the need to realistically capture images through painting or sculpture all but vanished. Portraiture, which was once the most profitable form of painting, vanished as photography enabled a person to sit for a picture for a few minutes rather than hours. Artists felt that they had been replaced and began to push traditional boundaries with their work.
The Postmodern Frame Today
Contemporary artists no longer observe any overriding set of standards or criteria for their art. Anything the artist can imagine and create is accepted by the artistic community and the public as well. This is the postmodern frame. The current artistic climate for painters is the culmination of art's evolution from realistic renderings to paintings which contain no discernible or recognizable subject matter at all.
