Richard Webb 124307

Question: In what ways is Contemporary Art different from Modern art? Give
examples.

INTRODUCTION

Being someone very new to the art world, I was very nervous to ask this
question anytime during the course for fear that people would think of me
stupid or ignorant about the art. It was something I thought was common
knowledge among art enthusiasts or students of the arts (which I wasnt,
until now). Apparently until today many people, followers of art and casual
appreciators alike still have trouble pinpointing the difference between
contemporary and modern art. Some (I, too) would even interchange the
terms contemporary and modern mistaking that both words were used
only in its temporal meaning when in fact theres more to it than just that.
This is a question people have to ask more often to further explore how these
two types of art differentiate. Each style represents a certain aspect of not
only art history but all of history as well. Exploring this would give art
appreciators a deeper understanding and a better in the art produced after
the late-19th century.

OVERVIEW

To give a brief overview of the topic, I will give an extremely simple and
broad explanation to the question of how modern and contemporary art
differ, starting with defining what both modern and contemporary art is.
Modern art refers to the art produced in the years 1860s to the 1970s,
defined by certain style, and maybe even a philosophy present in a
significant amount of the paintings in this period. Paintings in this period
were more or less, about being new, deviating from the standard,
embracing a new perspective in art. Some would argue that the modern art
had deep ties to the industrial revolution and the trending attitude of the
people then to explore new world views and immerse in new cultures. The
invention of photography also held a significant impact on the art world then
which lead to the birth of modern art (something I will get into deeper later
on) which would lead to venturing new frontiers in art and its search for
meaning. Modern art was all about throwing out traditional art, which would
often depict old-fashioned structured images tied to religion, mythology, and
for the lack of a better term, archaic culture, and trading it for images of

people, places, and ideas that the artists had direct contact with. (Little Art
Talks, 2014)
On the other hand contemporary art (again to put it simply) may refer to a
couple of things. Terry Smith, in his essay What is contemporary art?, gave
three explanation: 1.) Contemporary Art is the institutionalized network
through which the art of the present depicts itself to itself and to its
interested audiences all over the world. 2.) Contemporary art is that art
infused with the multiple modes of contemporaneity, with the open-ended
energies of art to come. 3.) Contemporary art is about artists, working
through a particular set of representational problems, embracing the
modern-postmodern culture today (Latter 20th-21st century) that is
predominantly visual; Visually driven by image, spectacle, attraction and
celebrity, on a scale far beyond that with which their predecessors had to
deal. (Smith, 2001)
To summarize the explanations, modern art is a style of art depicting certain
aspects of modern life that was present in the 19th and 20th century,
moreover modern art could be identified as the art works made during this
time frame, while contemporary art speaks of the art works made, arguably,
from the 1970s to today, which follow a certain style and freedom not
present in the era of modern art, but something that is yet to be identified
and specified in the years to come, since to put it bluntly, we still are living
through this contemporary era. Theyre two totally different things.
DISCUSSION
Modern Art
The concept of modernity was first introduced by Charles Baudelaire. He said
that Modernity is often explained with the consciousness of the
discontinuity of time, the deviation from the traditional, which is what
Baudelaire describes as the ephemeral or what is fleeting. Modernity
though isnt an attitude which simply accepts this constant fleeting of the
present, rather it is the attitude that, as Baudelaire puts it, heroizes the
present. Its about capturing the poetry, or what one sees eternal, in the
ephemeral and transfiguring it the way one wishes. (Foucault, 1984) My
Professor in Philosophy went on to explaining that the present is also
actually something that could pertain to the self and that Baudelaire was
not only talking about how one grasps the world the way it is, but also how
one perceives this world that this subject is grasping. Subjectivity comes into
play, which is also a very important aspect to the concept of modernity and
Modern Art.

This concept of subjectivity was introduced by Rene Descartes when he

started investigating the internal, rather than the external, in search for
something that is absolute and certain. It was through his meditations,
Philosophy was introduced to a barrage of new ideas one of which was
through Descartes questioning of how one questions, in other words he
began investigating the structure of thought. It was here Philosophy
structured the way we think, making us able to critically investigate what the
world and the self is and how we came to this adopting this perception of the
world and the self. (Danto, 1997) Kant also was a great contributor to the
modern thinking who, almost like Descartes, searched inwardly to investigate
the nature of reason and how we are able to reason in the first place.
This not only affected the way people thought but also the way Artists
treated their work. It was during the modern times artists started pushing
the boundaries and began further exploring the meaning of art. With the
introduction of photography, art was sent to an identity crisis which called for
this search for meaning. After all, with a machine thats able to capture the
world in perfect detail. Which begs the question: what is now the purpose of
art?
From here art grew and changed, deviating from the traditional art. Modern
art became all about artists representing the world the way it represented
itself. It became simply recreating the world in the canvass the way
photography does. In modern art, the conditions of representation
themselves become central, so that art in a way becomes its own subject.
(Greenberg, 1961; Danto, 1997) It is here, art becomes non-mimetic,
something almost abstract and non-object, breaking away from its mimetic
traditions, but retains a certain structure to its images. Unlike traditional
mimetic artworks, Modern paintings are less concerned with proportion and
accuracy.
Greenberg said that modern art began in France in the 1860s with Edouard
Manet, supposedly being the first Modernist painter. Greenberg said Manet's
became the first Modernist pictures by virtue of the frankness with which
they declared the flat surfaces on which they were painted." (Greenberg,
1961) Manets paintings from what Ive noticed uses really bright and vibrant
colors yet still tries to be realistic in a way, resembling that of a photograph
due to its richness in detail. Its this style that paved the way for the rising of
the first modernist art style, Impressionism. Unlike Impressionisms
predecessor, Romanticism, it wasnt born out of a reaction against its
previous style. Impressionism, according to Arthur Danto, is simply a new
point in awareness which is reflected in paintings, where artists dont simply
try to aspire for a mimetic representation, but to reflect on the means and
methods of representation themselves, again emphasizing Modernitys
theme of self-awareness. As modern art evolved, paintings began to digress

more and more from its traditional roots reaching radical heights in nonmimeticism. From here some would say Contemporary Art was born.
Contemporary Art
The term Contemporary Art was first used in 1910 by an art critic named
Roger Fry who created the name for the Contemporary Art Society in London.
Since Modern Art became the name of the art movement rather than a
temporal description used to denote the currency, it was imperative that
they find a replacement word for modern to avoid confusion. (Little Art
Talks, 2014) First and foremost Contemporary art is used to describe the
present era of art. Its usually difficult to distinguish the current era of art, so
it helps to have a temporary name before changing it. For example in the
early 20th century, the contemporary art then was Impressionism.
Contemporary Art started in somewhere around 1960-70 and is still running
until today. A common trouble among art historians is pinpointing when
Contemporary Art actually began, because it was strange time for the art
world in the 70s. Firstly though, what art historians do agree is that it was
around the 70s Contemporary art begun because it was during this time,
one of the more styles closely related to Contemporary Art, Postmodernism came to be. Its through Post-modernism artists begun
challenging the structure and boundaries of art exploring more medium to
express their craft. Take note it doesnt mean Post-modernism emerged
during this time that Modernism ended. Its because of the rapid emergence
of other art styles, the timeline of Modernism blurred making it near
impossible to find where it actually ended. Until now its still difficult to
actually see when modern art actually ended. Secondly, it was around this
time art movements and art styles became difficult to distinguish since so
many artists came up with their different names for their own visions and
style. (Esaak, 2000s)
Contemporary Art although is a bit convoluted and messy, what make
contemporary art so special is the amount of freedom artists have the days.
Through post-modernism and conceptual art, art begun being expressed
through mediums other than the paint and canvass. Installations, collages,
photographs, video, mixed-media pieces and way more began to be
considered as art. Such a freedom was triggered because of Postmodernisms philosophy that tackles with the challenging of the structures in
art completely destroying the notion that the canvass is the only way one
can make art. Contemporary art though does not have anything against art
in the past, on the contrary the past art is there for artists today to take care
of. (Danto, 1997) Max Ernst gave a definition for collage that almost best

describing the current mindset of the contemporary. He said that the collage
is the meeting of two distant realities on a plane foreign to them both." It
doesnt completely capture the contemporary paradigm though because
these days its difficult to find a foreign plane to help differentiate the
different arts. (Danto 1997) Another way to put it is through Beltings thesis
that Contemporary Art "manifests an awareness of a history of art but no
longer carries it forward.
Another characteristic of Contemporary art is that a significant number of art
from the past few decades, to a degree, tackle on social issues such as
feminism, racism, equality, global warming, and the like. Whats more
important with the contemporary is the idea or concept behind the artwork
rather than skill or materials used behind the artworks. (Visual Arts Cork,
2000s) Its the ideas that keep Contemporary Art alive by making its way to
the news, further spreading its popularity and by constantly engaging its
audience. Some would describe Contemporary Art as visually colorful and
maybe interactive because of how its presented in multiple mediums due to
this cultures constant bombardment with spectacle-like media.
EXAMPLES
Some notable art movements under Modern Art include Impressionism,
Constructivism, Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism. Some
popular artists include Edouardo Manet, Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dali,
Pablo Picasso, and, Jackson Pollock. Van Goghs The Starry Night is one of the
more known artworks that best embody what Modern Art is. As said earlier
Modern Art deals with the non-mimetic representation of different objects
(landscapes included which The Starry Night is); It deals with how the object
is represented and looking at The Starry Night, the style of which Van Gogh
uses to portray the landscape is one of the more crucial elements of the
painting; Lastly, the painting contains elements that that of an PostImpressionist artwork contains making it a modern artwork. Locally, a good
example of a modern art work is Mauro Malang Santos Barong-Barong,
which follows a very Cubist aesthetic which is also a Modern art style.
On the other hand, some notable movements under Contemporary Art
Include Post-Modernism, Low Brow, Graffiti Movement, Conceptualism,
Performance, and Pop-Art. Some popular artists include Richard Hamilton,
Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Gerard Richter, and Jeff Wall.
Hamiltons Just what is it that makes todays homes so different, so
appealing? is one of the more known Contemporary Art pieces today
because of the medium it uses, which is collage, an art form which doesnt
deal with pain, rather it uses cutouts from printed media to form a singular
artwork; The piece is one of the earliest works in Pop-art which is a notable

movement in Contemporary art. Locally, a good example of a contemporary

art work is Mideo Cruzs Banquet, since it uses sculpture and performance
art.

Sources:
Danto, A. (1997), After the End of Art; Chapter 1: Introduction,
Princeton University Press
Esaak, S. (2000s), What is Contemporary Art?, Arthistory.About.com
Greenberg, C. (1961), Modernist Painting
Foucault, M. (1984), The Focault Reader, Pantheon Books, New York
Little Art Talks (2014), The Difference between Modern art, Postmodern
art and Contemporary Art, YouTube.com
Smith, T. (2001), What is Contemporary Art? Tate Modern, Sydney
Style, and Art to Come, Lecture from the University of Sydney
Quora User (2012), What is the difference between modern and
contemporary art?, Quora.com
Visual Art Corks, (2000s), Contemporary Art, Visual-Art-Corks.com