East Tennessee State University
Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University
Art Appreciation Open Educational Resource Open Ancillary Materials
2020
Lesson 23: The Postmodern Body in Art
Marie Porterfield
East Tennessee State University,
[email protected]Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/art-appreciation-oer
Part of the Art and Design Commons, and the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons
Editable versions are available for this document and other Art Appreciation lessons at
https://dc.etsu.edu/art-appreciation-oer.
Recommended Citation
Porterfield, Marie. 2020. "Lesson 23: The Postmodern Body in Art." Art Appreciation Open Educational
Resource. Johnson City: East Tennessee State University.
https://dc.etsu.edu/art-appreciation-oer/25
This Book Contribution is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Ancillary Materials at Digital
Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Art Appreciation Open
Educational Resource by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For
more information, please contact [email protected].
“The Postmodern Body in Art” is part of the
ART APPRECIATION
Open Educational Resource
by Marie Porterfield Barry
East Tennessee State University, 2020
Introduction
This course explores the world’s visual arts, focusing on the development of visual awareness,
assessment, and appreciation by examining a variety of styles from various periods and cultures while
emphasizing the development of a common visual language. The materials are meant to foster a
broader understanding of the role of visual art in human culture and experience from the prehistoric
through the contemporary.
This is an Open Educational Resource (OER), an openly licensed educational material designed to replace
a traditional textbook.
Course Materials
Presentations
The course materials consist of 24 presentations examining art across the globe from prehistory though
the contemporary art world. These introduce key vocabulary, explore the way that culture and art are
linked, describe the varying methods and techniques of the featured artists, and encourage classroom
discourse.
Reading Lists
Each of the 24 presentations has an accompanying reading list which provides links to articles, videos,
and other resources. The reading list is meant to reinforce and clarify information covered in each of the
presentations.
Sample Assignments
A list of sample assignments is also included. Ranging from brief essays to simple art projects, these are
designed to be completed in a sketchbook to more deeply explore course concepts. Intended to
encourage learners to think like artists, art critics, and art historians, assignments emphasize practices of
creative thinking and artistic method, while reinforcing concepts addressed in classroom lectures and
required readings.
Copyright Information
Creative Commons License
This OER is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0); it is intended for non-commercial, educational purposes. Whenever available,
images used within this OER are public domain or licensed under Creative Commons. Each image
includes the individual licensing or copyright information.
Educational Fair Use
Due to the nature of the course materials, some of the works of art covered are protected by copyright.
Images of these works of art are included with a tag stating that they are Educational Fair Use. These
copyrighted materials should not be printed or reproduced as this may qualify as copyright
infringement. Images designated as Educational Fair Use are provided in low resolution which is suitable
for display on the screen but is not high quality enough for printing or reproducing. Whenever possible,
a link is included to access a higher quality version of the image on museum or educational websites. If
available, copyright information is also listed on these images.
Some of the images presented in this OER are marked with a Creative Commons license and include a
tag for Educational Fair Use, especially works of art that have been photographed while installed in
museums. The photographs of these works of art are licensed by the photographer but the two-
dimensional works of art are protected under copyright. The images are therefore meant only for the
purpose of education and contemplation and are included in a low resolution.
Adopting, Adapting, or Expanding the Resource
The goal for this OER is to build an educational resource that is flexible enough to address concepts
relevant to the contemporary discourse and scholarship in the visual arts. For those interested in
utilizing these course materials, I am providing below some additional information that may be useful in
expanding, adapting, or reinterpreting the materials. Editable versions are available in Microsoft
PowerPoint and Word at https://dc.etsu.edu/art-appreciation-oer/
The font used to create the presentations and written documents for this OER is Calibri.
Finding Additional Readings, Lessons, and Articles
Smarthistory: https://smarthistory.org/
Smarthistory is an extensive open educational resource which publishes outstanding essays and video
lectures about art. The Creating + Conserving section of Smarthistory includes wonderful informational
articles and videos about materials and processes: https://smarthistory.org/tag/conservation/
MoMA Learning: https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/
MoMA Learning provides a wonderful selection of essays on works of modern art and also has
assignment suggestions at the bottom of each section.
KhanAcademy: https://www.khanacademy.org/.
Khan Academy is an outstanding platform of open educational resources covering a variety of academic
and scholarly topics.
Trivium Art History: https://arthistoryproject.com/
Trivium Art History is a free, online art history book with clean design and approachable descriptions of
works of art, periods of art history, and fun artist biographies. The Themes of Art section is a nice tool to
helping students explore works that match their interests. The World of Art section is a useful tool for an
exploratory World Art sketchbook prompt. The Timeline section is useful, as it separates works of art
into galleries based on period.
Introduction to Art: Design, Context, and Meaning: https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/arts-textbooks/3/
For a more traditional, textbook approach, there is an Introduction to Art open educational resource
textbook available.
Locating Images
If you are utilizing the course materials and would like to add new images that are public domain or
licensed under Creative Commons, there are several useful tips provided below for finding images.
The Met Museum: https://www.metmuseum.org/
The Met has an option to search for Open Access images within the collection here. Make sure that the
“Open Access” box is checked. The image license is CC0 1.0, and will be marked OA Public Domain at the
lower left of the image.
Google Images: https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&ogbl
Google Images has an option under “Settings” > “Advanced Search” to search by “Usage Rights”.
Choosing “Free to use share or modify” will allow a search for images suitable for expanding our OER.
Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/
Wikimedia Commons is an outstanding resource for finding open source images, with a strong collection
of works of art.
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com
Flickr allows users to specify image licenses on uploaded photographs. Click “Some rights reserved” at
the lower right of the image to check the licensing. Some images will say “Public Domain” or will be
licensed under a Creative Commons (CC) license, allowing for the use in an OER.
Smarthistory Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/groups/smarthistory/pool/
The Smarthistory Flickr is expansive with images licensed for educational purposes.
Acknowledgements
This Art Appreciation OER was adapted from existing resources by Marie Porterfield Barry as part of East
Tennessee State University’s Open Educational Resources (OERs) Initiatives, which are a collaboration of
the Charles C. Sherrod Library and the Center for Teaching Excellence. Deepest gratitude for the support
from Ashley Sergiadis of Sherrod Library and Phil Smith of the Center for Teaching Excellence during the
building of this resource. Thanks as well to my students at East Tennessee State University whose
feedback and participation during our Art Appreciation classes was immensely valuable in compiling and
evaluating this OER.
The Postmodern Body in Art
Nick Cave Soundsuits in Chelsea, 2011. Author: Allison Meier, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY-SA 2.0
From the beginning and throughout the history of art, we see representations of the human form.
Woman of Willendorf, c. 24,000-22,000 B.C.E Polykleitos, Spear Bearer (Doryphoros), c. David, The Death of Marat, 1793. Author:
Author: Don Hitchcock, Source: Wikimedia 450-440 BCE. Author: Carole Raddato, Google Art Project, Source: Wikimedia
Commons, License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Source: Flickr, License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Commons, License: Public Domain
During modernism, the human figure became increasingly abstracted and finally retreated almost
completely in late modernist works such as color field painting.
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893 Pablo Picasso , Les Demoiselles Mark Rothko, No. 3/No. 13, 1949
Author: National Gallery of Norway D'avignon , 1907. Author: MoMA, Author: Steven Zucker, Source: Flickr,
Source: Wikimedia Commons, Cropped from original, Source: License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Cropped, License: Public Domain Wikipedia, License: Public Domain (US)
Remember, Willem de Kooning
created a minor scandal when he
painted Woman I, not because of how
she looked but because she (the figure
in art) was there at all.
Willem de Kooning, Woman I,
Oil on canvas, 1950-52.
Author: Steven Zucker, Source: Flickr
License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
In abstract expressionist action painting, the image of the human body was removed while only the
traces of the human activity of making the painting remained (a record of human action).
Jackson Pollock, Detail of Number 1, 1949 on display at MOCA, Los Angeles, CA.
Enamel and metallic paint on canvas. Author: Rocor, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY-NC 2.0
Minimalist artists were interested in the human body in the way that their sculptural works
interacted with the body of the viewer, but did not present the human form as art.
Donald Judd, Untitled (Stack), lacquer on galvanized iron, twelve units, each 22.8 x 101.6 x 78.7 cm, installed vertically with 9"
intervals, 1967, installed at MoMA. Author: Steven Zucker, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Postmodern artists reintroduce the human
form as a central subject in works of art.
Damien Hirst, The Virgin Mother, 2005, at the Lever House
Art Collection. Author: Hypergenesb, Source: Flickr,
License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Made of porcelain, Jeff Koons’ Pink Panther
shows the 1950s beauty icon Jayne Mansfield
clutching a stuffed toy of the pink panther. From
Koons’ Banality series which drew inspiration
from popular culture and kitschy knick-knacks,
the sculpture is unapologetic and celebratory
about the figures and pop culture icons
presented within the work.
Jeff Koons, Pink Panther, 1988.
Author: Mark Wathieu, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
Artist Kara Walker creates monumental silhouette installations based on vintage illustrations to confront
the history of slavery in the United States. The silhouetted figures form haunting narratives that require
the viewer to face the tradition of figuration and stereotyping based on race.
Kara Walker, African’t, 1996 at the Broad Collection. Author: Rocor, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY-NC 2.0
For artist Lucian Freud, the body is the
primary subject. But unlike the
idealized bodies presented frequently
throughout the history of art, Freud
presents the weight and fleshiness of
the human form in a direct and honest
way that reflects the concerns of
postmodernism.
Freud does not present a single
idealized vision of the human form just
as postmodernism refuses to agree
upon a single ideal vision for art.
Lucian Freud, Standing by the Rags, 1988-89, oil on
canvas. Author: Steven Zucker, Source: Flickr,
License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Lucian Freud, Standing by the Rags, 1988-89, oil on canvas.
Author: Steven Zucker, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
The development of performance art allowed artists to make art entirely with their own bodies.
The body is the medium and the subject for the art.
Marina Abramović, The Artist is Present, 2010, MoMA, Author: Andrew Russeth, Source: Wikimedia Commons, License: CC BY-SA 2.0
Marina Abramović, a pioneer of performance as visual art, explores the limits of the body.
Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, at The Cleaner Retrospective at Palazzo Strozzi. Author: Francesco Pierantoni, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
In Rhythm 0, one of her early works, she provided the viewers with 72 objects on a table and 6
hours in which they could interact with her without interference using any of the provided
objects in any way they wished.
Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, at The Cleaner Retrospective at Palazzo Strozzi. Author: Francesco Pierantoni, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
Listen to Marina Abramović describe her performance of Rhythm 0 from 1974:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kijKz3JzoD4&t=8s
In 2010, Abramović staged a blockbuster performance, her longest work to date, at the Museum of
Modern Art in New York City entitled The Artist is Present.
Marina Abramović, The Artist is Present, 2010, MoMA, Author: Andrew Russeth, Source: Wikimedia Commons, License: CC BY-SA 2.0
The artist made herself available in the museum with the simple directions: “Sit silently with the artist for
a duration of your choosing.” She was present every day for the museum’s open hours from March 14 and
May 31, 2010. She did not take breaks.
Marina Abramović, The Artist is Present, 2010, MoMA, Author: Andrew Russeth, Source: Wikimedia Commons, License: CC BY-SA 2.0
The Artist is Present invites the viewer to participate in the performance, to experience a moment of
sitting in silence and staring into the eyes of the artist, connecting with another human through the direct
gaze, unimpeded by speech, screens, or other contemporary distractions.
Marina Abramović, The Artist is Present, 2010, MoMA, Author: Andrew Russeth, Source: Wikimedia Commons, License: CC BY-SA 2.0
Listen to Marina Abramović explaining the participants’ reactions to The Artist is Present:
https://youtu.be/U6Qj__s8mNU
Felix Gonzalez-Torres represents the human body using common daily objects such as
candies, clocks, and stacks of papers.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991. Author: Mark6Mauno, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
Gonzalez-Torres’ Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) is a 175 pound pile of candy. The weight
of the pile equals the ideal weight of the artist’s lover Ross when he was healthy.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991. Author: Mark6Mauno, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
A work of participatory art, the artist invites the viewer to take a piece of candy from the pile.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991. Author: Mark6Mauno, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
Ross became ill with HIV and died of an AIDS-related complications in 1991.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991. Author: Mark6Mauno, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
The diminishing pile of candy, removed piece by piece by the viewers, is an allegory for the way in
which the disease ate away at Ross, reducing his weight and health until he ultimately ceased to be.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991. Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991.
Author: Mark B. Schlemmer, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0 Author: Mark6Mauno, Cropped from original, Source: Flickr,
License: CC BY 2.0
Gonzalez-Torres stipulated that the pile should be replenished, resulting in a perpetual life for Ross and
a work of art that allows the memory of the artist’s lover to live.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991. Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991.
Author: Mark B. Schlemmer, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0 Author: Mark6Mauno, Cropped from original, Source: Flickr,
License: CC BY 2.0
The viewer gets to share in the memory of Ross through the sweetness of the candy.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991. Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991.
Author: Mark B. Schlemmer, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0 Author: Mark6Mauno, Cropped from original, Source: Flickr,
License: CC BY 2.0
Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ Perfect Lovers similarly addresses loss and love.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers), 1991, at Wiels. Author: Diogo Valério, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
Each of the clocks in Perfect Lovers represents a person. The pair of clocks are designed to have their
batteries inserted at the exact same moment, creating a perfect unison between the couple.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers), 1991, at Wiels. Author: Diogo Valério, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
However, over time the clocks may lose their synchronization, and inevitably one will stop while the other
continues to tick, mimicking the experience of two lovers.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers), 1991, at Wiels. Author: Diogo Valério, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
Feliz Gonzalez-Torres’ Untitled (Billboard of an Empty Bed), originally displayed on billboards
around New York City, replaced advertisements for products with a hauntingly intimate scene of a
bed bearing the imprints of two bodies.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Billboard of an Empty Bed), 1991, inside the
Hangangjin Metro Station, Seoul. Author: Paul Keller, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
With this work, the artist questions the balance between intimacy and publicity (concepts that were
important during the outbreak of HIV and subsequent media frenzy in the 1990s), and between desire
and loss.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Billboard of an Empty Bed), 1991, inside the
Hangangjin Metro Station, Seoul. Author: Paul Keller, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
Nick Cave creates works of art that are designed to be inhabited by bodies. However, when no bodies
are present within Cave’s Soundsuits, they serve as stand-ins for the bodies they are meant to conceal.
Nick Cave Soundsuits at YBCA, Author: Geoff
Stearns, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
Nick Cave’s Soundsuits, while enormously colorful and delightful to behold, are works of art that come
from a much more contemplative source.
Nick Cave Soundsuits at YBCA, Author: Geoff
Stearns, Source: Flickr, License: CC BY 2.0
Cave’s Soundsuits are
designed to obscure the
wearer, covering
gender, race, class, and
identity.
Nick Cave, Speak Louder, Covered
in black mother-of-pearl buttons.
Author: DesignMilk, Source:
Flickr, License: CC BY-SA 2.0
Listen to artist Nick Cave explain the conception of his Soundsuits:
https://youtu.be/1dzyik8Ak_w
Wangechi Mutu creates works of art that examine the
way we view gender, sexuality and cultural identity. Her
primary medium is collage combined with paint.
Wangechi Mutu, Preying Mantra, 2006, mixed media
on mylar. Source: Smarthistory.
© Wangechi Mutu, all rights reserved.
Educational Fair Use.
Born in Nairobi, Kenya and educated in the United States and Europe, Mutu makes works that address
the “African” female body, which is subjected to racism and sexism across borders.
Wangechi Mutu, Preying Mantra, 2006, Source: Smarthistory.
© Wangechi Mutu, all rights reserved. Educational Fair Use.
Mutu’s Preying Mantra explore concepts of relating to
hybridity in both the nature of her materials but also in
her examination of the hybrid relationship between the
colonizer and the colonized. She is engaged with newer
cultural space that emerges through the blending of
the colonized and the colonizer’s cultures.
Wangechi Mutu, Preying Mantra, 2006, mixed media
on mylar. Source: Smarthistory.
© Wangechi Mutu, all rights reserved.
Educational Fair Use.
The female figure in Preying Mantra lounges beside a
tree, often associated with creation myths including in
the Kikuyu tradition belonging to Mutu’s Kenyan
ancestors, and she holds a serpent in her left hand,
linking her with the biblical creation myth.
Wangechi Mutu, Preying Mantra, 2006, mixed media
on mylar. Source: Smarthistory.
© Wangechi Mutu, all rights reserved.
Educational Fair Use.
The title of Preying Mantra references the preying mantis, a type of carnivorous insect that camouflages
itself to snare prey. Further, female preying mantises sometimes practice sexual cannibalism, devouring
their submissive mates.
The strength of the preying mantis is evident in the posture and direct gaze of the female figure.
Wangechi Mutu, Preying Mantra (detail), 2006, Source: Smarthistory.
© Wangechi Mutu, all rights reserved. Educational Fair Use.
Mutu expands the concept with the title of
Preying Mantra. Is the female figure the one who
is being preyed upon under the repeated gaze of
the viewer? Or is she the one poised to prey?
Wangechi Mutu, Preying Mantra, 2006, mixed media
on mylar. Source: Smarthistory.
© Wangechi Mutu, all rights reserved.
Educational Fair Use.
Watch Wangenchi Mutu discuss her sculptures, The NewOnes, inspired by African prestige stools
and Greek caryatids which is newly installed outside the Met Museum:
https://youtu.be/MQgCX7HZoW0
Reading List: 23_The Postmodern Body in Art
Article on Jeff Koons’ Pink Panther and the postmodern artist’s interest in (and criticism of mass
culture):
https://smarthistory.org/jeff-koons-pink-panther/
Article about Kara Walker:
https://smarthistory.org/kara-walker-darkytown-rebellion/
Marina Abramović’s The Artist is Present:
https://smarthistory.org/marina-abramovic-the-artist-is-present-2/
Video interview with Marina Abramović about Rhythm 0:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kijKz3JzoD4&t=8s
Guggenheim Museum profile in Marina Abramovic’s works from the Rhythm series:
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/5177
Felix Gonzalez-Torres article:
https://smarthistory.org/felix-gonzalez-torres-untitled-billboard-of-an-empty-bed/
Article in the Guardian about the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/may/18/felix-gonzalez-torres-playfully-teasing-
deadly-serious
Description of Gonzalez-Torres’ “Untitled” (Billboard of an Empty Bed) from the Princeton Art Musem:
https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/1576
Tate Modern’s entry about participatory art:
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/participatory-art
Video interview with Nick Cave discussing his Soundsuits:
https://youtu.be/1dzyik8Ak_w
Entry by the Smithsonian American Art Museum about Nick Cave’s Soundsuits:
https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/soundsuit-80565
Nick Cave on Art 21:
https://art21.org/artist/nick-cave/
Article in the Guardian about Wangechi Mutu’s sculptures at the Met Museum:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/sep/16/wangechi-mutu-met-museum-sculptures
Article about Wangechi Mutu’s Preying Mantra:
https://smarthistory.org/wangechi-mutu-preying-mantra/
Video interview with Wangechi Mutu:
https://youtu.be/MQgCX7HZoW0
