Νεωτεριστικά και παραδοσιακά στοιχεία στη μοντέρνα και μεταμοντέρνα τέχνη

Abstract

Modernism and Postmodernism are examined as trends of the 20th century, functioning mainly as reactions and innovations to the previous art forms. Modernism broke with traditional artistic forms, as well as with the entirety of cultural structures and models in human history. Painters downgraded the meaning of the subject in their work and turned their interest to the shape. The idea was to create an independent and self-referred art with no relation to the outer world and the traditional structures. This tendency found its pick with Clement Greenberg and the abstract Expressionism, which led eventually to satiety and opened the way to the post -modern era. Postmodern artists wanted to bring art back into life and tried to regain its relation to tradition. They used it as vehicle to criticize meaning and reality of our world. Postmodernism, which espoused a relativistic view of history, tradition, science, language and art, tried to deconstruct and rebuilt these systems under new circumstances. In its heyday, postmodernism provided a much- needed corrective to the exclusive and strict character of Modernism. However, it fell into the same trap: it brought about a series of negations that eventually led to unacceptable consequences. Today, works of art depicting traditional subjects and celebrating beauty are again in vogue, which probably indicates the beginning of a new era in the history of art.