Abstract

This volume is an introduction to the intellectual movement known as Postmodernism and its impact on the visual arts. In clear, jargon-free language, Eleanor Heartney situates Postmodernism historically, showing how it developed both in reaction to and as a result of some of the fundamental beliefs underlying Modernism, especially its positivist, universalizing aspects. She then analyzes paradigmatic Postmodern works of art by artists such as Cindy Sherman, Sherrie Levine, Jeff Koons and Robert Mapplethorpe. Postmodernism provides a concise and articulate overview of the Postmodern phenomenon. Eleanor Heartney is a contributing editor for Art in America, New Art Examiner, and Art Press. In 1991, she was the recipient of the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism. Heartney is a board member of the American section of the AICA. She is also the author of Critical Condition: American Culture at the Crossroads (Cambridge, 1997). She lives in New York.