Abstract

The term “modernity” oscillates between a temporal and a more categorical, generic or axiological meaning. From a perspective not of general sociology but of configurational sociology, attentive to contexts, this article proposes a characterization of “modernity” in art, not only departing from works of art but taking into account the world of art as a whole and its representations. In other words it addresses what might be called the modern “paradigm”. To this modern paradigm opposes frontally the contemporary paradigm, of which certain characteristics are similar to those ascribed to “modernity” as described by sociology. This opposition between modern and contemporary makes art a domain where, paradoxically, modernity is no longer present but is, more and more, relegated to the past.