DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

 

 

 

 

Analysis of A Short History of Modernist Painting, by Mark Tansey

 

 

 

 

Jason Johnson

ART 185

Fall 2010

A Short History of Modernist Painting is a series of three-oil-on-canvas paintings by Mark Tansey.  These paintings humorously ponder the place of postmodernists and the artists before them in art history, as well as poking fun at the more popular approaches to composition since the Renaissance.  Through his choice of color palette and his witty portrayal of three “periods” of art history, Mark Tansey makes a creative commentary of popular attitudes toward painting from the past, present, and future that is engaging and easy to understand for the viewer.

Tansey’s A Short History of Modernist Painting features three panels, each measuring four feet ten inches by three feet four inches.  Although it was painted in 1982, each image appears as if it could have been come from an educational book or magazine from the 1950s.  In the first panel, a woman stands outside her home, in typical 1950s sundress and hat, washing the windows of her home with a garden hose.  The second panel contains a man, also in 1950s dress, running head-first into a brick wall in an open field.  The third panel portrays a chicken standing near the top of a ramp, examining its reflection in a mirror.   

Each of the scenes in A Brief History is flat and employs an almost instructive, illustration-like style, with little illusion of depth.  In a manner typical of Tansey, he uses a monochrome color scheme, and the woman, man, and chicken are composed of tints and shades of red, blue, and yellow, respectively.  In spite of the seemingly informative nature of the paintings, the actions depicted are nonsensical and appear to have no deeper meaning; however, the panels refer to three different approaches to painting that have been particularly popular with artists over time.  The first panel is a reference to the Renaissance aesthetic of creating paintings that appeared as if one was looking through a window.  The woman washes her windows in an effort to produce the clearest view of the outside as possible; much like the Renaissance artist methodically worked his brush across the canvas, in order to produce the most realistic window to another world as possible. 

The second panel in A Short History of Modernist Painting is a reference to the modernists’ insistence that a painting should be regarded purely as a flat plane; that it was the painting itself which carried importance rather than its content.  It is representative of the so-called “Greenberg formalists,” who did away with elements they deemed unnecessary and strived for what they perceived to be purity in art. This attitude is expressed in the form of the man forcing his head into the brick wall.  This image might be interpreted as a metaphor for the stubbornness of modernist artists, like the abstract expressionists, in their refusal to embrace other artistic ideals and, in a sense, move forward.  The third panel is an allusion to the postmodernists, who according to Tansey, look contemplatively at themselves, pondering their place in the history of art.  Accordingly, the chicken peers into the mirror at itself, perhaps pondering its place in the world.

Mark Tansey is a postmodernist artist from San Jose, California, born in 1949.  His father, an art historian, was one of the editors for editions five through ten of the widely used textbook Gardner’s Art Through the Ages.  His mother, also an art historian, served as the Visual Resources Librarian at the University of California and developed the Universal Slide System (Falk, 2005).  Tansey’s familiarity with art history, prominently displayed in A Short History, is indeed a result of spending his formative years in this academic environment.  This nurtured upbringing also may have impacted his performance in academia, as he has studied and earned accolades from the University of California, Harvard University, and finally at Hunter College in New York, where he earned his MFA in 1978.

Like most postmodern artists, many of Mark Tansey’s works can be described as contemplative, and ironic, dealing with social themes, or in the case of A Short History, a self-conscious exploration of art and his and his fellow artists’ place within it.  His works are usually social critiques, and they combine both formal and conceptual elements to create pieces that are aligned with postmodern aesthetics, but also uniquely his own style.  Also following the postmodern aesthetic, Tansey’s paintings appear to be on a flattened picture plane, challenging the more formal method of creating illusory depth. 

The painting’s appearance as an old 1950s drawing is also consistent with the postmodernist style, challenging society’s preconceived notion of how things should appear.  Seeming like dated realism, Tansey’s painting speaks conceptually of how postmodernism deconstructs the past in order to move forward.  The informative nature of the painting contradicts the impossible actions represented, causing the viewer to seek an explanation for the bizarre image.  Rather than being given a black and white, clear-cut answer, as the nature of the image implies, Tansey instead leaves the viewer with open-ended questions and confusion.  In doing this, Tansey calls attention to how representational images are inherently problematic, as they can be misinterpreted because they are unable to tell the entire story.  Tansey discusses his approach by explaining “Pictures should be able to function across the fullest range of content.  The conceptual should be able to mingle with the formal and subject matter should enjoy intimate relations with both.”

A Short History of Modernist Painting is an interesting, successful piece that discusses art’s past, examines its current state, and ponders its future path.  Mark Tansey’s use of irony, color palette, and contradiction offer an engaging piece that challenges the viewer’s preconceptions and makes him/her actively participate in the artwork.  The paintings in A Short History are exemplary of the postmodern movement, offering a contemplative, ironic message veiled by an apparently representational work.  In all, A Short History of Modernist Painting is a triumphant work that is attractive to viewers without being too abstract.

 

 

Reference List

Falk, Peter.  “Biography for Mark Tansey.”  AskART: The Artists’ Bluebook.  2005.  AskART     Archives.  23 Nov. 2011    <http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?searchtype=BIO&artist=31232  >.

Tansey, Mark. A Short History of Modernist Painting. Gagosian Gallery, New York.         Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History.  Fred S. Kleiner, Boston:    Wadsworth, 2009. 1001.

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.