According to theories associated with
modernism and also the
concept of
postmodernism,
art movements are especially important during the period of time corresponding to
modern art. The period of time called "modern art" is posited to have changed approximately halfway through the 20th century and art made afterward is generally called
contemporary art.
Postmodernism in visual art begins and functions as a parallel to
late modernism and refers to that period after the "modern" period called contemporary art. The postmodern period began during
late modernism (which is a contemporary continuation of modernism), and according to some theorists postmodernism ended in the 21st century. During the period of time corresponding to "modern art" each consecutive movement was often considered a new
avant-garde. and sometimes from
art critics and others who may explain their understanding of the meaning of the new art then being produced. In the
visual arts, many artists, theorists, art critics, art collectors, art dealers and others mindful of the unbroken continuation of modernism and the continuation of modern art even into the contemporary era, ascribe to and welcome new philosophies of art as they appear.
Postmodernist theorists posit that the idea of art movements are no longer as applicable, or no longer as discernible, as the notion of art movements had been before the postmodern era. There are many theorists however who doubt as to whether or not such an era was actually a fact; The term refers to tendencies in
visual art, novel ideas and
architecture, and sometimes
literature. In
music it is more common to speak about
genres and
styles instead. See also
cultural movement, a term with a broader connotation. As the names of many art movements use the -ism suffix (for example
cubism and
futurism), they are sometimes referred to as
isms. ==19th century==