Modernism was stimulated by changes in the industrial and political world. Industrialization was a catalyst for huge change in the way of life for those living in the Western world. Types of work change as factories evolved, technology and invention accelerated, transport changed, evolved and increased the ways people could travel and with greater speed allowing faster and more timely travel and communication. A reaction to WW1 stimulated a desire for a more Utopian way of living and so a rejection of the previous traditions and some values. Modernism can now be seen as a distinct phase of culture change that was fading or overtaken by new ways of thinking, perceiving, and living in the world. Modernism finally ended at the end of the 1960's although the seeds of Post Modernism were already germinating 10 years prior.
Post Modernism is difficult to define neatly! It is a change in attitude toward life and living, toward other people and groups, in as much as eqaulity and fairness across the world was seen as the way forward. The consequences in art forms are that art was being made to establish this new thinking and characterised by Irony, political statements about emancipation, a cynacism toward and a challenge of the establishment. The fine art quality was often seen as part of that establishment and the energetic kicking against it produced work that wasn't easily understood when applying the "old standards" of assessing art, that being very much part of the statement.
A curator from the Hirshhorn Museum explains how art historians define the two classifications
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/ask-an-expert-what-is-the-difference-between-modern-and-postmodern-art-87883230/
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