One has to talk not about Postmodernism at all, but rather about how Modernism is perceived at the millenium . Paris at night calls up endless rebroadcasts of Gigi . I'm glad I'm not modern anymore. The deed must have taken place during a struggle. As the postmodern paradox directs, people are fighting over the missing heritage of Modernism.
Postmodernism is thus inherently nostalgic and political .
Today an art critic, T. J. Clark, can write that Abstract Expressionism may not be all bad, provided one recognizes that its finest exponent is . . . The fight is still on, but the fighters are exhausted or reeling. Begin with its critics and what they think has been going on for the last century or so. First, modern art became an institution , like that hospital again. In any event, it had to answer to academic politics and the growing dominance of American culture.