Abstract
Postmodernism, the theory and philosophy that swayed the world in the late 20th century, can be interpreted in various ways as a critical reaction against modernism as well as, in one way, the logical extension of modernism itself. Thus, an extensive understanding of the social and temporal background of the birth of postmodernism and a macroscopic and correlative approach toward the related artistic circles, especially art, were carried out before a formative discussion on the furniture design of postmodernism. Postmodemism in the field of furniture design shares the history of birth and spirit with Memphis, the progressive design group established by Ettore Sottsass in Milan, 1980. This study identifies the formative features of pestrnodernistic furniture design around those works that express the trend of postmodernism, in particular, chairs, as well as the designers who participated in the first Memphis exhibition at the Milan Furniture Fair. By identifying such features, the correlation between postmodemism and those features expressed in the works of postmodernism paintings were examined. The works of Anselm Kiefer, a German nee-expressionist who became famous through the Venice Biennale 1980, and five young Italian trans-avant garde authors were selected as the scope of this case study. The characteristics of postmodernism in modern art were analyzed in terms of themes, shape, and content and were derived as follows; Firstly, borrowed and past-oriented themes, secondly, deconstructive, atypical, plural, emotional, and intuitional shapes, and thirdly, basic, metaphorical, and abstract content, The formative characteristics of chair design in postmodemism furniture design are as follows; Firstly, deconstructive, symbolic, and abstract shapes, past-oriented, reactionary, and primitive colors and closing, as well as the characteristic of delivering commercial and metaphorical messages. The subjects and motives of art have been succeeded by the characteristics of color and closing in furniture, the shape and techniques of fine arts by the characteristics of furniture shape, and the content of art by that of furniture. They share key words and characteristics.