Editing Postmodernism (section)

=== Early appearances ===

The term "postmodern" was first used in 1870 by the artist John Watkins Chapman, who described "a Postmodern style of painting" as a departure from French [[Impressionism]].{{sfn|Welsch|Sandbothe|1997|page=76}}{{sfn|Hassan|1987|pages=12ff.}} Similarly, the first citation given by the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' is dated to 1916, describing [[Gus Mager]] as "one of the few 'post' modern painters whose style is convincing".<ref>{{cite web |title=postmodern (adjective & noun) |website=Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/postmodern_adj?tab=factsheet |access-date=9 February 2024 |date=2006}}</ref>

[[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] priest and cultural commentator J. M. Thompson, in a 1914 article, uses the term to describe changes in attitudes and beliefs in the critique of religion, writing, "the ''raison d'être'' of Post-Modernism is to escape from the double-mindedness of [[Modernism (Roman Catholicism)|modernism]] by being thorough in its criticism by extending it to religion as well as theology, to [[Catholic]] feeling as well as to Catholic tradition".{{sfn|Thompson|1914|page=733}} In 1926, [[Bernard Iddings Bell]], president of [[Bard College|St. Stephen's College]] and also an Episcopal priest, published ''Postmodernism and Other Essays'', which marks the first use of the term to describe an historical period following modernity.<ref>{{cite book |title=Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary |date=2004}}</ref>{{sfn|Madsen|1995}} The essay criticizes lingering socio-cultural norms, attitudes, and practices of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. It is also critical of a purported cultural shift away from traditional Christian beliefs.{{sfn|Bell|1926}}{{sfn|Birzer|2015}}{{sfn|Russello|2007}}

The term "postmodernity" was first used in an academic historical context as a general concept for a movement by [[Arnold J. Toynbee]] in a 1939 essay, which states that "Our own Post-Modern Age has been inaugurated by the general war of 1914–1918".{{sfn|Toynbee|1961|page=43}}

In 1942, the literary critic and author H. R. Hays describes postmodernism as a new literary form.<ref>{{cite web |title=postmodernism (n.) |website=OED |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/postmodernism_n |access-date=8 February 2024 |date=2006}}</ref> Also in the arts, the term was first used in 1949 to describe a dissatisfaction with the [[modern architecture|modernist architectural movement]] known as the [[International Style (architecture)|International Style]].{{sfn|Connor|2013|p=567}}

Although these early uses anticipate some of the concerns of the debate in the second part of the 20th century, there is little direct continuity in the discussion.{{sfn|Bertens|1995|p=19}} Just when the new discussion begins, however, is also a matter of dispute. Various authors place its beginnings in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.{{sfn|Brooker|2003|p=203}}