Movements of Art

I just finished a paper for my art history class about the transition into postmodern theory in sculpture. I was reading an article from 1979 by Rosalind Krauss as part of the paper. In her article, Sculpture in the Expanded Field, she talks of developing a historical map to find exactly where postmodernism began for sculpture. While writing the paper I became conflicted with certain ideas. Is postmodernism, as well as other art theories, more of a way of making art or just a particular movement of a group of people making art at the same time?

For example, if an artist created a piece of art in 1930 that adheres to postmodern principles, is it postmodern because of this or is it not because it wasn't made during the "postmodern era." This is something that has bothered me for a while, but never really had to think into to much until this paper. I've had several class where I have had to replicate certain movements like postmodern or fluxus art and if it the work follows that movements ideas or manifesto, then it is excepted as that. Does this same idea apply to someone who created art that follows a manefesto's principles, but was before the movement and wasn't created for any other specific movement?

I think a lot of it depends on the type of art. For something like architecture, it is much easier to pick out certain methods. Different types of columns, patterns and themes can definitively belong to a particular movement. Certainly earlier paintings are a little easier to define, because everyone was following the same principles. As time goes on, however, artists begin to create work they want and get more into theory rather than creating merely commissioned works.

The more I study art, the easier it becomes to see the differences and similarities in different styles. It becomes easier to tell when certain works were made and often who made them. I think my opinion is that art is made during a particular time frame or for a particular movement. They also can have elements that follow movements long after them or before them. There will always be ways to connect certain works of art to any particular movement, because when it comes down to it, it's all art. I've found that anything in art can be argued and more often than not, artists spend more time theorizing and justifying their artwork than they actually spend on creating the art.