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How did postmodernism encourage a plurality of approaches to art criticism?

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Painting by Gustave Courbet showing the artist at his easel in a crowded studio, surrounded by figures including a nude model, onlookers, and a child with a white dog. — Art criticism *The Painter's Studio*, oil on canvas by Gustave Courbet, 1854–55, in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.

Postmodernism encouraged a plurality of approaches to art criticism by rejecting the notion that there is a single, objective set of values or perspectives through which art must be interpreted. As the dominance of formalist criticism waned, the field moved away from adherence to one fashionable, unified theory.1

Instead, postmodernism fostered an environment where a variety of critical frameworks could coexist and flourish. This shift allowed critics to draw upon diverse methodologies, including:1

Philosophical and Conceptual Analysis: Approaches that treat art as a transmutation into philosophy, often emphasizing the conceptual nature of works.1
Social and Political Critique: The integration of feminism and Marxism to examine art through the lenses of social concern, power dynamics, and historical context.12
Psychoanalytic Interpretation: The use of psychological theories to explore the emotional depth, symbolism, and the state of the self in art.1
Technological and Cultural Perspectives: Analyses that prioritize the influence of technology or post-structuralist understandings of contemporary culture.13

By the turn of the 21st century, this plurality meant that art criticism could evoke formal, psychological, moral, social, and spiritual elements simultaneously, as it became impossible to privilege one mode of criticism without risking prejudice.1