Double-Edged Imitation

Although its history is traceable to 16th-century Renaissance art, pastiche has long been considered a defining feature of postmodernism.1 ‘Characteristic’, wrote John McGowan;2 Hal Foster even called it the ‘official style’.3 Indeed, over the past four decades the relationship between pastiche and postmodernism has become such a cliche that for most people the mere mention of pastiche will invoke thoughts of postmodernism, whilst talk of postmodernism is in turn likely to conjure up images...