CONCEPTUAL ART

BACON DUBUFFET

GIACOMETTI POLLOCK

KOONING NEWMAN

ROTHKO DAVID SMITH

BALTHUS

THOMAS HART BENTON

FRANK STELLA

ELLSWORTH KELLY

FRANKENTHALER

TONY SMITH

DONALD JUDD MAYA LIN

NEVELSON BOURGEOIS

CAGE SHIRAGO

RICHARD HAMILTON JASPER JOHNS

RAUSCHENBERG LICHTENSTEIN

WARHOL OLDENBURG

“Postmodernism”It is a widespread cultural phenomenon. It can be considered a rejection of modernist principles and accommodates seemingly everything in art.In contrast to Modernism, which may be considered to be elitist, Postmodernism is: A naïve and optimistic populism.

Two characteristics of so-called “Greenbergian formalism”:An emphasis on an artwork’s visual elements rather than its subject.Rejection of illusionism and a focus on exploring the properties of each artistic medium.

Existentialists attitude toward human existence:Human existence is absurd, and it is impossible to achieve certitude. Many existentialists also promoted atheism and questioned the possibility of situating God within a systematic philosophy.

Three artists whose work reflects Existentialists attitude:Francis BaconJean DubuffetAlberto Giacometti

Art Brut is untaught, coarse, and rough art, done in the way that children or the mentally unbalanced would paint.

FRANCIS BACON, Painting, 1946. Oil and pastel on linen, 6' 5 7/8" x 4' 4". Museum of Modern Art, New York (purchase).

Francis Bacon was the artist who referred to his art as “an attempt to remake the violence of reality itself”

Jean DubuffetDhotel Hairy with Yellow Teeth (haute pâte)1947mixed media on canvas45 3/4 x 35 in.

Two characteristics of the art of Jean Dubuffet:His scenes are painted or incised into thickly encrusted, parched-looking surfaces of impasto.Scribblings are interspersed with the images, heightening the impression of smeared and gashed surfaces of crumbling walls and worn pavements marked by random individuals.

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI, Man Pointing, 1947. Bronze no. 5 of 6, 5' 10" x 3' 1' 5 5/8". Nathan Emory Coffin Collection of the Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines. (Purchased with funds from the Coffin Fine Arts Trust.)

Alberto GiacomettiFigure from Venice II1956painted bronze47 1/2 in. high

The sculpture of Giacometti relates to the ideas of the Existentialists as the figures can be seen as the epitome of existentialist humanity—alienated, solitary, and lost in the world’s immensity. They are thin, virtually featureless, and have rough, agitated surfaces.

Abstract Expressionism was a major artistic style developed in the United States after the influx of refugee artists from Europe and it began in New York City.

Abstract Expressionism is a school of art that developed from Expressionism. It applied the principles of Expressionism to abstract art. The artist's brush strokes, the visible evidence of the process of creating the painting, together with the use of color, are the 'subject' of the painting.

The paintings of Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Barnett Newman are good examples of Abstract Expressionists.

Jackson PollockGoing West1934-35oil on fiberboard15 1/8 x 20 3/4 in.

People also refer to gestural painting as action painting, a term that critic Harold Rosenberg applied first to the work of the New York School

Action Painting emphasizes the process of making art, often through a variety of techniques that include dripping, dabbing, smearing, and even flinging paint on to the surface of the canvas. These energetic techniques depend on broad gestures directed by the artist's sense of control interacting with chance or random occurrences. For this reason, Action Painting is also referred to as Gestural Abstraction.

JACKSON POLLOCK, Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), 1950. Oil, enamel, and aluminum paint on canvas, 7' 3" x 9' 10". National Gallery of Art, Washington (Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund).

Jackson Pollock created his "gestural" Abstract Expressionist pieces by using sticks or brushes, he flung, poured, and dripped paint (not just oil paints but aluminum paints and household enamels as well) onto a section of unsized canvas he unrolled across his studio floor.

Jackson PollockNumber 3, 1949: Tiger1949oil on canvas62 x 37 1/4 in.

Jackson Pollock created his "gestural" Abstract Expressionist pieces by using sticks or brushes, he flung, poured, and dripped paint (not just oil paints but aluminum paints and household enamels as well) onto a section of unsized canvas he unrolled across his studio floor.

Jackson PollockAutumn Rhythm1952oil on canvas

Jackson PollockFull Fathom Five1952oil on canvas

Willem de KooningWoman I1950-52oil on canvas6 ft. 3 7/8 in x 58 in.

One way in which de Kooning’s work relates to that of Pollock is the brush strokes are sweeping and gestural and have the energetic application of pigment typical of gestural abstraction.

One way in which it differs:His subject is still figurative, whereas Pollock’s are wholly abstract.

Willem de KooningWoman I (detail)1950-52oil on canvas6 ft. 3 7/8 in x 58 in.

Barnett NewmanOnement V1952oil on canvas60 x 38 in.

Barnett Newman's "zips" intended the viewer to perceive the zips not as separate entities, separate from the ground, but instead as accents energizing the field and giving it scale.

"In essence, it is emotionality which replaced the myth. The common designation for emotionality is mood." ... Mark Rothko

Rothko – No. 14 1960, Emotion and Myth

DAVID SMITH, Cubi XIX, 1964. Stainless steel. 9' 4 3/4" x 4' 10 ¼". Tate Gallery, London. Cubi XIX

Mark RothkoUntitled1946oil on canvas37 7/8 x 30 1/2 in.

Feelings Mark Rothko hoped to evoke with his large, luminous canvases were the basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, and doom.

Post-Painterly Abstraction developed out of Abstract Expressionism and exhibits a cool, detached rationality with an emphasis on pictorial control. The hand of the artist is conspicuously absent in Post-Painterly Abstraction.

FRANK STELLA, Nunca Pasa Nada, 1964. Metallic powder in polymer emulsion on canvas, 9' 2" x 18' 4 1/2". Collection Lannan Foundation.

Frank Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter and printmaker. He is a significant figure in minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. He was born in Malden, Massachusetts

Frank Stella - 1972

Ellsworth KellyRed, Blue, Green1963oil on canvas109 1/2 x 95 in.

Ellsworth KellyBlue Panel1980oil on canvas109 1/2 x 95 in.

Ellsworth Kelly’s “Hard Edge Abstraction”:His paintings have razor-sharp edges and clearly delineated shapes. They convey no suggestion of the illusion of depth—the color shapes appear two-dimensional.Color-Field painting emphasized painting’s basic properties. The emotional element is subordinated to resolving formal properties.

HELEN FRANKENTHALER, Bay Side, 1967. Acrylic on canvas, 6' 2" x 6' 9". Private Collection, New York.

Frankenthaler's soak-stain technique.She poured diluted paint onto unprimed canvas, allowing the pigments to soak into the fabric, resulting in absolute flatness. Effect she wanted to achieve:The images appear spontaneous and almost accidental.Morris Louis was another artist who utilized it

Minimal art, or Minimalism, strove for purity through primary structures.

Tony SmithCigarette1961-66steel15 x 26 x 18 ft.

Tony SmithDie1971steel6 x 6 x 6 ft.

Principles of Post-Painterly Abstraction as it relates to Minimalist sculpture:The sculptors also strove to arrive at purity in their medium, in their case the three-dimensionality of the sculptural idiom.

Donald JuddUntitled1966galvanized iron and blue lacquer on aluminum40 in. x 190 in. x 40 in. overall

Beliefs about art Donald Judd asserts in works like the cubes illustrated in FIG. 34-15:He sought a visual vocabulary that avoided deception or ambiguity that propelled him away from representation and toward precise and simple sculpture. A work’s power derived from its character as a whole, and from the specificity of its materials.

Donald JuddStack1969laminated plastic and stainless steel

Three Minimalist sculptors:Donald JuddTony SmithMaya Ying Lin

Robert MorrisUntitled1968-69felt 3/8 in. thickdimensions variable

Maya LinVietnam Veterans MemorialWashington, DC1981-83black graniteeach wing 246 ft. long

Vietnam Memorial in Washington It is a V-shaped wall constructed of black granite panels, beginning at ground level at each end and gradually ascending to a height of 10 feet at the center of the V. The names of the war’s 57,939 casualties and missing are incised on the wall in the order of their deaths.

Vietnam Memorial Designer Maya Ying Lin.The Vietnam Memorial is not just an object to react to statically, but visitors relate to it as on a journey. Lin wanted to work with the land, not dominate it, and the sculpture is a “cut” into the earth, an initial violence that in time would heal.

David Smith, Australia, 6 feet 10 inches high, rusted steel

"At Present sculpture is on the point of turning tables on painting with respect to fertility of ideas and range of possible subject matter."

Some artists felt that the abstraction and focus on formal issues that characterized much avant-garde modernist art had resulted in public alienation. They created instead a more communicative art with the intent of reaching a wider audience.

Louise Nevelson (American, b. Ukraine, 1899-1998). The Tropical Gardens, 1957. Painted wood construction. 99 x 133 1/8 x 9 in. (251.5 x 338.1 x 22.9 cm). Gift of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, 1960.72. Grey Art Gallery, New York University Art Collection.

Louise Nevelson sculptures:Sculptures that combine a sense of architectural fragment with the power of Dada and Surrealist found objects.

Louise Nevelson's 1979 sculpture, "Cascade VII." ; Courtesy PaceWildenstein, New York © Estate of Louise Nevelson/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Louise Nevelson's "Mirror Shadow VII" (1985). ; Courtesy PaceWildenstein, New York © Estate of Louise Nevelson/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

LOUISE BOURGEOIS, Cumul I, 1969. Marble, 1' 10 3/8" x 4' 2" x 4'. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Copyright © Louise Bourgeois/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

The work of Louise Bourgeois’ Post-Minimalist work differs from the work of Judd and other artists of the Minimalist school as her sculptures are groups of objects relating to each other, the “drama of one among many.” The sculptures refer strongly to human figures instead of purely abstract forms.

Hesse, EvaHang Up1966Acrylic on cord and cloth, wood, and steel182.9 x 213.4 x 198.1 cmThe Art Institute of Chicago

Performance Art used movements, gestures, and sounds of persons to communicate with the viewer. Generally, Performance Art survives only in documentary photographs taken at the time. It was informal and spontaneous in nature and employed the human body as its primary material."Happening"A loosely structured performance whose creators try to suggest the aesthetic and dynamic qualities of everyday life, as actions, rather than as objects; they incorporate the fourth dimension, time.Fluxus artist:

Their performances were more theatrical than Happenings, coining the term “Events” to describe their works. Events focused on single actions. They were not spontaneous but followed a compositional “score.”

John Cage was composer and teacher (1912–1992) who encouraged his students to link their art directly with life. He was interested in the ideas of Duchamp and Eastern philosophy, incorporating methods like chance to avoid the closed structures marking traditional music.

The type of art produced by Kazno Shirago and the Gutac group in Oasaka:They brought painting into the realm of performance, involving such actions as throwing paint balls at canvases or wallowing in mud to shape it.

Kazuo Shiraga (1924-2008) was a distinguished Japanese avant-garde artist noted for his unusual method: using his own body to apply paint to the canvas.

Post-Painterly Abstraction differs from Abstract Expressionism in that Abstract Expressionism conveys a feeling of passion and visceral intensity, a cool, detached rationality emphasizing tighter pictorial control characterizes Post-Painterly Abstraction.

The artistic philosophy of Joseph Beuys: He wanted to make a new kind of sculptural object that would include “Thinking Forms: how we mould our thoughts or Spoken Forms: how we shape our thoughts into words or Social Sculpture: how we mould and shape the world in which we live.” I.e., a sculpture to stimulate thought about art and life.

JOSEPH BEUYS, How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, 1965. Photograph of Performance art. Schmela Gallery, Düsseldorf.

JEAN TINGUELY, Homage to New York, 1960, just prior to its self-destruction in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Inspiration for the work of Jean Tinguely, and what sort of materials he used: The notion of destruction as an act of creation. He made “metamatic machines,” motor-driven devices that produced instant abstract paintings. He programmed them electronically to act with an antimechanical unpredictability when viewers inserted pens and pushed the start button. He also made a piece designed to perform and then destroy itself.

Conceptual ArtArt lies in the artist’s idea, rather than in its final expression; some Conceptual artists eliminated the object altogether.

JOSEPH KOSUTH, One and Three Chairs, 1965. Wooden folding chair, photographic copy of a chair, and photographic enlargement of a dictionary definition of a chair; chair, 2' 8 3/8" x 1' 2 7/8" x 1' 8 7/8"; photo panel, 3' x 2' 1/8"; text panel, 2' 2' 1/8". Museum of Modern Art, New York (Larry Aldrich Foundation Fund).

BRUCE NAUMAN, The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths (Window or Wall Sign), 1967. Neon with glass tubing suspension frame, 4' 11" x 4' 7" x 2". Private collection.

Bruce Nauman’s favorite material:NeonFavorite subject: Language and wordplay.

Subject matter was characteristic of Pop Art of the 1960s:Consumer and popular culture and the mass media.

Richard HamiltonJust what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?1956collage on paper10 1/4 x 9 3/4 in.

Two artists who worked in the Pop mode in England. Richard HamiltonThe Independent Group at the Institute of Contemporary Art In London

Jasper JohnsFlag1954-55encaustic, oil and collage on fabric mounted on plywood3 ft. 6 1/4 in. x 5 ft. 5/8 in.

Example of Jasper Johns' “things seen but not looked at”:The American flag.

Robert RauschenbergBed1955oil and pencil on pillow, quilt, and sheet on wood 6 ft. 3 1/4 in. x 31 1/2 in. x 8 in.

"Combine" paintings:Painted passages interspersed with sculptural elements, a variation on assemblages, artworks created from already existing objects.developed by Robert Rauschenberg.

Robert RauschenbergMonogram1959oil and collage with objects42 x 63 1/2 x 64 1/2 in.

Robert Rauschenberg works are distinguished from those of earlier Dada artists in that the parts of Rauschenberg’s combine painting retain their individuality more than those in Dada collages. They are recognizable images and objects, appearing as a sequence of visual non-sequiturs.

Robert RauschenbergEstate1963oil and silkscreen ink on canvas 8 ft. x 5 ft. 10 in.

Robert RauschenbergBuffalo II1964oil and silkscreen ink on canvas 96 x 72 in.

Roy Lichtenstein

Roy LichtensteinI Know How You Must Feel, Brad1963oil and magna on canvas 66 1/2 x 37 3/4 in.

Lichtenstein utilized Comic books as the basis of his works like the one shown on FIG. 34-30.

Roy LichtensteinDrowning Girl1963oil and acrylic on canvas 67 5/8 x 66 3/4 in.

“Benday dots” reflect the source as Benday dots were used in comics to create modulation of colors through the placement and size of colored dots. By using them in his paintings, Lichtenstein calls attention to the mass-produced derivation of the image.

Roy LichtensteinWhaam!1963oil and magna on canvas 5 ft. 8 in. x 13 ft. 4 in.

Roy LichtensteinLittle Big Painting1965oil and acrylic on canvas 68 x 80 in.

Andy WarholTurquoise Marilyn1962silkscreen ink and acrylic on canvas40 x 40 in.

Andy Warhol utilized his background as a commercial artist in creating "fine art" works as Warhol used a printing technique and a visual vocabulary that reinforced the image’s connections to consumer culture. Warhol not only produced numerous canvases of the same image but also named his studio “the Factory.”

Andy WarholMarilyn Diptych1962acrylic, silkscreen ink and pencil on linen81 x 57 in. (each panel)

Andy WarholGold Marilyn Monroe1962acrylic, silkscreen ink, gold paint and spray paint on linen83 1/4 x 57 in.

Andy Warhol210 Coca-Cola Bottles1962silkscreen ink, acrylic and pencil on linen 6 ft. 10 1/2 x 8 ft. 9 in.

Andy WarholGreen Coca-Cola Bottles1962silkscreen ink, acrylic and pencil on linen 6 ft. 10 1/2 x 4 ft. 9 in.

Andy WarholBrillo Box1964silkscreen ink and acrylic on wood 17 1/8 x 17 x 14 in.

Claes OldenburgThe Store1960

Claes OldenburgFloor Cake1962acrylic and latex on canvas filled with foam rubber and cardboard boxes58 3/8 in. x 9 ft. 6 1/4 in. x 58 3/8 in.

Claes OldenburgClothes PinPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania1976Cor-ten steel 45 ft. x 12 ft. 3 in. x 4 ft. 6 in.

The artist who created designs for gigantic monuments depicting ordinary objects: Claes Oldenburg.

CHUCK CLOSE, Big Self-Portrait, 1967-1968. Acrylic on canvas, 8' 11" x 6' 11" x 2". Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (Art Center Acquisition Fund, 1969).

Two Superrealist painters:Audrey FlackChuck Close "Some people wonder whether what I do is inspired by a computer and whether or not that kind of imaging is a part of what makes this work contemporary. I absolutely hate technology, and I'm computer illiterate, and I never use any labor-saving devices although I'm not convinced that a computer is a labor-saving device."

DUANE HANSON, Supermarket Shopper, 1970. Polyester resin and fiberglass polychromed in oil, with clothing, steel cart, and groceries, life-size. Nachfolgeinstitut, Neue Galerie, Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen.

Duane Hanson created life-size figurative sculptures that depict stereotypical average Americans, striking chords with the viewer because of their familiarity.

Robert SmithsonSpiral Jetty (Great Salt Lake, Utah)1970black basalt and limestone rocks and earth1,500 ft.

The leading American Environmental artist: Robert Smithson.

Technique:He used industrial construction equipment to manipulate vast quantities of earth and rock on isolated sites. He designs his works in response to the location itself.

CHRISTO and JEANNE-CLAUDE, Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980-1983. Pink woven polypropylene fabric, 6 1/2 million sq. ft.

The type of art are Christo and his wife Jeane-Claude were most famous for their temporary alter of landscape, by enclosing it, and buildings, in huge lengths of cloth. Their works are only on view for a few weeks.

RICHARD SERRA, Tilted Arc, 1981. Cor-Ten steel, 12' x 120' x 2 1/2". Installed Federal Plaza, New York City by the General Services Adminis-tration, Washington D.C. Destroyed by the U.S. Government 1989.

The GSA removed Serra’s Tilted Arc from the plaza in front of the Federal Building in New York City because many members of the public complained that it was ugly and attracted graffiti, that it interfered with the view across the plaza, and that it prevented the use of the plaza for concerts.Important issues were raised by this action were that the nature of public art, including the public reception of experimental art, the artist’s responsibilities and rights when executing public commissions, censorship in the arts, and the purpose of public art.

Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski de Rola)The Street1933oil on canvas6 x 10 1/2 ft.

BalthusThe Mountain1937oil on canvas98 x 144 in.