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Unit 20; Chapter 34From the Modern

to the Post-Modern and Beyond:Art of the Later 20th Century

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 12e

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Alternatives to Modernist Formalism

• Examine the expressive qualities of directions in sculptural forms outside of Minimalism.

• Examine the development of Performance Art and Happenings, combining two- and three-dimensional art forms along with other arts.

• Examine the development of Conceptual Art and the elimination of the object.

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Expressive Sculpture

• Understand the ideas, feelings, and forms of sculpture in contrast to the Minimalist forms.

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Figure 34-17 LOUISE NEVELSON, Tropical Garden II, 1957–1959. Wood painted black, 5’ 11 1/2” x 10’ 11 3/4” x 1’. Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

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Figure 34-18 LOUISE BOURGEOIS, Cumul I, 1969. Marble, 1’ 10 3/8” x 4’ 2” x 4’. Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

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Figure 34-19 EVA HESSE, Hang-Up, 1965–1966. Acrylic on cloth over wood and steel, 6’ x 7’ x 6’ 6”. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

34Figure 34-20 GEORGE BRECHT, Event Scores.

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Performance Art and Happenings

• Examine the innovative forms of Performance Art and Happenings which combined two- and three-dimensional art along with other arts.

36Figure 34-21 KAZUO SHIRAGA, Making a Work with His Own Body, 1955. Mud.

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Figure 34-22 CAROLEE SCHNEEMAN, Meat Joy, 1964. Photograph of performance at Judson Church, New York.

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Figure 34-23 JOSEPH BEUYS, How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, 1965. Photograph of Performance art. Schmela Gallery, Düsseldorf.

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Figure 34-24 JEAN TINGUELY, Homage to New York, 1960, just prior to its self-destruction in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

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Conceptual Art

• Examine the development of Conceptual Art and the elimination of the object and the idea itself as a work of art.

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Figure 34-25 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

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Figure 34-26 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.

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Art for the Public

• Understand the growing interest in the communicative power of art in reaction to art that had alienated the public.

• Understand Pop Art’s interest in traditional artistic devices and consumerism.

• Examine Superrealism and its fidelity to optical fact.

• Understand the development of site specific art forms known as Environmental Art or earth works.

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Pop Art

• Understand the popular trends of traditional artistic devices and consumerism in Pop Art.

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Figure 34-27 RICHARD HAMILTON, Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?, 1956. Collage, 10 1/4” x 9 3/4”. Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.

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Figure 34-28 JASPER JOHNS, Flag, 1954–1955, dated on reverse 1954. Encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric mounted on plywood, 3’ 6 1/4” x 5’ 5/8”. Museum of Modern Art, New York

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Figure 34-29 ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG, Canyon, 1959. Oil, pencil, paper, fabric, metal, cardboard box, printed paper, printed reproductions, photograph, wood, paint tube, and mirror on canvas, with oil on bald eagle, string, and pillow, 6’ 9 3/4” x 5’ 10” x 2’. Sonnabend Collection.

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Figure 34-30 ROY LICHTENSTEIN, Hopeless, 1963. Oil on canvas, 3’ 8” x 3’ 8”. Kunstmuseum, Basel

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Figure 34-31 ANDY WARHOL, Green Coca-Cola Bottles, 1962. Oil on canvas, 6’ 10 1/2” x 4’ 9”. Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

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Figure 34-32 ANDY WARHOL, Marilyn Diptych, 1962. Oil, acrylic, and silk-screen enamel on canvas. Tate Gallery, London.

51Figure 34-33 CLAES OLDENBURG, photo of one-person show at the Green Gallery, New York, 1962.

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Superrealism

• Examine Superrealism, its fidelity to optical fact and attention to minute detail and commonplace objects.

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Figure 34-34 AUDREY FLACK, Marilyn, 1977. Oil over acrylic on canvas, 8’ x 8’. Collection of the University of Arizona Museum, Tucson

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Figure 34-35 CHUCK CLOSE, Big Self-Portrait, 1967–1968. Acrylic on canvas, 8’ 11” x 6’ 11” x 2”. Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

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Figure 34-36 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.

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Discussion Questions

How are the two main processes of Abstract Expressionism different? Name and processes and one artist for each.

What do Minimalist sculptors mean by the concept of objecthood?

What is meant by Conceptual Art and the elimination of the object?

Why do you think Modernist art and architecture alienated the public? Do you agree that Postmodern art and architecture are more in tune to the public’s interests?

In what ways has new technology already changed our perception of what art is?