Core Readings

Question 1

Clement Greenberg

Answer 1

self-educated
‘Modernist Painting’ - every art form needed to celebrate the uniqueness of its medium
painting has to acknowledge its flatness
wants to discourage hybridity
wants to espouse universal models of art
“The arts lie safe now, each within its “legitimate” boundaries, and free trade has been replaced by autarchy.” Towards a Newer Laocoon.

Question 2

Melville Herskovits

Answer 2

celebrated hybridity
bring together many cultures
opposite of Greenberg

Question 3

David Craven

Answer 3

Abstract Expressionist art not as American as it seems. Disliked by most Americans and often incorporated traditional art techniques, e.g. Native American art

Question 4

Frederic Jameson, ‘Pyradising the Sixties’

Answer 4

defends the 60s from attempts in the 80s to devalue the moment
holistic approach
decolonialised countries were considered second world

Question 5

Leigh Raiford

Answer 5

the camera performed the role of the spectator

critical of victimhood status

Question 6

Tom W Smith, ‘Changing Racial Labels’

Answer 6

THINK about lang

looks at examples where cameras drew attention to the violence

Question 7

Martin Berger

Answer 7

Berger interested in imagery which draws attention to an empowered sense of self-conciousness
how pictures would have been read in newspaper articles
detrimental to creating a positive image of what it is to be African American

Question 8

Jacques Lacan

Answer 8

moment child recognises themselves in the mirror, no sense of ourself when we’re born, you become a subject by entering into language, try to learn what their name is. very violent, identifying with something outside of yourself, violent. need to be collectively understood to identify as a social subject.

Question 9

Judy Chicago

Answer 9

thinks there is a true self that has been covered by societal expectations. couldn’t have a male sisterhood, genital symbols wouldn’t encapsulate societal values related to masculinity.
feminism not confined to women, it’s about adopting a universal system of empowerment

Question 10

Mary Kelly

Answer 10

thinks differently to JC, doesn’t think we have an innate sexuality, imposed by psychoanalysis etc.
there is no ‘essential femininity’

Question 11

Lisa Tickner

Answer 11

there are realistic and romanticised notions of sexuality
women’s bodies are used to sell to both men and women BUT there is no expression of female sexuality in these images
wants artists to reclaim notions of sexuality

Question 12

Milocz

Answer 12

set up Berkeley in California, everyone an actor in their own life
‘The Captive Mind’ - talking about totalitarianism and Stalinism
argues that can’t openly express your opinions under the S rule, have to rebel subtly
KETMAN

Question 13

Grotowski

Answer 13

in 1960s Poland, theatre is v well funded and sponsored
advocates reduced way of thinking about the theatre
the unique thing about theatre is the actor
minimalist staging
trying to make an authentic art free of Ketmanism
ideal actor sacrifices themselves and strips away social conformities

Question 14

Piotrowski

Answer 14

survey book, shifts around a little bit
resourcefulness of E European art
difference between E Gm and the rest of E Eu

Question 15

Terry Smith

Answer 15

Australian art critic - ‘The Provincialist Problem’
provincial implies something negative
enforced by those living in the metropolis
de-colonialisation crisis
MoMA exhibitions being moved around the world, this model was coming under attack
some cities have a monopoly on the art world e.g. New York
Aus artists have to be exhibited in Ny to be taken seriously as an Aus artist
provincial artists can’t influence the conversation in NY, always seen as exotic and non-American e.g. Sidney Nolan will always be a great Australian artist whereas Jackson Pollock is just a great artist

Question 16

Thomas Crow

Answer 16

3 Andy Warhols, the public persona, the artist and the real man.
sense of feeling in the images, e.g. Marilyn. not just mindless repetition
truth telling element to Warhol’s work

Question 17

Hal Foster

Answer 17

disagrees with Crow
Warhol’s work has both aesthetic and meaning
repetition of images both numbs the viewer and highlights the trauma
punctum = repetitive popping of the image

Question 18

Jonathan Flatley

Answer 18

sees W’s pop art as his talent for liking things
collector, collected photos, recordings, time capsules.
screen tests - singularity and multiplicity

Question 19

Ferreira Gullar

Answer 19

non-object = ‘special object through which a synthesis of sensorial and mental experiences is intended to take place’
trying to break the frame of painting/ sculpture.

Question 20

Guy Brett

Answer 20

Lygia Clark involves spectator.
Lygia draws on the external world and the spectator rather than the internal
wants to reconnect the interior and the exterior
about the dissolution of the self
amalgamates the doctor and the artist

Question 21

Max Kozloff

Answer 21

the softness of sculpture is new and evokes the human. about sleep, by making soft objects, Oldensburg gives the objects a life of their own and makes them more alive than us, which is disturbing. difficult to figure out what you’re looking at.

Question 22

Donald Judd.

Answer 22

best 1960s work is neither painting nor sculpture, no real movement. 3D opens art up. challenges painting and sculpture. only so many ways you can use a shape. new sculpture is a single form.

Question 23

Michael Fried

Answer 23

admires Caro rather than Judd.
disagrees with Judd’s philosophy, impossible to make a work which is free from human experience, its made by people.
Fried thinks sculpture should be uplifting and artistic.

Question 24

Lawrence Alloway, introduction in Systemic Painting

Answer 24

“A system is as human as a splash of paint, more so when the splash gets routinized.”

Question 25

John Berger

Answer 25

‘From the earliest childhood she has been taught and persuaded to survey herself continually’

Question 26

Mary Kelly

Answer 26

Female artist occupies masculine and feminine position/gaze

Question 27

Frantz Fanon

Answer 27

‘decolonialisation is always a violent phenomenon’

Question 28

Karen Dubinsky

Answer 28

everyday read through a global lens
One of the defining features of the political and cultural movements of the era was the feeling of acting simultaneously with others in a global sphere, the belief that people elsewhere were motivated by a common purpose

Question 29

Lucy lippard

Answer 29

‘Sexual politics:art style’ discrimination in the art world against women

Question 30

Jack Burnham, Great Western Salt Works

Answer 30

new set of needs developing - to maintain the biological livability of the earth
systems-orientated culture
artist becomes a quasi-political provocateur
not a uniform movement, concerned with implementing art in a technological society

Question 31

Jack Burnham, The Panacea That Failed

Answer 31

assesses the successes of computer art
argues that only certain types of scientific art have prevailed e.g. Dan Flavin’s sculptures.
like art, technology may become ‘a form of cognitive bootstrapping, an illusionary form of conquest over the forces of nature’

Question 32

Ian Burn, ‘the ‘sixties: crisis and aftermath (or the memoirs of an ex-conceptual artist)

Answer 32

Australian who moved to NY, champion of Aboriginal artists in the 70s.
article considers a wide range of facets, e.g. the deskilling of art, the commercialisation of art, the social disengagement of the artist
focus on conception not technical skill e.g. Warhol
have to have internationally significant subject matter, e.g. Coca-Cola
negation of artist as subj matter - in conceptual art, the viewer becomes the agent
art catered to public taste, HUGE disincentive to experiment, e.g. Warhol
question male dominance in art, less focus on individuality so its harder to fight the system e.g. Judy Chicago, ‘Womanhouse’
Social Disengagement of the Artist, e.g. J.C. Switches Styles
The Provincialist Problem - Sidney Nolan and Jackson Pollock (friends with Terry Smith)
certain styles could not fully convey artists social and political agendas, e.g. Dan Flavin, Monument for those who have been killed in ambush.
conceptual art = a means of rejecting the traditional status of the physical artwork, removed from the artwork and used more ‘democratic’ forms, e.g. media
‘In other words, Conceptual Art evolved in a context of trying to find a resolution to the issues experienced within that crisis atmosphere.’