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Overview
Conceptual art set out to challenge two key assumptions normally associated with art -- the production of objects to look at and the act of contemplative looking itself. This accessible introduction explores the reasons why the new avant-garde that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s felt compelled to produce such critical work and examines the extent to which this movement may be regarded as the turning point between the modernist past of painting and the postmodernist present of the contemporary art world. The author traces the roots of Conceptual art in the anti-art practices of Marcel Duchamp, in Piero Manzoni's parodies of art world values and in the activities of the Fluxus group. He then examines the way Conceptual artists both raised fundamental questions about artistic Modernism and turned to address wider social and political issues. In addition to discussions of American artists such as Dan Graham and Joseph Kosuth and the English group Art & Language, the author reviews the work of feminist artists, including Mary Kelly, the work of European figures such as Joseph Beuys and Daniel Buren, and work made outside Western Europe and North America by artists including Ilya Kabakov, On Kawara and Cildo Meireles.Synopsis
Conceptual art set out to challenge two key assumptions normally associated with art -- the production of objects to look at and the act of contemplative looking itself. This accessible introduction explores the reasons why the new avant-garde that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s felt compelled to produce such critical work and examines the extent to which this movement may be regarded as the turning point between the modernist past of painting and the postmodernist present of the contemporary art world. The author traces the roots of Conceptual art in the anti-art practices of Marcel Duchamp, in Piero Manzoni's parodies of art world values and in the activities of the Fluxus group. He then examines the way Conceptual artists both raised fundamental questions about artistic Modernism and turned to address wider social and political issues. In addition to discussions of American artists such as Dan Graham and Joseph Kosuth and the English group Art & Language, the author reviews the work of feminist artists, including Mary Kelly, the work of European figures such as Joseph Beuys and Daniel Buren, and work made outside Western Europe and North America by artists including Ilya Kabakov, On Kawara and Cildo Meireles.
Library Journal
Part of the Tate Modern's "Movements in Modern Art" series-others include Abstraction, Cubism, and Surrealism, all published by Cambridge-this title might best be read in series rather than as a stand-alone work. Its brevity suggests an introduction, but the subject demands more. Conceptual Art was a revolution within a revolution, developing parallel to and inside of Modernism while radically questioning Modernism's goals. As Wood (art history, Open Univ., London) explains, Modernism emphasized pictorial form as a means of escape from a stultifying academic tradition, while Conceptual Art-at its zenith in the late 1960s to 1970s-was an art of ideas, producing not objects but documents. Thus, it baffled many who wondered at its basic premise, which ran counter to art's traditional goals of making objects to admire and fostering contemplative looking. Ultimately, the strategies and techniques of Conceptual Art joined the mainstream, and today much contemporary art derives from this once radical project. The book is academic in tone, and, although it is clearly written and closely reasoned, the general reader may find the complexity and jargon strenuous. The ideal audience is college art students with a background in modern art theory. Recommended for college and university art libraries.-Michael Dashkin, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, New York