Art Reading: Ar,orms, 388-‐411 Range: c. 1945-‐1975 Terms/Concepts: CollecBve Unconscious, Social Realism, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Atomic Style, consumerism, suburbs, “The American Dream,” mass media, kitsch, Camp. Key Monuments: Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm, 1950. Willem de Kooning, Woman I, 1950-‐1952. Richard Hamilton, Just What is it that Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing? 1956. Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962.
to the United States, along with the center of gravity of industrial power.” -‐-‐Clement Greenberg “[New York] stole the idea of Modern Art.” -‐-‐Serge Guilbault Paris New York
of art must try, in principle to avoid communicaBon with any order of experience not inherent in the most literally and essenBally construed nature of its medium. Among other things, this means renouncing illusion and explicit subject mager. The arts are to achieve concreteness, ‘purity,’ by dealing solely with their respecBve selves—that is, by becoming ‘abstract’ or non-‐ figuraBve” Clement Greenberg
began to appear to one American painter a]er another as an arena in which to act—rather than a space in which to produce, redesign, analyze, or ‘express’ an object, actual or imagined. What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event. The painter no longer approached his easel with an image in his mind; he went up to it with material in his hand to do something to that other piece of material in front of him. The image would be the result of this encounter.” Harold Rosenberg
am in my painBng, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only a]er a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painBng has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painBng that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painBng comes out well.” -‐-‐Jackson Pollock, On his work, 1950
wet canvas covered the enBre floor. . . . There was complete silence. . . . Pollock looked at the painBng. Then, unexpectedly, he picked up can and paint brush and started to move around the canvas. It was as if he suddenly realized the painBng was not finished. His movements, slow at first, gradually became faster and more dance like as he flung black, white, and rust colored paint onto the canvas. He completely forgot that Lee and I were there; he did not seem to hear the click of the camera shuger. . . My photography session lasted as long as he kept painBng, perhaps half an hour. In all that Bme, Pollock did not stop. How could one keep up this level of acBvity? Finally, he said ‘This is it.’” -‐-‐Hans Namuth, On Jackson Pollock, 1952
to the United States, along with the center of gravity of industrial power.” -‐-‐Clement Greenberg “[New York] stole the idea of Modern Art.” -‐-‐Serge Guilbault Paris New York
some instances where you may be ahead of us, for example in the thrust of your rockets for the invesBgaBon of outer space. And there may be instances, for example color television, where we are ahead of you...” Nixon: “American houses last for more than 20 years, but, even so, a]er twenty years, many Americans want a new house or a new kitchen. Their kitchen is obsolete by that Bme....The American system is designed to take advantage of new invenBons and new techniques.”
Homes So Different, So Appealing? 1956. Popular Transient Expendable Low-‐cost Mass-‐produced Young Wigy Gimmicky Glamorous Big Business
about this country is that America started the tradiBon where the richest consumers buy essenBally the same thing as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-‐Cola, and you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a beger Coke.”
gruesome picture over and over again, it doesn’t really have any effect.” “I think it would be so great if more people took up silk screens so that no one would know whether my picture was mine or somebody else’s.”
when you died, you didn't just vanish, everything could just keep going on the way it was only you just wouldn't be there. I always thought I'd like my own tombstone to be blank. No epitaph, and no name. Well, actually, I'd like it to say 'figment.'”
Hollywood. They're beauBful. Everybody's plasBc, but I love plasBc. I want to be plasBc.” -‐-‐-‐ “My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person.” -‐-‐-‐ “In the Future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.” -‐-‐-‐ “It would be very glamorous to be reincarnated as a great big ring on Liz Taylor's finger.”
nichsara
swwweet
thoeni
carmenintech
rasmusluckow
keithpitt
szymonslowik
greggifford
baasie
bermonpainter
sabderemane
bluesmoon
kastner
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