Synopses & Reviews
andlt;Pandgt;Contemporary art in the early twenty-first century is often discussed as though it were a radically new phenomenon unmoored from history. Yet all works of art were once contemporary to the artist and culture that produced them. In andlt;Iandgt;What Was Contemporary Art?andlt;/Iandgt; Richard Meyer reclaims the contemporary from historical amnesia, exploring episodes in the study, exhibition, and reception of early twentieth-century art and visual culture. andlt;/Pandgt;andlt;Pandgt;Meyer analyzes an undergraduate course taught by Alfred Barr at Wellesley College in 1927 as a key moment in the introduction of works by living artists into the discipline of art history, then turns to a series of exhibitions from the 1930s that put contemporary art in dialogue with premodern works ranging from prehistoric cave pictures to Italian Renaissance paintings. Meyer also treats the controversy that arose in 1948 over the decision by Boston's Institute of Modern Art to change its name to the Institute of Contemporary Art. By retrieving moments in the history of once-current art, Meyer redefines andquot;the contemporaryandquot; as a condition of being alive to and alongside other moments, artists, and objects.andlt;/Pandgt;andlt;Pandgt;A generous selection of images, many in color -- from works of fine art to museum brochures and magazine covers -- support and extend Meyer's narrative. These works were contemporary to their own moment. Now, in Meyer's account, they become contemporary to ours as well.andlt;/Pandgt;
Review
In this deft and engaging account, Richard Meyer charts an entirely new path through the twentieth century to elucidate how 'the contemporary' has always been an anxious matter for art history. What Was Contemporary Art? is richly researched and persuasively argued, a book whose far-ranging theoretical implications are driven by an urgent attention to history. Whether looking to the past or speculating about the future, after reading Meyer's book we'll never think about contemporary art the same way again. The MIT Press
Review
At a time when we are intoxicated by instant access to the present and when history seems 'passé,' it is rewarding to encounter a book like Richard Meyer's What Was Contemporary Art?, which goes behind the cultural branding and flattening of terms like 'modern,' 'post-modern,' and 'post-post' to bring back the full complexity of the texture of those references. By analyzing several key figures and events of American cultural life in the late twentieth century, Meyer not only makes our past history exciting, complicated, and humorous, he also shows how linked -- often unconsciously -- our present is to our past, our history. This work should and will be discussed not only by the new generation who bank on the present, but also by older generations who often…forget. Julia Bryan-Wilson, Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art, University of California, Berkeley
Review
The MIT Press
Review
Amidst the clamor over the increasingly disproportionate attention to contemporary art in the field of art history, Richard Meyer draws our attention to the history of contemporary art -- that is, to how the terms modern and contemporary were reckoned with in the past. In the process, he uncovers unexpected stories about a Wellesley College trip to a candy factory, Persian wall frescoes shown in watercolor copies at the Museum of Modern Art, and a manifesto issued by the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston decrying modern art as chicanery. What Was Contemporary Art? implicitly asks, 'Just what is contemporary art?' Serge Guilbaut, Professor of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, University of British Columbia
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"In this deft and engaging account, Richard Meyer charts an entirely new path through the twentieth century to elucidate how 'the contemporary' has always been an anxious matter for art history. andlt;Iandgt;What Was Contemporary Art?andlt;/Iandgt; is richly researched and persuasively argued, a book whose far-ranging theoretical implications are driven by an urgent attention to history. Whether looking to the past or speculating about the future, after reading Meyer's book we'll never think about contemporary art the same way again." -- andlt;Bandgt;Julia Bryan-Wilsonandlt;/Bandgt;, Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art, University of California, Berkeleyandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"At a time when we are intoxicated by instant access to the present and when history seems 'passé,' it is rewarding to encounter a book like Richard Meyer's andlt;Iandgt;What Was Contemporary Art?andlt;/Iandgt;, which goes behind the cultural branding and flattening of terms like 'modern,' 'post-modern,' and 'post-post' to bring back the full complexity of the texture of those references. By analyzing several key figures and events of American cultural life in the late twentieth century, Meyer not only makes our past history exciting, complicated, and humorous, he also shows how linked -- often unconsciously -- our present is to our past, our history. This work should and will be discussed not only by the new generation who bank on the present, but also by older generations who oftenand#133;forget." -- andlt;Bandgt;Serge Guilbautandlt;/Bandgt;, Professor of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, University of British Columbiaandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;andlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"Amidst the clamor over the increasingly disproportionate attention to contemporary art in the field of art history, Richard Meyer draws our attention to the andlt;Iandgt;historyandlt;/Iandgt; of contemporary art -- that is, to how the terms andlt;Iandgt;modernandlt;/Iandgt; and andlt;Iandgt;contemporaryandlt;/Iandgt; were reckoned with in the past. In the process, he uncovers unexpected stories about a Wellesley College trip to a candy factory, Persian wall frescoes shown in watercolor copies at the Museum of Modern Art, and a manifesto issued by the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston decrying modern art as chicanery. andlt;Iandgt;What Was Contemporary Art?andlt;/Iandgt; implicitly asks, 'Just what andlt;Iandgt;is andlt;/Iandgt;contemporary art?'" -- andlt;Bandgt;Douglas Crimpandlt;/Bandgt;, author of andlt;Iandgt;andquot;Our Kind of Movieandquot;: The Films of Andy Warholandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Pandgt;
Review
Hard-hitting critical concerns blend into the narrative, the minutia of historical debates providing an opportunity to broaden our own art-historical moment and consider its possibilities. Douglas Crimp, author of < i=""> " Our Kind of Movie " : The Films of Andy Warhol <>
Review
If, in recent years, the notion of a 'contemporary art' has attained something approaching a stable definition, then Richard Meyer's new book... sets out to recall a time when such a consensus was not yet possible.... By harking back to debates in the US much earlier in the century, Meyer's important intervention sets out to disturb and destabilize such a neat periodization. Eschewing the more theoretical speculations of Alberro and Smith in favour of a series of engagingly written narratives drawn from the history of the contemporary in American art, Meyer follows a path that is broadly chronological but full of interesting diversions, teasing out a series of provocative implications along the way in a tone at once warm and wry. Publishers Weekly
Review
Hard-hitting critical concerns blend into the narrative, the minutia of historical debates providing an opportunity to broaden our own art-historical moment and consider its possibilities. Douglas Crimp, author of < i=""> " Our Kind of Movie " : The Films of Andy Warhol <>
Synopsis
Contemporary art in the early twenty-first century is often discussed as if the very idea of art that is contemporary is new. Yet all works of art were once contemporary. In What Was Contemporary Art? Richard Meyer reclaims the contemporary from historical amnesia, and gives the contemporary its own art history. By exploring episodes in the study, exhibition, and reception of early twentieth-century art and visual culture, Meyer retrieves moments in the history of once-current art and redefines -the contemporary- as a condition of being alive to and alongside other moments, artists, and objects.
A generous selection of images, many in color -- from works of fine art to museum brochures and magazine covers -- support and extend Meyer's narrative. These works were contemporary to their own moment. Now, in Meyer's account, they become contemporary to ours as well.
Synopsis
Not only does contemporary art have a history, but all works of art were once contemporary to the artist and culture that produced them.
Contemporary art in the early twenty-first century is often discussed as if the very idea of art that is contemporary is new. Yet all works of art were once contemporary. In What Was Contemporary Art? Richard Meyer reclaims the contemporary from historical amnesia, and gives the contemporary its own art history. By exploring episodes in the study, exhibition, and reception of early twentieth-century art and visual culture, Meyer retrieves moments in the history of once-current art and redefines "the contemporary" as a condition of being alive to and alongside other moments, artists, and objects.
A generous selection of images, many in color -- from works of fine art to museum brochures and magazine covers -- support and extend Meyer's narrative. These works were contemporary to their own moment. Now, in Meyer's account, they become contemporary to ours as well.
Synopsis
Contemporary art in the early twenty-first century is often discussed as though it were a radically new phenomenon unmoored from history. Yet all works of art were once contemporary to the artist and culture that produced them. In
What Was Contemporary Art? Richard Meyer reclaims the contemporary from historical amnesia, exploring episodes in the study, exhibition, and reception of early twentieth-century art and visual culture.
Meyer analyzes an undergraduate course taught by Alfred Barr at Wellesley College in 1927 as a key moment in the introduction of works by living artists into the discipline of art history, then turns to a series of exhibitions from the 1930s that put contemporary art in dialogue with premodern works ranging from prehistoric cave pictures to Italian Renaissance paintings. Meyer also treats the controversy that arose in 1948 over the decision by Boston's Institute of Modern Art to change its name to the Institute of Contemporary Art. By retrieving moments in the history of once-current art, Meyer redefines "the contemporary" as a condition of being alive to and alongside other moments, artists, and objects.
A generous selection of images, many in color -- from works of fine art to museum brochures and magazine covers -- support and extend Meyer's narrative. These works were contemporary to their own moment. Now, in Meyer's account, they become contemporary to ours as well.
Synopsis
A definitive exploration of Corita Kentandrsquo;s art, looking beyond her identity as a radical nun to establish her place amid the vibrant pop art movement of the 1960sand#160;
Synopsis
This vibrant publication positions Corita Kent in the pop art canon, pulling together interdisciplinary topics that influenced her life and work, such as religion, politics, linguistics, race, gender, and mass media.
Synopsis
Known widely as a Catholic nun with an avant-garde flair, Corita Kent (1918andndash;1986) has a personal legacy that has tended to overshadow her extensive career as an artist. This handsomely illustrated catalogue places Kent in her rightful position among the foremost figures of pop art, such as Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, and Roy Lichtenstein. Although Kent has been largely excluded from the academic and critical discourses surrounding 1960s American art, this publication reevaluates her importance and highlights how her work questioned and expanded the boundaries of the pop art movement.
and#160;
Four essays and nearly 90 catalogue entries pull together a variety of topicsandmdash;art history, religion, politics, linguistics, race, gender, mass media, and advertisingandmdash;that influenced Kentandrsquo;s life and work during the 1960s. Eminent pop scholars delve into the relationship between her art and that of her contemporaries, and explore how her art both responded to and advanced the changes in modern-day Catholicism stemming from Vatican II. More than 200 vibrant images showcase Kentandrsquo;s ingenious screenprints, which often combine handwritten text and commercial imagery. Offering an unparalleled, rigorous study of an artist who has been largely overlooked, this book is an important contribution to scholarship as well as a fascinating presentation of Kent and her work to a wider audience.
About the Author
Susan Dackerman is consultative curator of prints at the Harvard Art Museums.
Julia Bryan-Wilson is associate professor of art history at the University of California, Berkeley.
Richard Meyer is the Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor of Art History at Stanford University.
Jennifer L. Roberts is the Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University.