Synopses & Reviews
Alighiero e Boetti (1940-1994) has emerged as one of the most significant figures of postwar European art whose practice is having an unfolding impact on younger artists. His powerful influence can be attributed to the material diversity of his work, its conceptual ingenuity, and his political sensibility. His work, though usually associated with the Italian Arte Povera group and Conceptual Art, has never quite fit into these contexts. Boetti ceased making Arte Poveraand#8211;type objects in 1969 after a few years of association with the group, and his later choice of materials (embroidery, calligraphy, mosaic, kilims) put a gulf between his work and that of most artists of the 1970s and 1980s.and#160;
Boetti had an idiosyncratic style of working, and he often collaborated with or commissioned others to execute his ideas, including his celebrated maps of the world, colorfully embroidered by women in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He tended to create several divergent bodies of work at once in series that he continued throughout his life. Alighiero e Boetti is the first monograph covering the whole career of this crucial artist to be published in English. Rather than present a linear account of the artist's creative practice, the book contains linked chapters that expound on the key subjects of Boetti's art and position this work in relation to that of his European and American contemporaries.
Review
"Godfrey (Tate Modern, London) does a remarkable job of clearly presenting this fascinating artist's work in a way that makes it somehow both more familiar and legible. . . . Beautifully illustrated and written in an accessible style, this study is one of surprisingly broad appeal (given
the conceptual complexity of Boetti's oeuvre). It will be a welcome resource for scholars and advanced students of contemporary art and theory."and#8212;M.R. Freeman, Choice
Review
and#8220;A thorough monograph on the artist.and#8221;and#8212;Barry Schwabsky, the Nation
Synopsis
The first monograph on the influential 20th-century artist Alighiero e Boetti and his groundbreaking works
Alighiero e Boetti (1940-1994) has emerged as one of the most significant figures of postwar European art whose practice is having an unfolding impact on younger artists. His powerful influence can be attributed to the material diversity of his work, its conceptual ingenuity, and his political sensibility. His work, though usually associated with the Italian Arte Povera group and Conceptual Art, has never quite fit into these contexts. Boetti ceased making Arte Povera-type objects in 1969 after a few years of association with the group, and his later choice of materials (embroidery, calligraphy, mosaic, kilims) put a gulf between his work and that of most artists of the 1970s and 1980s.
Boetti had an idiosyncratic style of working, and he often collaborated with or commissioned others to execute his ideas, including his celebrated maps of the world, colorfully embroidered by women in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He tended to create several divergent bodies of work at once in series that he continued throughout his life. Alighiero e Boetti is the first monograph covering the whole career of this crucial artist to be published in English. Rather than present a linear account of the artist's creative practice, the book contains linked chapters that expound on the key subjects of Boetti's art and position this work in relation to that of his European and American contemporaries.
Synopsis
This landmark book offers a radical reinterpretation of the innovative art of the late 1950s and 1960s. Examining the work of major artists of the periodincluding Mark Rothko, Piero Manzoni, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Eva Hesse, Blinky Palermo, and Louise BourgeoisBriony Fer focuses on the overriding tendency toward repetition and seriality that occurred at the moment of modernisms decline, gained ground in its aftermath, and continues to shape much of the art seen today.
Although seriality is mainly associated with American artists and with Minimalism, Fer broadens our understanding of it, looking at Minimalist seriality as one crucially important strategy among several. She argues that repetition becomes generative of new modes and habits of making and looking; at stake is how we think about the artwork in relation to both temporality and subjectivity. Paying close attention to specific artworks, this timely critical reassessment offers a fresh perspective on a wide range of familiar and less familiar art.
Synopsis
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This collection presents the latest scholarship on the art of Barnett Newman, one of the twentieth centurys most inspirational artists. Distinguished participants in the Philadelphia Museum of Arts recent symposium offer fresh perspectives on Newmans achievements as a theoretician and innovator, and on his themes, techniques, and significant works. \n
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Synopsis
In April 2002 the Philadelphia Museum of Art held a symposium in conjunction with a major retrospective of the work of Barnett Newman (19051970). This volume publishes the proceedings of the event. With contributions from notable specialists in the field, including art historians, museum curators, critics, conservators, and fellow artists, the book pays homage to Newman and sheds new light on his work as a theoretician and innovator.
The essays collected in Rediscovering Barnett Newman discuss the artists famous zip,” his late series of paintings The Stations of the Cross,” the temporal aspect of his works, his painting technique, and his sculptural oeuvre, among other topics. As a whole, this wide-ranging collection provides new perspectives on one of the twentieth centurys greatest artists, whose work continues to inspire and to speak to contemporary audiences.
Synopsis
Twenty-one-year-old Peter Heisterkamp began signing his colorful and playful abstract artworks Palermo in 1964, when peers noted his resemblance to the American gangster Frank Blinky” Palermo. This handsome booka historical and critical study of Palermos painting from the time he entered Joseph Beuyss now famous class at the Düsseldorf academy in 1964 to his death in 1977explores his significance for postwar and abstract art.
Christine Mehring notes that over the course of Palermos brief career he created five concurrent but distinct bodies of work: objects, cloth-pictures, wall-paintings, metal-pictures, and collaborative projects, primarily with his friend and colleague Gerhard Richter. Mehring shows how each of these groups demonstrates Palermos efforts to lead German art out of its international isolation and to transform modernist painting into historically resonant abstraction by incorporating artifice, humor, period colors, and play.
Synopsis
Throughout her career, Eva Hesse (1936--1970) produced a significant number of small, experimental works alongside her large-scale sculpture. These so-called test-pieces” were made in a wide range of materials, including latex, wire-mesh, sculp-metal, wax, and cheesecloth. Rather than considering them simply technical explorations, the art historian Briony Fer renames these small objects studiowork and argues that they put in question conventional notions of what sculpture is.
The book contains a comprehensive catalogue of the studiowork, including many new works that have never before been seen in public. Although previously these small objects were considered peripheral to the major sculptures, this fascinating new study argues that they force us to ask fundamental questions, not just about what an artwork is, but about the work that art does in our culture.
Synopsis
The first monograph on the influential 20th-century artist Alighiero e Boetti and his groundbreaking works
About the Author
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Norman L. Kleeblatt is Susan and Elihu Rose Chief Curator at The Jewish Museum. Debra Bricker Balken is an art scholar and independent curator. Maurice Berger is Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Morris Dickstein is Distinguished Professor of English at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Douglas Dreishpoon is Senior Curator at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. Charlotte Eyerman is Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Mark Godfrey is curator at the Tate Modern in London. Caroline A. Jones, Professor of Art History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Irving Sandler is Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York at Purchase and a Visiting Professor at Hunter College.'