AR201 Conceptual Art Challenges Notion of Value & Commodity in Art Discussion This week we will cover Modernism and Postmodernism in Europe and America, 19

AR201 Conceptual Art Challenges Notion of Value & Commodity in Art Discussion This week we will cover Modernism and Postmodernism in Europe and America, 1945-1980. Read Chapter 30 in Kleiner, Gardner’s Art through the Ages, 15e (2016).Respond to Week 6 Discussion: Explain why Conceptual Art challenges the notion of value and commodity in art. Choose and discuss specific examples. See Kleiner p. 989. See Tate Gallery: http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glos… This week we will cover Modernism and Postmodernism in Europe and America, 1945-1980. Read
Chapter 30 in Kleiner, Gardner’s Art through the Ages, 15e (2016).
Respond to Week 6 Discussion: Explain why Conceptual Art challenges the notion of value and
commodity in art. Choose and discuss specific examples. See Kleiner p. 989. See Tate
Gallery: http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/conceptual-art
Respond to the Assignment 6. Provide a stylistic analysis and interpretation of each work.
The art capital of the world shifts from Paris to New York in the post-WWII period. The first major art
movement is Abstract Expression or the New York School. Jackson’s Pollock’s nonrepresentational
action painting reveals the movement or action of the artist and is inspired by the automatism of
Surrealism and abstraction of Cubism.
Minimalism is a nonrepresentational movement in sculpture which rejects figurative art and the
symbolic interpretation of art. See Donald Judd’s Untitled 1969 (Kleiner fig. 30-19).
The Pop Art movement begins in the mid-1950s with works inspired by advertising, media and mass
production. See Andy Warhol’s Green Coca-Cola Bottles 1962 (Kleiner fig. 30-27).
Conceptual Art and Performance art introduce new media. Conceptual art stipulates that the idea is
more important than the artwork (Kleiner p. 989).
Last week we covered the origins of Modern Art, including abstraction, the influence of primitive art,
and the various -isms and ideology underlying each movement. In Chapter 30 we cover PostModernism. Post-Modernism is a phenomena in which artists combine stylistic trends from various
modernist movements.
Valuation of Postmodern art continues to the follow the trend of modern art and rise with
Jeff Koons commanding the highest prices for his Postmodern Pop Art. See Felix Salmon. Jeff Koons: a
master innovator in turning money into art.” 3 July 2014.
The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jul/03/jeff-koons-master-innovatorwhitney-money-art
Deconstructivist architects reject traditional and modern forms in favor of designs which challenge the
viewer with contradictions of space and illusion. See for example, Frank Gehry’s design for
the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain (1997).
Controversial artists challenge their legal First Amendment right to freedom of speech by choosing
media and topics normally considered illegal or taboo, such as desecration of the American flag,
the sacriligious portrayal of religious subjects, pornography, copyrighted commercial material, tattooing
and even counterfeiting. Artists provoke landmark Supreme Court rulings, such as Dread Scott, in his
installation “What is the Proper Way to Display the American Flag” (1988) in which the Supreme Court
ruled in favor of the artist’s right to use the American flag as symbolic speech. See the websource Art on
Trial.The Arts, the First Amendment and the Courts. Thomas Jefferson Center.
2005. http://www.tjcenter.org/ArtOnTrial/
Click on the links provided below, and take notes to aid you in your assignment and our discussion this
week:
1. Read: “Abstract Expressionism” at:http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/abstractexpressionism1.html
2. Watch the videos:
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a. “Pollock’s One: Number 31, 1950” at:http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/abstractexpressionism.html
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b. “Why is this Art? Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans”
at:http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/campbells-soup-cans.html
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c. “1960- Age of Post-Colonialism” at:http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/1960-2010Age-of-Post-Colonialism.html?q=1960-2010-Age-of-Post-Colonialism.html
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d. “Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970” at:http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/earthartsmithsons-spiral-jetty.html
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e. “Robert Colescott’s Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder”
at:http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/colescott.html
Kleiner’s page 989
Russia and the West The Middle Byzantine revival of church building and of figural mosaics extended
beyond the Greek-speaking East in the 10th to 12th centuries. The marriage of Anna, the sister of Basil II
(r. 976–1025), to the Russian prince Vladimir (r. 980–1015) in 989 marked the introduction of Orthodox
Christianity to Russia. Construction of the vast five-apse, 13-dome Cathedral of Saint Sophia (Fig. 9-26A)
at Kiev followed within a half century. A resurgence of religious architecture and of the mosaicist’s art
also occurred in areas of the former Western Roman Empire where the ties with Constantinople were
strongest. In the Early Byzantine period, Venice, about 80 miles north of Ravenna on the eastern coast
of Italy, was a dependency of that Byzantine stronghold. In 751, Ravenna fell to the Lombards, who
wrested control of most of northern Italy from Constantinople. Venice, however, became an
independent power. Its doges (dukes) enriched themselves and the city through seaborne commerce,
serving as the crucial link between Byzantium and the West.
Figure 9-26A
Saint Sophia, Kiev, begun 1037.
Kurt and Rosalia Scholz/Super-Stock
Saint Mark’s, Venice Venice had obtained the relics of Saint Mark from Alexandria in Egypt in 829, and
the doges constructed the first Venetian shrine dedicated to the evangelist—a palace chapel
and martyrium—shortly thereafter. Fire destroyed the ninth-century chapel in 976. The Venetians then
built a second shrine on the site, but a grandiose new Saint Mark’s (Fig. 9-27) begun in 1063 by Doge
Domenico Contarini (r. 1043–1071) replaced it. The model for Contarini’s church was the Church of the
Holy Apostles in Constantinople, built in Justinian’s time. That shrine no longer exists, but its key
elements were a cruciform plan with a central dome over the crossing and four other domes over the
four equal arms of the Greek cross, as at Saint Mark’s. Because of its importance to the city, the doges
furnished the church’s interior with costly altarpieces, such as the Pala d’Oro (Fig. 9-27A), and other
liturgical objects, and deposited there many of the treasures, including icons (Fig. 9-27B), that they
brought back as booty from the sack of Constantinople in 1204.
Figure 9-27Interior of Saint Mark’s (looking east), Venice, Italy, begun 1063.
Modeled on a church in Constantinople, Saint Mark’s has a central dome over the crossing, four other
domes over the arms of the Greek cross, and 40,000 square feet of Byzantine-style mosaics.
Glossary Terms
The following are glossary terms with which you need to become familiar and to utilize within your work
this week. You do not need to utilize them all; however, you need to utilize at least three of these terms
per assignment response. Please note that some terms are carried over from previous weeks as they
apply. Still, you should review all terms each week.
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Abstract Expressionism
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Action painting
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A variant of Post-Painterly Abstraction in which artists sought to reduce painting to its
physical essence by pouring diluted paint onto unprimed canvas, allowing these
pigments to soak into the fabric, as exemplified by the work of Helen Frankenthaler and
Morris Louis.
Conceptual art
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A kind of Abstract Expressionism that focused on the emotional resonance of color, as
exemplified by the work of Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko.
Color field painting
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An artwork constructed from already existing objects.
Chromatic abstraction
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Also called gestural abstraction. The kind of Abstract Expressionism practiced by Jackson
Pollock, in which the emphasis was on the creation process, the artist’s gesture in
making art. Pollock poured liquid paint in linear webs on his canvases, which he laid out
on the floor, thereby physically surrounding himself in the painting during its creation.
Assemblage
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Also known as the New York School. The first major American avant-garde movement,
Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York City in the 1940s. The artists produced
abstract paintings that expressed their state of mind and that they hoped would strike
emotional chords in viewers. The movement developed along two lines: gestural
abstraction and chromatic abstraction.
An American avant-garde art movement of the 1960s that asserted that the “artfulness”
of art lay in the artist’s idea rather than its final expression.
Deconstruction
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An analytical strategy developed in the late 20th century according to which all cultural
“constructs” (art, architecture, and literature) are “texts.” People can read these texts in
a variety of ways, but they cannot arrive at fixed or uniform meanings. Any
interpretation can be valid, and readings differ from time to time, place to place, and
person to person. For those employing this approach, deconstruction means
destabilizing established meanings and interpretations while encouraging subjectivity
and individual differences.
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Earthworks
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Environmental art
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A predominantly sculptural American trend of the 1960s characterized by works
featuring a severe reduction of form, often to single, homogeneous units.
Neo-Expressionism
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An artwork that creates an artistic environment in a room or gallery.
Minimalism
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A layer of thickly applied pigment.
Installation
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A variant of Post-Painterly Abstraction that rigidly excluded all reference to gesture, and
incorporated smooth knife-edge geometric forms to express the notion that painting
should be reduced to its visual components.
Impasto
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Also known as action painting. A kind of abstract painting in which the gesture, or act of
painting, is seen as the subject of art. Its most renowned proponent was Jackson
Pollock. See also Abstract Expressionism.
Hard-edge painting
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An American art form that emerged in the 1960s. Often using the land itself as their
material, Environmental artists construct monuments of great scale and minimal form.
Permanent or impermanent, these works transform some section of the environment,
calling attention both to the land itself and to the hand of the artist. Sometimes referred
to as earthworks.
Gestural abstraction
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An American art form that emerged in the 1960s. Often using the land itself as their
material, Environmental artists construct monuments of great scale and minimal form.
Permanent or impermanent, these works transform some section of the environment,
calling attention both to the land itself and to the hand of the artist. Sometimes referred
to as earthworks.
An art movement that emerged in the 1970s and that reflects the artists’ interest in the
expressive capability of art, seen earlier in German Expressionism and Abstract
Expressionism.
Performance art
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Photorealism
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A reaction against modernist formalism, seen as elitist. Far more encompassing and
accepting than the more rigid confines of modernist practice, postmodernism offers
something for everyone by accommodating a wide range of styles, subjects, and
formats, from traditional easel painting to installation and from abstraction to
illusionistic scenes. Postmodern art often includes irony or reveals a self-conscious
awareness on the part of the artist of the processes of art making or the workings of the
art world.
Site-specific art
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An American art movement that emerged in the 1960s and was characterized by a cool,
detached rationality emphasizing tighter pictorial control. See also color field painting
and hard-edge painting.
Postmodernism
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A term coined by British art critic Lawrence Alloway to refer to art, first appearing in the
1950s, that incorporated elements from consumer culture, the mass media, and popular
culture, such as images from motion pictures and advertising.
Post-Painterly Abstraction
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Shortened form of “picture elements.” The tiny boxes that make up digital images
displayed on a computer monitor.
Pop art
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See Superrealism.
Pixels
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A school of painting and sculpture of the 1960s and 1970s that emphasized producing
artworks based on scrupulous fidelity to optical fact. The Superrealist painters were also
called Photorealists because many used photographs as sources for their imagery.
Photorealism
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An American avant-garde art trend of the 1960s that made time an integral element of
art. It produced works in which movements, gestures, and sounds of persons
communicating with an audience replace physical objects. Documentary photographs
are generally the only evidence remaining after these events. See also Happenings.
Art created for a specific location. See also Environmental art.
Superrealism
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A school of painting and sculpture of the 1960s and 1970s that emphasized producing
artworks based on scrupulous fidelity to optical fact. The Superrealist painters were also
called Photorealists because many used photographs as sources for their imagery.

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