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Women Light Artists in Postwar California Elizabeth M. Gollnick

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Women Light Artists in Postwar California Elizabeth M. Gollnick Diffusion: Women Light Artists in Postwar California Elizabeth M. Gollnick Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2018 © 2018 Elizabeth M. Gollnick All Rights Reserved Diffusion: Women Light Artists in Postwar California Elizabeth M. Gollnick Abstract This dissertation redefines Los Angeles “light and space” art, tracing the multiple strains of abstract light art that developed in California during the postwar technology boom. These artists used new technical materials and industrial processes to expand modernist definitions of medium and create perceptual experiences based on their shared understanding of light as artistic material. The diversity and experimental nature of early Light and Space practice has been suppressed within the discourse of “minimal abstraction,” a term I use to signal the expansion of my analysis beyond the boundaries of work that is traditionally associated with “minimalism” as a movement. My project focuses on three women: Mary Corse, Helen Pashgian and Maria Nordman, each of whom represents a different trajectory of postwar light-based practice in California. While all of these artists express ambivalence about attempts to align their practice with the Light and Space movement, their work provides fundamental insight into the development of light art and minimal abstract practice in California during this era. In chapter one, I map the evolution of Mary Corse’s experimental “light painting” between 1964 and 1971, in which the artist experimented with new technology—including fluorescent bulbs and the reflective glass microspheres used in freeway lane dividers—to expand the perceptual boundaries of monochrome painting by manifesting an experience of pure white light. In chapter two, I plot the development of Helen Pashgian’s plastic resin sculpture from her early pieces cast in handmade molds to her disc sculptures that mobilized the expertise of the faculty and aeronautical engineering technology available to her during an artist residency at the California Institute of Technology between 1969 and 1971. In chapter three, I chart the origins of Maria Nordman’s ephemeral post-studio practice using natural light from her early works that modified the architecture of her Los Angeles studio, to installations in which she excised sections of the walls or ceilings of commercial spaces and galleries, and finally to her project at the University Art Museum at the University of California, Berkeley for the 1979 Space as Support series, in which she turned the museum building into a container for the light of the summer solstice. The reception history I construct outlines how gender bias suppressed the contributions of women within the critical and historical discourse surrounding light-based work and minimal abstraction, while also exploring how women mobilized Light and Space’s interest in embodied perceptual experience as part of my wider analysis of the tactics deployed by women making abstract work before the discursive spaces of feminism and institutional critique were fully formed. Table of Contents List of Illustrations i Acknowledgements vi Introduction 1 Chapter One: White Light: Mary Corse and the Rise of California Light Painting 15 Chapter Two: California Color: Helen Pashgian and Plastic Resin Sculpture 90 Chapter Three: One Day Only: Maria Nordman at the University Art Museum 159 Epilogue 230 Works Cited 235 i List of Illustrations Chapter One: White Light: Mary Corse and the Rise of California Light Painting Figure 1.1 Photograph of Mary Corse taken for Artforum, 1969. Figure 1.2 Mary Corse, Untitled (Red/Blue), 1964. Acrylic paint on canvas. 78 x 52 inches. Figure 1.3 Mary Corse, Octagonal Blue, 1964. 93 ⅝ x 63 ⅞ inches. Silver metal flakes in acrylic paint on canvas. Figure 1.4 Mary Corse, Octagonal White, 1964. Acrylic paint on canvas. 93 x 67 ½ inches. Figure 1.5 Larry Bell, Homage to Baby Judy, 1960. Acrylic paint on canvas. 66 x 156 x 2 ¾ inches. Figure 1.6 Mary Corse, Hexagonal White, 1965. Acrylic paint on canvas. 80 x 48 inches. Figure 1.7 Mary Corse, Hexagonal Wt., 1965. Acrylic paint on canvas. 80 x 48 ¼ inches. Figure 1.8 Mary Corse, Untitled (Triangular Columns), 1965. Wood, joint compound, and acrylic paint. 98 ½ x 39 ¼ x 9 inches. Figure 1.9 Photograph of untitled light works in Mary Corse’s studio, 1968. Figure 1.10 Mary Corse, Untitled (White Light Series), 1966. Wood, Plexiglas, fluorescent tubes. 77 x 66 x 11 inches. Figures 11a-c Mary Corse, Untitled (Space Plexi + Painted Wood), 1966. Composition board, acrylic paint, and Plexiglas. a) 24 x24 x 2 ½ inches b) 24 x 24 x 4 ½ inches c) 24 x 24 x 6 inches. Figure 1.12 Mary Corse, Untitled, 1967. Argon, Plexiglas, generator, light tubes, monofilament. 72 x 72 x 10 inches. Figure 1.13 Photograph of Mary Corse in her studio, 1966. Figure 1.14 Photograph of tesla coil in Mary Corse’s studio, ca. 1968. Excerpt from Andy Eason and Mary Corse, White Light, 1969, film. Figure 1.15 Untitled (Space + Electric Light), 1968. Argon, Plexiglas, high-frequency generator, light tubes, monofilament. 45 x 45 x 4 ¾ inches. Figure 1.16 Untitled (White Light Grid Series-V), 1968. Glass microspheres in acrylic on canvas. 108 × 108 inches. ii Figure 1.17 Dan Flavin, the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Robert Rosenblum), 1963 fluorescent tube, 96 x 3 ¾ inches. Figure 1.18 Dan Flavin, icon V (Coran’s Broadway Flesh), 1962. Oil on cold gesso on Masonite, porcelain receptacles, pull chains, and clear incandescent “candle” bulbs. 41 ¾ x 41 ¾ x 9 ⅞ inches. Figure 1.19 Robert Irwin, Untitled, 1968. Synthetic polymer paint on aluminum and light. 60 ⅜ inches in diameter. Figure 1.20 James Turrell, Afrum (White), 1966. Projected light. Dimensions variable. Figure 1.21 Installation photograph of Doug Wheeler at the Pasadena Art Museum,1968. Figure 1.22 Doug Wheeler, Untitled, 1967. Canvas, acrylic paint, Plexiglas, and fluorescent light. Dimensions unknown. From Doug Wheeler, exhibition brochure, 1968. Figure 1.23 Mary Corse, Untitled (Light Painting), 1971. Glass microspheres in acrylic on canvas. 96 x 96 inches. Chapter Two: California Color: Helen Pashgian and Plastic Resin Sculpture Figure 2.1 Rembrandt van Rijn, A Scholar in his Study, ca. 1650-63. Etching on paper. Figure 2.2 Helen Pashgian, Untitled, ca. 1968-69. Cast polyester resin. 7 inches in diameter. Figure 2.3 Helen Pashgian, Untitled, 1969. Cast plastic resin and acrylic insert. Height: 8 3/8 inches; Diameter: 8 5/8 inches. Figure 2.4 Helen Pashgian, installation view of three untitled works, 1968-69. Photo by Pablo Mason. Figure 2.5 Helen Pashgian sanding a polyester disc during her artist residency at the California Institute of Technology, ca 1971. Figure 2.6 Helen Pashgian polishing a sculpture in the Baxter Art Gallery at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, ca. 1971. Figure 2.7 Donald Judd, Untitled, 1966. Galvanized iron and painted aluminum. 40 x 190 x 40 inches. Figure 2.8 Donald Judd, Untitled, 1969. Stainless steel with blue Plexiglas front and sides, ten units. 172 ¼ x 40 ¼ x 31 ¼ inches. Figure 2.9 Artists outside the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, 1959. Clockwise from top: Billy Al Bengston, Irving Blum, Ed Moses, and John Altoon. Photo by William Claxton. iii Figure 2.10 Poster for The Studs group exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, 1964. Figure 2.11 Poster for Craig Kauffman at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, 1962. Figure 2.12 Judy Chicago, Rainbow Pickett, 1965 (recreated 2004). Latex paint on canvas-covered plywood. 126 × 126 × 110 inches. Figure 2.13 Judy Chicago, Pasadena Lifesavers Red #5, 1970. Sprayed acrylic lacquer on acrylic. 60 x 90 inches. Figure 2.14 Judy Chicago, Domes #1, 1968. Acrylic lacquer inside clear acrylic domes. 5 x 10 inches. Figure 2.15 Judy Chicago, Grand Gala Smoke Extravaganza (alternatively known as Multi-Colored Atmosphere), 1969. Figure 2.16 Untitled exhibition announcement, Jack Glenn Gallery, Artforum 9, no. 2 (October 1970), 20. Photo by Jerry McMillan. Figure 2.17 Untitled advertisement, Artforum 9 , no. 4 (December 1970), 36. Figure 2.18 Cover of Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s A Report on the Art and Technology Program of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1967-1971. Figure 2.19 Miss Chicago and the California Girls, 1971. Poster produced by the Feminist Art Program, Fresno State College, California, 1970-71. Chapter Three: One Day Only: Maria Nordman at the University Art Museum Figure 3.1 Daniel Buren, Painting-Sculpture, in situ at the Sixth Guggenheim International, February 1970. Figure 3.2 Dan Flavin, untitled (to Ward Jackson, an old friend and colleague who, during the Fall of 1957 when I finally returned to New York from Washington and joined him to work together in this museum, kindly communicated), 1970. Daylight, pink, yellow, green, and blue fluorescent light. Two- and eight-foot fixtures. Figure 3.3 Maria Nordman, FILMROOM EAT, 1967-present. Two 16mm black and white films. Room with one door: 275 1/2 x 275 1/2 inches. Two projection walls: 108 x 144 inches. Table with white cloth: 36 x 48 x 48 inches. Figure 3.4 Maria Nordman, FILMROOM SMOKE, 1967-present. Two 16mm black and white films. Room with one door: 275 1/2 x 275 1/2 inches. Two projection walls: 108 x 144 inches. Armchair. iv Figure 3.5 Cover of Artforum 18, no. 7 (March 1980). Figure 3.6 Photograph of the exterior of Maria Nordman’s studio at 1014 Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, ca. 1972. Figure 3.7 Photograph of Maria Nordman’s Saddleback Mountain, 1973 at the University of California, Irvine. In Barbara Haskell and Hal Glicksman, Maria Nordman: Saddleback Mountain, n.p.
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