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Minimalism and Postminimalism

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M i n i m a l i s m a n d P o s t m i n i m a l i s m : t h e o r i e s a n d r e p e r c u s s i o n s Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism 4372 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago David Getsy, Instructor [[email protected]] Spring 2000 / Tuesdays 9 am - 12 pm / Champlain 319 c o u r s e de s c r i pt i o n Providing an in-depth investigation into the innovations in art theory and practice commonly known as “Minimalism” and “Postminimalism,” the course follows the development of Minimal stylehood and tracks its far-reaching implications. Throughout, the greater emphasis on the viewer’s contribution to the aesthetic encounter, the transformation of the role of the artist, and the expanded definition of art will be examined. Close evaluations of primary texts and art objects will form the basis for a discussion. • • • m e t h o d o f e va l u a t i o n Students will be evaluated primarily on attendance, preparation, and class discussion. All students are expected to attend class meetings with the required readings completed. There will be two writing assignments: (1) a short paper on a relevant artwork in a Chicago collection or public space due on 28 March 2000 and (2) an in- class final examination to be held on 9 May 2000. The examination will be based primarily on the readings and class discussions. Students have the option of writing a full research paper on a relevant topic in lieu of taking the final. Papers must be 12-15 pages in length. Final topics must be approved by 4 April 2000. No student may choose to opt for a paper after this date. • • • 1 c o u r s e r e a di n g s The majority of readings can be found in the required course text book: Gregory BATTCOCK, ed., Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996). Other readings will be made available for photocopying at least one week before the session and can be found in the library on reserve. Many can also be found in the anthology Kristine STILES and Peter Howard SELZ, Theories and documents of contemporary art : a sourcebook of artists' writings, California studies in the history of art 35 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), though this book has not been ordered through the bookstore. All readings must be done carefully, and students will be expected to raise critical questions about the texts. Readings listed for ‘further reference’ are optional and are meant to aid students pursuing the research paper option. Any concerns about the availability of readings or suggestions for alternative readings should be addressed to the professor as soon as possible. • • • s e s s i o n c a l e n da r 1 February 2000 i n t r o du c t i o n further reference Nicolas Calas, “Subject Matter in the Work of Barnett Newman,” Battcock 109-15 Donald Judd, “Local History,” reprinted in Complete Writings 1959-1975 (Halifax: The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 1975), pp. 148-56 8 February 2000 c o m pe t i n g de f i n i t i o n s o f t h e M i n i m a l required reading • Donald Judd, Excerpts from “Specific Objects” (1965), in K. Stiles and P. Selz, Theories and documents of contemporary art : a sourcebook of artists' writings, California studies in the history of art 35 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), pp. 114-17 • Barbara Rose, “ABC Art” (1965), Battcock 274-97 [skim] • Robert Morris, “Notes on Sculpture [1 and 2]” (1966), Battcock 222-35 • Mel Bochner, “Primary Structures,” Arts Magazine 40.8 (June 1966), pp. 32-35 • Lucy Lippard, “10 Structurists in 20 Paragraphs,” in Minimal Art, exh. cat. (The Hague: Haagsgemeentemuseum, 1968), pp. 25-31 further reference • Samuel Wagstaff, “Talking with Tony Smith” (1966), Battcock 381-86 • Peter Hutchinson, “Mannerism in the Abstract” (1966), Battcock 187-94 • Corinne Robins, “Object, Structure or Sculpture: Where Are We?,” Arts Magazine 40.9 (September 1966), pp. 33-37 • Robert Morris, “Notes on Sculpture, part 3: Notes and Nonsequiturs,” Artforum 5.10 (Summer 1967), pp. 24-29 • Phyllis Tuchman, “Minimalism and Critical Response,” Artforum 15.9 (May 1977), pp. 26-31 • Bruce Altshuler, The Avant-Garde Exhibition: New Art in the 20th Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994) • Alex Potts, “The Minimalist Object and the Photographic Image,” in G. Johnson, ed., Sculpture and Photography: Envisioning the Third Dimension (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 182ff • • • 15 February 2000 m o de r n i s t pa i n t i n g a n d t h e ‘ i n e vi t a bi l i t y ’ t h e m i n i m a l : n o n - r e l a t i o n a l c o m po s i t i o n a n d t h e e m e r g e n c e o f s h a pe 2 required reading • Clement Greenberg, “The Recentness of Sculpture” (1967), Battcock 180-86 • Bruce Glaser and Lucy Lippard, “Questions to Stella and Judd” (1964-66), Battcock 148-64 • Will Insley interviewed by Elayne Varian, “Schemata 7” (1967), Battcock 359-63 • Michael Fried, “Shape as Form: Frank Stella’s Irregular Polygons” (1966) reprinted in Art and Objecthood: Essays and Reviews (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), pp. 77-99 • Frank Stella, Excerpts from “The Pratt Lecture” (1966), reptinted in Stiles and Selz 1996, pp. 113-14 further reference • Caroline Jones, Machine in the Studio: Constructing the Postwar American Artist (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996) • Thierry de Duve, “The Monochrome and the Blank Canvas,” in Reconstructing Modernism: Art in New York, Paris, and Montreal 1954-1964, ed. S. Guilbaut (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1990) • • • 22 February 2000 e n c o u n t e r i n g t h e M i n i m a l i s t o bj e c t required reading • Barbara Reise, “‘Untitled 1969’: A Footnote on Art and Minimal Stylehood,” Studio International 177.910 (April 1969), pp. 166-7 • Lucy Lippard, “Eros Presumptive” (1967), Battcock 209-21 • Dan Flavin, “Writings” (1967), Battcock 401-402 • John Perreault, “Minimal Abstracts” (1967), Battcock 256-62 • Dan Flavin, “Some Remarks . Excerpts from a Spleenish Journal” (1966), reprinted in Stiles and Selz 125-26 further reference • Rosalind Krauss, “Allusion and Illustion in Donald Judd,” Artforum 4.9 (May 1966), pp. 24-26 • Donald Judd, “Some Aspects of Colour in General and Red and Black in Particular,” Artforum 32.10 (Summer 1994), pp. 70-79, 110, 113 • Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, new uses for fluourescent light with diagrams, drawings and prints from Dan Flavin 2/26-4/16/1989, exh. cat., 1989 • Barbara Rose, “Sculpture, Intimacy and Perception,” in 14 Sculptors: The Industrial Edge, exh. cat. (Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 1969), pp. 7-9 • Barbara Rose, "A New Aesthetic," A New Aesthetic, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: The Washington Gallery of Modern Art), 8-20 NOTE: The second half of class will take place in the Art Institute galleries • • • 29 February 2000 m i n i m i z i n g t h e a r t i s t : s e r i a l i t y , r e pe t i t i o n , l i t e r a l i s m required reading • Mel Bochner, “Serial Art, Systems, Solipsism” (1967), Battcock pp. 92-102 • David Bourdon, “The Razed Sites of Carl Andre” (1966), Battcock pp. 103-108 • Toby Mussman, “Literalness and the Infinite [part I]” (1966), Battcock 236-47 • Rosalind Krauss, “LeWitt in Progress,” The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1985), pp. 245-69 further reference • Roberta Smith, “Multiple Returns,” Art in America 70.3 (March 1982), pp. 112- 14 • Rosalind Krauss, “Grids,” The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1985), pp. 8-22 • E. C. Goosen, “The Artist Speaks: Robert Morris,” Art in America 58.3 (May 1970), pp. 104-11 • Rosalind Krauss, “The LeWitt Matrix,” in Sol LeWitt: Structures 1962-1993, exh. cat. (Oxford: Museum of Modern Art, 1993) 3 • Donald Kuspit, “Wittgensteinean Aspects of Minimal Art,” in The Critic is Artist: The Intentionality of Art (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Reseach Press, 1984), pp. 243-52 • David Bourdon, “A Redefinition of Sculpture,” in Carl Andre: Sculpture 1959- 1977, exh. cat. (New York, Jaap Rietman, Inc., 1978), pp. 13-40 • Briony Fer, “Judd’s Specific Objects,” On abstract art (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 131-52 NOTE: The second half of class may take place in the Art Institute galleries • • • 7 March 2000 t h e po l i t i c s o f M i n i m a l i s m required reading • Jeanne Siegal, “Carl Andre: Artworker,” Studio International 180 (November 1970), pp. 175-79 • Anna Chave, “Minimalism and the Rhetoric of Power,” Arts Magazine (January 1990), pp. 44-63 • Rosalind Krauss, “The Cultural Logic of the Late Capitalist Museum,” October 54 (Fall 1990), pp. 3-17 • Dan Graham, Photographs from Homes for America (1966), Battcock 175-79 further reference • Maurice Berger, Labyrinths: Robert Morris, Minimalism, and the 1960s (New York: Harper & Row, 1989) • Brian O’Doherty, Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of Gallery Space (San Francisco: Lapis Press, 1986) • Karl Beveridge and Ian Burn, “Don Judd,” The Fox 2 (1975), pp.
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