“Yves Klein: Conquistador of the Void,” 1982 PART 1 I'd Like to Welcome

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

“Yves Klein: Conquistador of the Void,” 1982 PART 1 I'd Like to Welcome Guggenheim Museum Archives Reel-to-Reel collection “Yves Klein: Conquistador of the Void,” 1982 PART 1 SUSAN HIRSCHFIELD I’d like to welcome you. The program this afternoon will center upon Yves Klein, who, as you know, is the subject of the retrospective upstairs. The discussion will, we hope, provide you with some new insights, some historical perspective, and perhaps a positioning of Yves Klein’s work within the context of contemporary art. The panel this afternoon includes critics, art historians, and artists, some of whom knew Klein in the ’50s, and others who have come to know his work since then. The program this afternoon is a collaboration between the Guggenheim Museum and the Maison Française of Columbia University. I’d like to thank our colleagues at the Maison Française for their collaboration this afternoon. [01:00] Right now I would like to introduce Professor Gerald Silk, of Columbia, who will be moderating the panel discussion. Thank you. (applause) GERALD DOUGLAS SILK Thank you, Susan. I welcome you all. I think Yves Klein would have been pleased that an investigation of the void filled to the house. Of course the notoriety of the panel is obviously an attraction, and I’m delighted — and even a little humbled — to share the podium with so distinguished a group. I first want to introduce them to you, just identify them, and then before their remarks, which will come a little bit later, I’ll tell you a little bit more about them. Arman, Nan Rosenthal — this is in order, from — would be your left to right — Arman, Nan Rosenthal, Thomas McEvilley, Olivier Mosset, Julian Schnabel, and Joseph Kosuth. And as Susan suggested, we have in this case [02:00] an artist who knew Klein intimately, two scholars who have researched and written on Klein with great sensitivity and insight, and three younger artists whose work suggests the inspiration, and in perhaps some ways the rejection, of Klein’s art and life. The panel is entitled “Yves Klein: Conquistador of the Void.” With this as the subject, I am reminded of Guillaume Apollinaire’s description in his novel Le Poète Assassiné, of 1916, of the creation of a monument for a dead poet. In a discussion between the characters Tristouse and the Bird of Benin, Tristouse inquires as to what material the statue will be made out of. “Out of marble, out of bronze?” he asks. The Bird of Benin replies, “No, no, that’s too old-fashioned. It is necessary that I sculpt for him a profound statue out of nothing, like poetry and [03:00] glory.” “Bravo, bravo!” says Tristouse, clapping his hands. “A statue out of nothing, out of the void. That’s magnificent.” Now, like the Bird of Benin in Apollinaire’s novel, Yves Klein, who would’ve been intrigued by this character suggestive of primitivism and flight, exalted emptiness, for in it, he believed, lay fullness. By eliminating form, the spirit is unleashed. Ah, we have our final panelist, Pierre Restany. (pause) Transcript © 2018 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (SRGF). All rights reserved. Page 1 of 24 Guggenheim Museum Archives Reel-to-Reel collection “Yves Klein: Conquistador of the Void,” 1982 By eliminating form, the spirit is unleashed. This obsession with the void perfuses Klein’s art and life, the boundaries of which were often indistinguishable. Among its earliest manifestations were the monochromes, first appearing in the 1954 booklet Yves le [sic] Peintures as inked papers posing as reproductions of works whose existence at the time as full-fledged paintings appears [04:00] doubtful. The gesture was self-propagandizing, and Klein, in the manner of other great avant-garde self-promoters, such as Marinetti, Tzara, and Breton, cleverly knew how to mix public relations with personal mythology. Apart from this, however, we have an allusion to works that are not physically palpable, that are instead imaginative and immaterial. When the monochromes do appear in 1955, first with different colors for different pieces, eventually in 1957 painted in his patented pigment called IKB — International Klein Blue — they represented color’s victory in a perhaps (inaudible) battle — one that was waged with great vehemence in the nineteenth century — color’s victory over that enslaving, incarcerating element in art: line. To Klein, line bounds, limits, divides, defines. Only is color [05:00] limitless, unifying, expansive, visionary — the stuff of the soul, prime matter. These pieces, inaugurating Klein’s blue period, were hung at a distance from the wall, as if floating. Identical as they may have appeared, they were to be sold at varying prices. We ask, wherein resides the distinctions amongst these works? Obviously in the intangible, the immaterial, the spiritual: what Klein labeled “pure pictorial sensibility.” He would later sell immaterial zones as works of art. In exchange for gold, Klein issued receipts for the zones. The purchaser was required to burn the receipts; otherwise the zones would be expunged of the spiritual essence. In return Klein promised to toss half the gold into an irretrievable place. This “pure pictorial sensibility” is precisely what Klein [06:00] supposedly invested the rooms with at his infamous exhibition The Void of 1958. All the paraphernalia at the Iris Clert Gallery was removed. The inside walls were painted — or, might we say, purified — in white. Klein began meditating, pumping pure pictorial sensibility into the vacant gallery. Opening-night crowds arrived. They were served blue cocktails impregnated with Klein’s blue void, which they would urinate for some time after the exhibition. In a similar vein Klein produced his blue sponges because they best embodied the notion of impregnation with pure color. These sea animals drenched in color were akin to viewers who, after having encountered Klein’s monochromes, soaked up their sensibility. Maintaining his ambitiousness while escalating his daringness, Klein consorted with the elements in his cosmogonies, incorporating [07:00] fire, air, earth, and water into his works. In defiance of gravity and in an effort to interpenetrate with the void, Klein staged a leap from a second-story window, documented in a slyly montaged photograph entitled “A man in space: the painter of space hurling himself into the void.” Sandwiched in time between Sputnik’s catapult into orbit and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first spaceman, the photo of the leap was published in Klein’s Dimanche, The Newspaper of a Single Day, in which he transformed the events of the world into a theater of the void. Transcript © 2018 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (SRGF). All rights reserved. Page 2 of 24 Guggenheim Museum Archives Reel-to-Reel collection “Yves Klein: Conquistador of the Void,” 1982 But in ensuing activities the scales tipped more toward theater and away from the void. His anthropometries were Happenings of a sort: nudes basted in paint, rubbing and imprinting their bodies on canvases, leaving haunting smears and vestiges. [08:00] Accompanied by the strains of Klein’s Monotone Symphony, witnessed by formally attired spectators, this performance further blurred the boundaries between art and sensationalism in Klein’s oeuvre. Moreover, what’s happened to the void? Although he called the anthropometries the product of immediate experience and not-form, it appears as if all that was taboo — contour, form, line, shape — has returned. In addition, we should consider Klein’s role as a predecessor to Monochromism, Minimalism, Happenings, Performances, Environments, Conceptualism, and Process Art. If we are to credit Klein, we must, in turn, recognize his debt, unwitting or otherwise, to Duchamp, Malevich, and others. While I’ve asked the panel to address Klein’s relationship to the void, I’ve suggested that they also consider his achievement in general, the self-mythologizing [09:00] aspects of his career, and in the midst of a current art fashion emphasizing imagery and expressionism, what his significance today may be. Until recently, Klein has been somewhat neglected in the United States. In our attempt to redress this situation, we should be cautious, however, about becoming unsuspecting heirs to his self- promotion. Let’s evaluate Yves, for the same conquistador of the void who steeped himself in comic books, Rosicrucian texts, and Bachelard was also a religious mystic who made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Rita, the patron of hopeless causes, depositing an ex-voto. In one breath he prayed that his works become ever more beautiful; in another, that his recently opened major retrospective in Krefeld be the greatest success of the century and be recognized by all; in yet another, that he and all his works be made totally invulnerable. [10:00] Now to our speakers. Each will give a brief introductory statement. We will then have discussion among the panelists. Then the floor will be open to questions — and I might insist on this — not statements — from the audience. In a review of the Yves Klein exhibition in the Friday New York Times, the critic Grace Glueck lamented that one element seemed to be missing from the show, and that was the presence of Klein himself. In this regard, it is fortunate to have as our first speaker the provocative critic and the founder of Nouveau Réalisme, Pierre Restany. It is Restany who, one commentator remarked, “wanted to become Yves”; and Restany himself, musing on Klein, said, “I owe him very, very much. I owe him both the structure of my thought and the conduct of my life.” Pierre Restany. (applause) [11:00] PIERRE RESTANY Since the (inaudible) beautiful and brilliant speech, let us say, this kind of possessive assertion of myself towards Yves Klein. I think I will talk to you about cannibalism.
Recommended publications
  • Heiser, Jörg. “Do It Again,” Frieze, Issue 94, October 2005
    Heiser, Jörg. “Do it Again,” Frieze, Issue 94, October 2005. In conversation with Marina Abramovic Marina Abramovic: Monica, I really like your piece Hausfrau Swinging [1997] – a video that combines sculpture and performance. Have you ever performed this piece yourself? Monica Bonvicini: No, although my mother said, ‘you have to do it, Monica – you have to stand there naked wearing this house’. I replied, ‘I don’t think so’. In the piece a woman has a model of a house on her head and bangs it against a dry-wall corner; it’s related to a Louise Bourgeois drawing from the ‘Femme Maison’ series [Woman House, 1946–7], which I had a copy of in my studio for a long time. I actually first shot a video of myself doing the banging, but I didn’t like the result at all: I was too afraid of getting hurt. So I thought of a friend of mine who is an actor: she has a great, strong body – a little like the woman in the Louise Bourgeois drawing that inspired it – and I knew she would be able to do it the right way. Jörg Heiser: Monica, after you first showed Wall Fuckin’ in 1995 – a video installation that includes a static shot of a naked woman embracing a wall, with her head outside the picture frame – you told me one critic didn’t talk to you for two years because he was upset it wasn’t you. It’s an odd assumption that female artists should only use their own bodies.
    [Show full text]
  • I – Introduction
    QUEERING PERFORMATIVITY: THROUGH THE WORKS OF ANDY WARHOL AND PERFORMANCE ART by Claudia Martins Submitted to Central European University Department of Gender Studies In partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Arts in Gender Studies CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2008 I never fall apart, because I never fall together. Andy Warhol The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back again CEU eTD Collection CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS..........................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................v ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................vi CHAPTER 1 - Introduction .............................................................................................7 CHAPTER 2 - Bringing the body into focus...................................................................13 CHAPTER 3 - XXI century: Era of (dis)embodiment......................................................17 Disembodiment in Virtual Spaces ..........................................................18 Embodiment Through Body Modification................................................19 CHAPTER 4 - Subculture: Resisting Ajustment ............................................................22 CHAPTER 5 - Sexually Deviant Bodies........................................................................24 CHAPTER 6 - Performing gender.................................................................................29
    [Show full text]
  • The Careful Crafting of a Utopia: Yves Klein and the Anthropometric Event
    The Careful Crafting of a Utopia: Yves Klein and the Anthropometric Event of March 9, 1960 Sarah M. Bartlett Washington and Lee University Department of Art and Art History Honors Thesis in Art History March 25, 2016 I have neither given nor received any unacknowledged aid on this thesis. Sarah M. Bartlett ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am hugely indebted to my parents, who offered me tremendous encouragement over the past ten months. Without their support, I never would have been able to spend hours poring over Yves Klein’s writings this past August at the Yves Klein Archives in Paris. My love affair with the artist’s work only grew because of their help. In addition, I would like to thank Mabel Tapia for her guidance and careful assistance during my visit to the Yves Klein Archives. She graciously directed me towards countless invaluable resources and allowed me to view a wide variety of original manuscripts and drawings. Of course, I must thank Professor Melissa R. Kerin for the countless hours of guidance she offered throughout this process. This project would not have been the same without her support, and I am forever indebted to her for motivating me to produce the best possible thesis. Thank you. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………1 CHAPTER ONE…………………………………………………………………….10 “AN ATOMIC ERA” I. RECONSTRUCTING IDENTITY: The Fall of Vichy France and the Rise of Consumer Culture II. RELIGION AFTER WORLD WAR II: Questioning the Institutions of the Past III. THE GLOBAL AVANT-GARDE: The Birth of Performance Art CHAPTER TWO……………………………………………………………………27 “COME WITH ME INTO THE VOID” I.
    [Show full text]
  • ZERO ERA Mack and His Artist Friends
    PRESS RELEASE: for immediate publication ZERO ERA Mack and his artist friends 5th September until 31st October 2014 left: Heinz Mack, Dynamische Struktur schwarz-weiß, resin on canvas, 1961, 130 x 110 cm right: Otto Piene, Es brennt, Öl, oil, fire and smoke on linen, 1966, 79,6 x 99,8 cm Beck & Eggeling presents at the start of the autumn season the exhibition „ZERO ERA. Mack and his artist friends“ - works from the Zero movement from 1957 until 1966. The opening will take place on Friday, 5th September 2014 at 6 pm at Bilker Strasse 5 and 4-6 in Duesseldorf, on the occasion of the gallery weekend 'DC Open 2014'. Heinz Mack will be present. After ten years of intense and successful cooperation between the gallery and Heinz Mack, culminating in the monumental installation project „The Sky Over Nine Columns“ in Venice, the artist now opens up his private archives exclusively for Beck & Eggeling. This presents the opportunity to delve into the ZERO period, with a focus on the oeuvre of Heinz Mack and his relationship with his artist friends of this movement. Important artworks as well as documents, photographs, designs for invitations and letters bear testimony to the radical and vanguard ideas of this period. To the circle of Heinz Mack's artist friends belong founding members Otto Piene and Günther Uecker, as well as the artists Bernard Aubertin, Hermann Bartels, Enrico Castellani, Piero BECK & EGGELING BILKER STRASSE 5 | D 40213 DÜSSELDORF | T +49 211 49 15 890 | [email protected] Dorazio, Lucio Fontana, Hermann Goepfert, Gotthard Graubner, Oskar Holweck, Yves Klein, Yayoi Kusama, Walter Leblanc, Piero Manzoni, Almir da Silva Mavignier, Christian Megert, George Rickey, Jan Schoonhoven, Jesús Rafael Soto, Jean Tinguely and Jef Verheyen, who will also be represented in this exhibition.
    [Show full text]
  • Imaging the Void: Making the Invisible Visible an Exploration Into the Function of Presence in Performance, Performative Photography and Drawing
    Imaging the Void: Making the Invisible Visible An Exploration into the Function of Presence in Performance, Performative Photography and Drawing. By John Lethbridge A thesis submitted as fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of New South Wales Faculty of Art and Design June 2016 ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed ………… Date …………01 – 06 - 2016………………………………… COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ‘I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation.
    [Show full text]
  • Value Inquiry Book Series
    Beauvoir in Time Value Inquiry Book Series Founding Editor Robert Ginsberg Executive Editor Leonidas Donskis† Managing Editor J.D. Mininger volume 348 Philosophy, Literature, and Politics Edited by J.D. Mininger (lcc International University) The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/vibs and brill.com/plp Beauvoir in Time By Meryl Altman leiden | boston This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. More information about the initiative can be found at www. knowledgeunlatched.org. Cover illustration: Simone de Beauvoir in Beijing 1955. Photograph under CC0 1.0 license. The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2020023509 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 0929-8436 isbn 978-90-04-43120-1 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-43121-8 (e-book) Copyright 2020 by Meryl Altman.
    [Show full text]
  • SUCCÈS DE Biblical " S C a N D a L E
    AnnMarie Perl Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/thld/article-pdf/doi/10.1162/thld_a_00051/1610821/thld_a_00051.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 SUCCÈS DE SUCCÈS "SCANDALE" and Biblical scandal : Yves Klein's 12 Perl What appears so striking in retro- invoked this contemporary fashion spect about the French artist Yves otherwise. Popular culture, especially Klein’s legendary Parisian debut its supposedly most vulgar varieties, performance of the Anthropome- had long provided modern artists tries in 1960 is how disparate were with inherently contentious source its shortly successive waves of material and the means with which to reception—and not without cause. challenge the dominant conventions The event was designed by Klein: to and institutions of art. 3 In contrast appeal to the beau monde invited; to the art world and the larger pub- to expose the conceits of art world lic, the beau monde applauded this that this beau monde patronized; debut performance as “l’art,” viewing Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/thld/article-pdf/doi/10.1162/thld_a_00051/1610821/thld_a_00051.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 and to introduce Klein and his artistic it as scandal in the tradition of the project to a much larger audience. historic avant-garde. “Yves Klein est Only the art world was genuinely un des rares contemporains,” wrote scandalized in the aftermath of the a journalist, delivering the verdict debut, refusing to recognize what of the social set in the mainstream Klein had created as art: Georges weekly magazine L’Express: “capables
    [Show full text]
  • Artists' Books : a Critical Anthology and Sourcebook
    Anno 1778 PHILLIPS ACADEMY OLIVER-WENDELL-HOLMES % LI B R ARY 3 #...A _ 3 i^per ampUcm ^ -A ag alticrxi ' JZ ^ # # # # >%> * j Gift of Mark Rudkin Artists' Books: A Critical Anthology and Sourcebook ARTISTS’ A Critical Anthology Edited by Joan Lyons Gibbs M. Smith, Inc. Peregrine Smith Books BOOKS and Sourcebook in association with Visual Studies Workshop Press n Grateful acknowledgement is made to the publications in which the following essays first appeared: “Book Art,” by Richard Kostelanetz, reprinted, revised from Wordsand, RfC Editions, 1978; “The New Art of Making Books,” by Ulises Carrion, in Second Thoughts, Amsterdam: VOID Distributors, 1980; “The Artist’s Book Goes Public,” by Lucy R. Lippard, in Art in America 65, no. 1 (January-February 1977); “The Page as Al¬ ternative Space: 1950 to 1969,” by Barbara Moore and Jon Hendricks, in Flue, New York: Franklin Furnace (December 1980), as an adjunct to an exhibition of the same name; “The Book Stripped Bare,” by Susi R. Bloch, in The Book Stripped Bare, Hempstead, New York: The Emily Lowe Gallery and the Hofstra University Library, 1973, catalogue to an exhibition of books from the Arthur Cohen and Elaine Lustig col¬ lection supplemented by the collection of the Hofstra Fine Arts Library. Copyright © Visual Studies Workshop, 1985. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except in the case of brief quotations in reviews and critical articles, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
    [Show full text]
  • THE SKY AS a STUDIO. YVES KLEIN and HIS CONTEMPORARIES Exhibition from July 18 to February 1, 2021
    THE SKY AS A STUDIO. YVES KLEIN AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES Exhibition From July 18 to February 1, 2021 PRESS RELEASE From 18 July 2020, the Centre Pompidou-Metz will present an exhibition Friday, 12 June 2020 devoted to Yves Klein (1928-1962), a major figure on the post-war French and European art scene. «The sky is a workshop/studio?”» reveals the aesthetic affinities he developed, outside the New Realists’ movement, with a constellation of artists, from the Gutai group in Japan to the spatial artists in Italy, from the ZERO artist group in Germany to the Nul group PRESS CONTACTS in the Netherlands. As a «space painter», Yves Klein projected art into a new odyssey with them. The sky, the air, the void and the cosmos became Centre Pompidou-Metz Marion Gales the immaterial workshop for reinventing art and man’s relationship with Press relations the world after the tabula rasa brought about by the war. As early as 1946, téléphone : 00 33 (0)3 87 15 52 76 Yves Klein associated his name to the other side of the sky, appropriating mél :[email protected] this infinite space as one of his canvases, while the spatial artists close Claudine Colin Communication to Lucio Fontana tried out making «artificial forms appear in the sky, Francesca Sabatini spectacular rainbows». Piero Manzoni became committed to the search for téléphone : 00 33 (0)1 42 72 60 01 a limitless space in which «matter becomes pure energy», which responds mél :[email protected] to Klein’s search for immaterial pictorial sensibility and to Otto Piene’s search for art as a sensory and regenerative medium for reconnecting man to the universe.
    [Show full text]
  • Art and Vinyl — Artist Covers and Records Komposition René Pulfer Kuratoren: Søren Grammel, Philipp Selzer 17
    Art and Vinyl — Artist Covers and Records Komposition René Pulfer Kuratoren: Søren Grammel, Philipp Selzer 17. November 2018 – 03. Februar 2019 Ausstellungsinformation Raumplan Wand 3 Wand 7 Wand 2 Wand 6 Wand 5 Wand 4 Wand 2 Wand 1 ARTIST WORKS for 33 1/3 and 45 rpm (revolutions per minute) Komposition René Pulfer Der Basler Künstler René Pulfer, einer der Pioniere der Schweizer Videokunst und Hochschulprofessor an der HGK Basel /FHNW bis 2015, hat sich seit den späten 1970 Jahren auch intensiv mit Sound Art, Kunst im Kontext von Musik (Covers, Booklets, Artist Editions in Mu- sic) interessiert und exemplarische Arbeiten von Künstlerinnen und Künstlern gesammelt. Die Ausstellung konzentriert sich auf Covers und Objekte, bei denen das künstlerische Bild in Form von Zeichnung, Malerei oder Fotografie im Vordergrund steht. Durch die eigenständige Präsenz der Bildwerke treten die üblichen Angaben zur musikalischen und künstlerischen Autorschaft in den Hintergrund. Die Sammlung umfasst historische und aktuelle Beispiele aus einem Zeitraum von über 50 Jahren mit geschichtlich unterschiedlich gewachsenen Kooperationsformen zwischen Kunst und Musik bis zu aktuellen Formen der Multimedialität mit fliessenden Grenzen, so wie bei Rodney Graham mit der offenen Fragestellung: „Am I a musician trapped in an artist's mind or an artist trapped in a musician's body?" ARTIST WORKS for 33 1/3 and 45 rpm (revolutions per minute) Composition René Pulfer The Basel-based artist René Pulfer, one of the pioneers of Swiss video- art and a university professor at the HGK Basel / FHNW until 2015, has been intensively involved with sound art in the context of music since the late 1970s (covers, booklets, artist editions in music ) and coll- ected exemplary works by artists.
    [Show full text]
  • Yayoi Kusama: Biography and Cultural Confrontation, 1945–1969
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects CUNY Graduate Center 2012 Yayoi Kusama: Biography and Cultural Confrontation, 1945–1969 Midori Yamamura The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/4328 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] YAYOI KUSAMA: BIOGRAPHY AND CULTURAL CONFRONTATION, 1945-1969 by MIDORI YAMAMURA A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2012 ©2012 MIDORI YAMAMURA All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Art History in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Anna C. Chave Date Chair of Examining Committee Kevin Murphy Date Executive Officer Mona Hadler Claire Bishop Julie Nelson Davis Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract YAYOI KUSAMA: BIOGRAPHY AND CULTURAL CONFRONTATION, 1945-1969 by Midori Yamamura Adviser: Professor Anna C. Chave Yayoi Kusama (b.1929) was among the first Japanese artists to rise to international prominence after World War II. She emerged when wartime modern nation-state formations and national identity in the former Axis Alliance countries quickly lost ground to U.S.-led Allied control, enforcing a U.S.-centered model of democracy and capitalism.
    [Show full text]
  • MODERN ART and IDEAS 8 1962–1974 a Guide for Educators
    MODERN ART AND IDEAS 8 1962–1974 A Guide for Educators Department of Education at The Museum of Modern Art MINIMALISM AND CONCEPTUALISM Artists included in this guide: John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Daniel Buren, Dan Flavin, Eva Hesse, Donald Judd, Yves Klein, Joseph Kosuth, Yayoi Kusama, Sol LeWitt, Gordon Matta-Clark, Robert Morris, Richard Serra, and Robert Smithson. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. A NOTE TO EDUCATORS 2. USING THE EDUCATOR GUIDE 3. SETTING THE SCENE 7. LESSONS Lesson One: Serial Forms/Material Difference Lesson Two: Language Arts Lesson Three: Constructing Space Lesson Four: Public Interventions Lesson Five: Performance into Art 34. FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION 36. GLOSSARY 39. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES 44. MoMA SCHOOL PROGRAMS No part of these materials may be reproduced or published in any form without prior written consent of The Museum of Modern Art. Design © 2007 The Museum of Modern Art, New York A NOTE TO EDUCATORS This is the eighth volume in the Modern Art and Ideas series for educators, which explores 1 the history of modern art through The Museum of Modern Art’s rich collection. While tra- A ditional art-historical categories are the organizing principle of the series, these parameters N O are used primarily as a means of exploring artistic developments and movements in con- T E junction with their social and historical contexts, with attention to the contributions of spe- T O cific artists. E D U C A This guide is informed by issues that arise from the selected works in a variety of mediums T O (painting, sculpture, collage, printmaking, photography, and, significantly, works that tran- R S scend the traditional division of mediums), but its organization and lesson topics are cre- ated with the school curriculum in mind, with particular application to social studies, visual art, history, and language arts.
    [Show full text]