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American Stories
American Stories Lecture Series: Evolution of the Real
These light but informative lectures chronicle the evolution of American art by exploring the personal and professional lives of its makers. Given by FWMoA Executive Director Charles A. Shepard III
The 20th Century: The Golden Age of American Art
Back-to-back monthly programming for Spring 2012 will explore the second half of the twentieth century, the latter half of a time considered by many to be a defining era as America and its artists came of age. Through image and story, these lectures chronicle the evolution of American art as it relates to times of war, peace, prosperity, and struggle.
Given by FWMoA Executive Director Charles A. Shepard III
Overlook Lecture Hall, 1-2pm, FREE
March 15
Pop & Op: The Deification of Popular Culture
With world wars behind us, Ab Ex opponents were now looking for something—anything--that would turn the leading mode of expression to a more humanistic form rooted in tradition. Yet, artists could not fully return to the traditions of the past without noticing the visual culture of the day: mass printing was booming and screen media was evolving, two indicators that what was popular, mass produced, and easily consumed visually would have a foremost presence in the American way of life. Enter Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Claes Oldenburg as key figures in the 1960s decade of Pop & Optical Art.
April 26
Minimalism, Conceptualism, and the Death of Painting
Minimalist sculptor Robert Morris once said, “no to transcendence and spiritual values, heroic scale, anguished decisions…no to interesting visual experience.” Like other minimalists, Morris rejected the values of Abstract Expressionism: the tortured emotions that often fed action painting and the habit of many artists to use painting for personal expression. Morris and his peers—Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin--removed the self from their creations, even outsourcing production to factories to further objectify the process. The result, then, is an experience of the object that focuses on the viewer—not the artist—and how these spare sculptures affect the individual perceptions of all who see them. From the early 60s to the 70s, these ideas dominated sculpture and evolved into a worldwide interest in concepts and disinterest in artistic skill.
May 17
Resurrection of Representation: The Figure is Back
As minimalism peaks and gives way to conceptualism, artists no longer feel banned from incorporating recognizable elements into their work. Conceptual photography of the late 1970s by Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince focus on the figure, and painters brave enough to once more represent the world around us take the lead of Julian Schnabel, David Salle, and Eric Fischl in the 1980s. All this and more is part of a time known as Postmodernism, perpetuated by the theory that accepted culture and primary ways of life would break and make way for many ideas and modes of expression, often marked by a revival of the past. Hence, the figure returns, and artists through the 1990s aren’t afraid to use it.
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