Informed by both structuralism and poststructuralism, these essays by art critic and historian Yve-Alain Bois seek to redefine the status of theory in modernist critical discourse.

Painting as model

Arts & Photography

Bois, Yve-Alain

History & Criticism

MIT Press]

Critical texts that span almost fifty years, mapping Haacke's progression from engagement with biological systems to interrogation of the social and economic underpinnings of art.
For five decades, the artist Hans Haacke (b. 1936) has created works that explore the social, political, and economic underpinnings of the production of art. His works make plain the hidden and not-so-hidden agendas of those―from Cartier to David Koch―who support art in the service of industry; they expose such inconvenient social and economic truths as the real estate holdings of Manhattan slumlords, and the attempts to whitewash support for the Nazi regime, apartheid, or the war on terror through museum donations. 
This book gathers interviews, difficult-to-find essays, cornerstones of institutional critique, and new critical approaches by writers that include Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Jack Burnham, Rosalyn Deutsche, and Leo Steinberg. Haacke's 1971 Guggenheim exhibition was famously canceled when the artist refused to withdraw several proposed works, including one exposing the business dealings of a Manhattan real estate company. This volume includes Edward Fry's catalog text for that show, as well as Walter Grasskamp's "An Unpublished Text for an Unpainted Picture," redacted from an exhibition catalog in 1984 because of statements about the German collector Peter Ludwig. Other essays consider such topics as Haacke's controversial commission for the Reichstag; the activation of the spectator, from Condensation Cube to the Polls; the conceptual continuity of his practice with regard to General Systems Theory; and his delayed and problematic reception in both the United States and Europe. With contemporary essays and scholarly reassessments, this collection serves as an essential guide to critical thinking on Haacke's artistic practice, from the works of the 1960s that engage with physical and biological systems to his later interrogations of the social and economic underpinnings of art.
Contributors Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Jack Burnham, Douglas Crimp, Rosalyn Deutsche, Sam Durant, Edward F. Fry, Walter Grasskamp, Rosalind Krauss, Jack McGrath, Luke Skrebowski, Leo Steinberg

Hans Haacke (October Files)

Burnham, Jack

Fry, Edward F

Grasskamp, Walter

Mit Pr

Preface by David A. Ross Endgame provides the first comprehensive discussion of two interrelated groups of artists who have recently emerged amidst brisk critical debate and who all, in various ways, represent a critique of the commodity, or the commodification of art objects. These are the painters Ross Bleckner, Peter Halley, Sherrie Levine, and Philip Taaffe, who have ironically adopted the visual strategies of earlier modern artists, and the sculptors General Idea, Jon Kessler, Jeff Koons, Joel Otterson, and Haim Steinbach, who use consumer objects and their modes of presentation as raw material in their sculpture. Both sets of artists draw upon the formal lessons of Pop Art, Minimalism, and the more recent work of "appropriation" artists, as well as upon current theories of the political economy of the image. The book includes substantial essays by some of today's most noted art historians and critics: Yve-Alain Bois (Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University) charts the history of the belief in "the end of painting" which he sees as central within 20th-century art, and he compares the diverse strategies that Mondrian, Rodchenko, Duchamp, and more recently Robert Ryman have employed to work out an "end of painting," with the qualitatively different apocalyptic tone of Halley, Levine, Bleckner, and Taaffe. Hal Foster (Senior Editor of Art in America) examines the critical position of the sculpture of Steinbach, Koons, Kessler, and General Idea in relation to the history of the opposition between commodity and art object within modern art as first dramatized by Duchamp's readymades. Thomas Crow (Associate Professor of Art History, University of Michigan) charts the recent history of image appropriation as an antimodern or postmodern gesture of art's apparent loss of originality and cultural or social powerlessness in the face of the paradoxically thriving art market. The iconography of the sculptures included in Endgame is the focus of David Joselit's essay Modern Leisure, which notes in particular the frequency with which objects associated with sports and housecleaning are incorporated in their works. Elisabeth Sussman charts the transition between widespread appropriation of imagery drawn from mass media sources in the late 1970s and early 1980s to the use of fine art referents (like Op Art) in recent abstract painting. Bob Riley describes media performances by Richard Baim, Gretchen Bendes and Perry Hoberman which accompany Endgame. David Joselit, Bob Riley, and Elisabeth Sussman are curators at The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Distributed by The MIT Press.

Endgame: Reference and Simulation in Recent Painting and Sculpture

FOSTER, HAL

Joselit, David

Sussman, Elisabeth

Crow, Thomas

Riley, Bob

Travel

Informed by both structuralism and poststructuralism, these essays by art critic and historian Yve Alain Bois seek to redefine the status of theory in modernist critical discourse. Warning against the uncritical adoption of theoretical fashions and equally against the a priori rejection of all theory, Bois argues that theory is best employed in response to the specific demands of a critical problem. The essays lucidly demonstrate the uses of various theoretical approaches in conjunction with close reading of both paintings and texts.

Painting as Model

The MIT Press

Widely praised for its fine collection of Latin American geometric abstract art, the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros of Caracas, Venezuela, contains the compelling work of such leading artists as Uruguayan Joaquín Torres-Garcia, Brazilians Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica, Venezuelans Gego and Jésus Rafael Soto, and Argentinians Tomás Maldonado, Raúl Lozza, and Alfredo Hlito. This lavishly illustrated book presents a selection of more than eighty paintings, drawings, and sculptures from the Cisneros collection, representing some two dozen Latin American artists. The works were completed between 1934 and 1988, but the vast majority date from the “heroic” years of geometric abstraction, 1948–1966. This special bilingual volume explores in both English and Spanish the history and importance of the major movements that were dedicated to geometric abstraction. These movements include Concretism and Neo-Concretism in Brazil, Constructivism in Uruguay, the Madi Group and Concrete artists in Argentina, and Kinetic Abstraction and Neo-Constructivism in Venezuela. The book also offers biographies of the artists and an intriguing selection of their statements and manifestos.

Geometric Abstraction: Latin American Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection

Herkenhoff, Paulo

Jiménez, Ariel

Oramas, Luis Enrique Pérez

Harvard Art Museums

The first comprehensive look at Rauschenberg’s Cardboard series, a previously unexplored realm of the artist’s oeuvre Robert Rauschenberg (b. 1925) began to investigate the boundaries between painting and sculpture in the 1950s, working with a variety of found objects in his Combine paintings and freestanding Combines. Later, in his Cardboard series (1971–72), he confined himself to the use of cardboard boxes, eliminating virtually all imagery, reducing the palette to a near monochrome, and commenting in subtle ways on the materialism and disposability of modern life. This book is the first to focus exclusively on Rauschenberg’s rarely seen Cardboards, along with related works from his Made in Tampa Clay, Cardbirds, Egyptian, and Venetian series. Approximately eighty-eight Cardboards and related sculptural pieces, many from the artist’s personal collection, are reproduced in the book. Full provenance and exhibition history are provided for each work, along with a complete bibliography. In addition, distinguished scholar Yve-Alain Bois offers an insightful essay that discusses the Cardboards and situates these lesser-known but critical pieces within the context of Rauschenberg’s long and creative career.

Robert Rauschenberg: Cardboards and Related Pieces (Menil Collection)

The Menil Collection

Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism

A landmark study in the history of modern art€”revised, updated, and expanded.Conceived by four of the most influential art historians of our time, this groundbreaking book has now been updated and expanded to include the most recent developments in contemporary art. The original authors have been joined by David Joselit to provide the most comprehensive history of art in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries ever published.More than 120 articles are presented in a year-by-year structure, with each focusing on a crucial event€”from the creation of a seminal work to the opening of a major exhibition€”to tell the myriad stories of art from 1900 to the present. Key turning points and breakthroughs in modernism are explored, as are the antimodernist reactions that proposed alternative visions of art and the world. The book€™s flexible structure and extensive cross-referencing allow readers to follow the many developments in the art world

KRAUSS, ROSALIND

Buchloh, Benjamin H.D.

Reference

Thames&Hudson

A landmark in art history and the most anticipated art publishing event of the new millennium. In this groundbreaking and original work of scholarship, four of the most influential and provocative art historians of our time have come together to provide a comprehensive history of art in the twentieth century, an age when artists in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere sought to overturn the traditions of the past and expectations of the present in order to invent new practices and forms. Adopting a unique year-by-year approach, Foster, Krauss, Bois, and Buchloh present more than 100 short essays, each focusing on a crucial event―the creation of a seminal work, the publication of an artistic manifesto, the opening of a major exhibition―to tell the story of the dazzling diversity of practice and interpretation that characterizes the art of the period. All the turning points and breakthroughs of modernism and postmodernism are explored in depth, as are the frequent and sustained antimodernist reactions that proposed alternative visions of art and the world. Illustrating the authors' texts are more than 600 of the most important works of the century, many reproduced in full color. The book's flexible structure and extensive cross-referencing allow readers to follow any one of the many narratives that unfold, whether that be the history of a medium such as photography or painting, the development of art in a particular country, the influence of a movement such as surrealism or feminism, or the emergence of a stylistic or conceptual category like abstraction or minimalism. Boxes give further background information on the important figures and issues. In their insightful introductions, the four authors explain the different methods of art history at work in the book, providing the reader with the conceptual tools for further study. Two roundtable discussions ―one at midcentury, the other at the close of the book―consider the questions raised by the preceding decades and look ahead to the art of the future. A glossary of terms and concepts completes this extraordinary volume. 600 illustrations, 400 in color

Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism (Vol. 2: 1945 to the Present)

History

A landmark in art history and the most anticipated art publishing event of the new millennium.In this groundbreaking and original work of scholarship, four of the most influential and provocative art historians of our time have come together to provide a comprehensive history of art in the twentieth century, an age when artists in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere sought to overturn the traditions of the past and expectations of the present in order to invent new practices and forms.Adopting a unique year-by-year approach, Foster, Krauss, Bois, and Buchloh present more than 50 short essays, each focusing on a crucial event—the creation of a seminal work, the publication of an artistic manifesto, the opening of a major exhibition—to tell the story of the dazzling diversity of practice and interpretation that characterizes the art of the period. All the turning points and breakthroughs of modernism and postmodernism are explored in depth, as are the frequent and sustained antimodernist reactions that proposed alternative visions of art and the world. Illustrating the authors' texts are more than 300 of the most important works of the century, many reproduced in full color.The book's flexible structure and extensive cross-referencing allow readers to follow any one of the many narratives that unfold, whether that be the history of a medium such as photography or painting, the development of art in a particular country, the influence of a movement such as surrealism or feminism, or the emergence of a stylistic or conceptual category like abstraction or minimalism. Boxes give further background information on the important figures and issues.In their insightful introductions, the four authors explain the different methods of art history at work in the book, providing the reader with the conceptual tools for further study. A roundtable discussion at the close of the book considers the questions raised by the preceding decades and look ahead to the art of the future. A glossary of terms and concepts completes this extraordinary volume. 300 illustrations, 200 in color. This college edition also includes the Art 20 CD-ROM.

Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism, Volume 1: 1900 to 1944 (College Text Edition with Art 20 CD-ROM)

Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism, Volume 2: 1945 to the Present (College Text Edition with Art 20 CD-ROM)

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