Panel Presentations

Authors

Emily A. Francisco '14, Gettysburg College

Location

Schmucker Hall 302

Session

Art History Seminar

Start Time

5-3-2014 9:30 AM

End Time

5-3-2014 10:15 AM

Supervising Faculty Member

Yan Sun

Department

Art

Description

Between 1960 and 1975 there was an outpouring of artists writing critically in the United States, reflecting a mass desire to reclaim the voice of the artist in a critic-dominated art world. Texts in general rapidly spread throughout the artistic landscape during this period; as Conceptual artists challenged notions of visuality and viewership, we see a dramatic increase in artists engaging with experimental writing. This generation of artists, which included Dan Graham and Robert Smithson, had a fascination with the written word’s potential as an art medium, many using the art magazine as an alternative venue to the “elitist” art gallery or museum. This thesis explores the fluid boundaries between art and text during this integral period, bringing to light the ways in which visual language and written language were seamlessly integrated through Conceptual Art in order to challenge the meaning of what art and art writing should be.

Document Type

Student Research Paper

COinS
 
May 3rd, 9:30 AM May 3rd, 10:15 AM

The Artist’s Voice and the Written Word: Language in Art from 1960 to 1975

Schmucker Hall 302

Between 1960 and 1975 there was an outpouring of artists writing critically in the United States, reflecting a mass desire to reclaim the voice of the artist in a critic-dominated art world. Texts in general rapidly spread throughout the artistic landscape during this period; as Conceptual artists challenged notions of visuality and viewership, we see a dramatic increase in artists engaging with experimental writing. This generation of artists, which included Dan Graham and Robert Smithson, had a fascination with the written word’s potential as an art medium, many using the art magazine as an alternative venue to the “elitist” art gallery or museum. This thesis explores the fluid boundaries between art and text during this integral period, bringing to light the ways in which visual language and written language were seamlessly integrated through Conceptual Art in order to challenge the meaning of what art and art writing should be.