The Pictures Generation

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The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984 was an exhibition at

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City that ran from April 29 – August 2, 2009.[1] The exhibition took its name from Pictures, a 1977 five person group show organized by art historian and critic Douglas Crimp (1944–2019) at New York City's Artists Space gallery.[2] The artists exhibited from September 24 to October 29, 1977 were Troy Brauntuch, Jack Goldstein, Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo and Philip Smith.[3]

Artists in the 2009 Met exhibition included well known artists of the 1980s such as Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Robert Longo, David Salle, Richard Prince, Jack Goldstein and Sherrie Levine, together with lesser-known contemporaries such as Troy Brauntuch and Michael Zwack.[4] It also featured some of the group's artistic predecessors including John Baldessari and Allan McCollum.[5]

Precursors

In his catalogue essay for the 1977 show and a 1979 expansion of the essay published in the journal October, Crimp outlined a framework to describe shared themes in the work of the five artists he presented. In general, these were an interest in representational imagery, and references to mass media that the artists explored through "processes of quotation, excerptation, framing, and staging."[6]

The Pictures Generation was not the first major exhibition to examine these artists as a distinct group, but it was the first to focus only on this cohort from a scholarly perspective.

Whitney Museum of American Art, examined the role of mass media imagery in contemporary art from the 1950s to the 1980s, with the Pictures Generation artists playing a prominent role.[9]

Details

The Met's show, curated by Douglas Eklund, argued that, from the perspective of three decades later, it is evident that Crimp's observations described a widely shared sensibility among artists of the 1970s and 80s.[10] The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue sought to tell the story of this "Pictures Generation" and explore the ways that these artists developed their approach to art-making. In the main catalogue essay, Elkund focused on three communities where artists shared and refined the concepts that unify the Pictures Generation: The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Los Angeles, Hallwalls in Buffalo and Artists Space.[11]

Artists in the Met exhibition included art stars of the 1980s such as Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Robert Longo, David Salle, Richard Prince, Jack Goldstein and Sherrie Levine, together with lesser-known contemporaries such as Troy Brauntuch and Michael Zwack. It also featured some of the group's artistic predecessors including John Baldessari and Allan McCollum.[5] The artists in Crimp's 1977 show were Troy Brauntuch, Jack Goldstein, Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo and Philip Smith. For the 1979 expansion of his catalogue essay, Crimp deleted Philip Smith and added Cindy Sherman.[6]

As time has gone on, other writers have argued that artists not included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art show, such as

Walter Robinson.[12]

A few artists grouped under the "Pictures Generation" category, such as Sherrie Levine and Richard Prince, have been involved in legal disputes concerning their appropriation of content protected by intellectual property laws, particularly copyright law.[13]

Artists in the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition

Legacy

During the fall of 2020 into the winter of 2021 the Metropolitan Museum has produced a follow-up exhibition on the occasion of the ten year anniversary of The Pictures Generation, titled Pictures Revisited. This second show focuses on "appropriation" and features the work of five artists from the original exhibition as well of that of other artists whose careers began both before and after the Pictures Generation practitioners' did.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Past Exhibitions: The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  2. ISBN 9781588393142
    . Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  3. ^ [1] Artists Space exhibitions Pictures archive
  4. ^ Preview the Met's Fab New Show, 'The Pictures Generation' - Vulture
  5. ^ a b Eklund, The Pictures Generation, pp. 320-329.
  6. ^
    JSTOR 778227
    .
  7. ^ Wilcox, Jess (April 21, 2009). "The Pictures Generation: A Conversation with Douglas Eklund". Art in America. Archived from the original on March 27, 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  8. S2CID 193813078
    .
  9. ^ Kimmelman, Michael (November 10, 1989). "Review/Art: At the Whitney, 100 Works From the Last 30 Years". New York Times. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  10. ^ Fowle, Kate (June 10, 2009). "Review: The Pictures Generation: 1974–84". Frieze. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  11. ^ Eklund, The Pictures Generation, pp. 22-116
  12. ^ Indiana, Gary (13 February 2017). "These '80s Artists Are More Important Than Ever". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  13. ^ "Copy Rights | ARTnews". www.artnews.com. 22 March 2012. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

External links

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