Minimalism free essay sample

James Meyers Minimalism takes the reader throughout the genesis of the avant- garde style that emerged in the 1960s that exhibits single or repeated geometric forms with emphasis on sculpture. Then on to its high period in the mid 1960s where the movement gained clarification about its tenets. Then the book culminates with the analysis of minimalism during its canonization period in the late 1960s where this American form acquired an international profile. Lastly the book looks at Minimalism towards the close of the twentieth century into the twenty-first century here artist made expansions and revisions to prior works. Art critics that witnessed the inception of the new works saw need for a new vocabulary to apply critique to Minimalism. This early period in the movement gave rise to a growing critical art debate scene that resulted from the development of the commercial art magazine and an expanding art market . We will write a custom essay sample on Minimalism or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Donald Judd was more prominently known for his writing in the early 1960s than being an artist himself. His clarity and consistency won him acclaim as a critic and he became an important player in Minimalism . The publication of Judds 1966 essay Specific Objects marked the polarization of Minimalisms preference for painting to the three dimensional object . Some of the hallmarks of Minimal art are pieces that exhibit straight clean lines, industrially produced components, whose subject matter alludes to nothing beyond its appearance. Throughout this paper this I will examine if three-dimensional Minimalist pieces gained more prominence over their painting counterparts like Meyer suggested. Frank Stellas 1959 Black Paintings stand at the inception of Minimalism. This mural scale paint on canvas piece turned away from he conventions of the previous generations in regards to brushwork. However this piece did retain some conventions of abstract expressionism with its subject matter . Robert Rauschenberg s 1951-68 White Painting are a series of monochromes that follow suit with the Minimalist aesthetic. Ralph Humphreys 1954 Untitled oil on canvas appealed to minimalist interest in the basic abstract forms. Stellas early work was extremely influential to the Minimalist generation because of his material surfaces and clarification of process which all signaled development t. Donald Judd erceived Stellas works as the last painting that could be made because the Black and Aluminum series rendered illusion and handmadeness pass © . This comment and ideas similar to these lead to the prominence of three dimensional fgures and works that included industrial pieces. Dan Flavins 1959 painting relief Apollinaire Wounded incorporated found objects, which included crushed cans, executed in thick paint applied to masonite . This work seems to be a step into the three dimensional direction. Flavin, Le Witt and Truitt are some Minimalist that bring the hree dimensional structure to prominence in the early to mid 1960s with pieces like Anne Truitts 1962 Southern Elergy and, Sol Le Witts 1962 Wall Structure. In Judds 1965 Specific Objects he describes a new class of artwork that is much different than the traditional painting or sculpture, simply because it resides in the real space, the spectators space. The piece that lives in real space gets rid of the problem of illusion. Judd deems real space more powerful than pictorial space thus implying that three-dimensional works employ a more powertul medium. Do Judd was an influential artist during the Minimalism period. He came to prominence because of his writing style that brought clarity to a new movement that proved difficult to critique in its beginning stages. His ideas proved to be revolutionary and helped Minimalism to progress to what its known as today. In the beginning of this paper I set out to find if Judds Specific Objects essay did in fact change the favor of Minimalist from painting to three-dimensional structure. In my opinion I would say yes, Judds powerful voice did influence the Minimalist community to favor rogression in this movement. I wouldnt say that at the release of the essay, Minimalist every where dropped their paint brushes and started building outward, but Judd understood the natural progression of Minimalism. There are quite a few pieces that has exhibit this change toward the three dimensional as early as 1962, before Specific Objects came to prominence, Judd Just happened to have his finger on the pulse of the next phase of Minimalism.