Index: Idea Art

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Copyright © 1973 by Gregory Battcock

  • Dore Ashton: “Monuments for Nowhere or Anywhere.” Reprinted from L’Art Vivant, July, 1970
  • Jonathan Benthall: “The Relevance of Ecology.” Reprinted from Studio International, December, 1969
  • Cheryl Bernstein: “The Fake as More.”
  • Jack Burnham: “Problems of Criticism.” Reprinted from Artforum, Vol. 9, No. 5, January, 1971
  • Joseph Kosuth: “Art After Philosophy, I and II.” Reprinted from Studio International, October and November, 1969
  • Lucy Lippard: “The Art Workers’ Coalition.” Reprinted from Studio International, November, 1970
  • Ursula Meyer: “The Eruption of Anti-Art.”
  • John Perreault: “It’s Only Words.” Reprinted from The Village Voice, May 20, 1971, by permission of the author.
  • Arthur Rose: “Four Interviews.” Reprinted from Arts Magazine, Vol. 43, No. 4, February, H:l6\:l,
  • Harold Rosenberg: “Art and Words.” Reprinted from The New Yorker, March 29, 1969. Copyright e 1969 by The New Yorker Magazine, Inc.
  • Seth Siegelaub: “On Exhibitions and the World at Large: A Conversation with Seth Siegelaub.” Studio International, December, 1969
  • Lawrence Weiner, Daniel Buren, Mel Bochner, Sol Le Witt: “Documentation in Conceptual Art.” Arts Magazine, April, 1970
  • Robert Hughes: “The Decline and Fall of the Avant-Garde.” TIME, The Weekly Newsmagazine; copyright e 1972 Time, Inc.
  • Les Levine: “Les Levine Replies.”
scn_ideaArtAboutEditor
KEYWORD: NEW

The Operational Word is: NEW

Gregory Battcock, Dore Ashton, Jonathan Benthall, Cheryl Bernstein, Jack Burnham, Joseph Kosuth, Lucy Lippard, Ursula Meyer, John Perreault, Arthur Rose, Harold Rosenberg, Seth Siegelaub, Lawrence Weiner, Daniel Buren, Mel Bochner, Sol LeWitt, Robert Hughes, Les Levine

Critical anthology of pivotal texts edited by Gregory Battcock. Essays “Monuments for Nowhere or Anywhere,” by Dore Ashton; ” “Art in the Service of the Left?,” by Battcock; “The Relevance of Ecology,” by Jonathan Benthall; “The Fake as More,” by Cheryl Bernstein; “Problems of Criticism,” by Jack Burnham; “Art After Philosopy, I and II,” by Joseph Kosuth; “The Art Workers’ Coalition,” by Lucy Lippard; “The Eruption of Anti-Art,” by Ursula Meyer; “It’s Only Words,” by John Perreault; “Four Interviews,” Arthur Rose [Robert Barry, Douglas Huebler, Joseph Kosuth, Lawrence Weiner]; “Art and Words,” by Harold Rosenberg; “On Exhibitions and the World at Large: A Conversation with Seth Siegelaub”; “Documentation in Conceptual Art,” by Lawrence Weiner, Daniel Buren, Mel Bochner, and Sol LeWitt; “The Decline and Fall of the Avant-Garde,” by Robert Hughes; and “Les Levine Replies,” by Les Levine. “By 1970 it was clear that a new type of art was emerging in the New York and European art worlds. Quickly labeled Conceptual Art or Idea Art, the form encompassed an extraordinary variety of works. What they all seemed to have in common was a rejection of the ‘bourgeois’ aspects of traditional art. Works of Idea Art frequently did not actually exist as objects. Rather, the remained ideas; often, what did exist was only some kind of documentation referring to the concept. The chief purpose of this anthology is to present in a direct way some of the action, diversity, and rationale behind Idea Art. And it attempts to do so by presenting the students and educator with some of the original and important theoretical documents that helped set the direction of the new artistic emphasis.” –– from book’s back cover.

Dispute Among Debutantes

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The dispute being at the beginning was what made it matter; would the answer make it art.

PH or HP? High heels or Low heels at the dance.

Peter Henry Emerson (13 May 1856 – 12 May 1936) and Henry Peach Robinson (9 July 1830, 21 February 1901) were early photographers with divergent approaches to photography. At least they argued about it. Emerson, a writer who used photography to make records of birds, set the standard. He also came in after Robinson.

Emerson trained as a physician; Robinson as a painter. Emerson believed that the camera was the key to photography being distinct, therefore of value. He thought the camera was capable of science – that people in pictures should be wearing their own natural clothes. He also championed the mimicry of the ‘human eye’ – he taught that the camera lens must be made to reproduce human vision: sharp in the middle; blurring to the outer edge. Somehow, he missed the circular, upside down, etc. parts of human vision. But he was a doctor, not a philosopher.

Which picture is the ‘fake’ photograph?

Left
Right

The one on the left is a ‘pitcher portrait’ “Confessions” by Emerson – It is the real photograph. The one on the right, “Day’s Work Is Done” by Robinson is a multiple print, so qualifies as a fake, drawing the ire of Emerson.

Even in 1970, student photographers considered the distinctions stilted, anachronistic, irrelevant to their artistic principals or image considerations. They are both attempts at story telling. The story being told is generic, well established emotionally without device. The frames are used similarly, the tone ranges vary, but not enough to be claimed as superior presentations of story or fact.

For those who know painting of the time you understand some of the relationships, as well as the morals being promoted by the photographers. These weren’t their invention, not even their discovery; they were following the same paths, but using different steps. And like so many people striving to lead to the same place, they argued about the better way. They couldn’t see how much alike they were.

They danced to the same music — one on the ‘stage’ of the camera; the other on the stage of the darkroom. One made a negative, the other made prints from many negatives. As if one shot a single camera one take, the other multiple camera spliced movie. Among aesthetically accomplished photographers both approaches are handled easily.

It is unlikely that either of these images would be shown as new work without expecting some smiles, grins or even laughter. Cast, and costumed differently you may get a show; but not an argument.

“The Human eye is not even centered, the magnitude of the corneal eccentricity appears to be quite irregular and adventitious, and so on.” — Helmholz