Discuss one or more works of art by each of three contemporary artists, choosing one artist from each of the following three groups:
Group 1: Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, Adolph Gottlieb, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline
Group 2: Alberto Giacometti, Jean Dubuffet, Jean Fautier, Francis Bacon, Lucien Freud, Yves Klein, Arman, Niki de Saint Phalle, Joseph Beuys
Group 3: David Hockney, Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Andy Warhol, Allan Kaprow, George Segal, Edward Kienholz
The purpose of this assignment is to present what you see as the important issues in Contemporary Art of Europe and the U.S. from the 1945 to the 1960s. Address the following questions in your essay:
• How does the artist’s treatment of the physical and/or associational qualities of the body or object express central concerns in the artist’s work?
• What attitudes toward contemporary culture, society, and politics are expressed?
• What changes do you see in the communication of artist to audience during this
time span?
• What connections do you see any between artists’ treatments of their subjects?
• Why did some artists pursue formal issues in defining a direction for painting and sculpture?
• Why did some artists deliberately confront images and stereotypes of contemporary culture?
• What overlapping concerns or qualities would you determine are typical of the period?
Your essay should be based on the lectures and assigned readings as well on your own observations about the artists’ works. Use your own words to express your ideas, but support your arguments with statements from the artists’ writings found in sources you find in books. Use proper form for all citations. Attach the images of all art works that you discuss as well as a bibliography of sources consulted, including the course text.
