Minimalism

James Meyer’s Minimalism takes the reader throughout the genesis of the avant-garde style that emerged in the 1960’s that exhibits single or repeated geometric forms with emphasis on sculpture. Then on to its high period in the mid 1960’s where the movement gained clarification about its tenets. Then the book culminates with the analysis of minimalism during its canonization period in the late 1960’s 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 where 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 . Donald Judd was more prominently known for his writing in the early 1960’s 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 Judd’s 1966 essay “Specific Objects” marked the polarization of Minimalism’s 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 Stella’s 1959 Black Paintings stand at the inception of Minimalism. This mural scale paint on canvas piece turned away from the 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

Bibliography: James Meyer, “Survey,” in Minimalism. London: Phaidon, 2005, pg. 14-42. Judd, Donald “ Specific Objects” 1966