Key Works for Art History

 

Art History in America Western Perspectives

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Indian Summer, Wendy Red Star

Wendy Red Star, Indian Summer—Four Seasons, 2006. Chromogenic print, 31.5 x 36 in.

Our Lady, Alma Lopez

Alma Lopez, Our Lady, 1999. Inkjet print on canvas, 22 x 18 in.

First Supper (After a Major Riot), 1974.

 Asco, First Supper (After a Major Riot), 1974. Chromogenic print, 16 x 20 in.

 Roy Lichtenstein, Whaam!, 1963. 

 Roy Lichtenstein, Whaam!, 1963. Acrylic and oil paint on canvas, 67.5 x 160 in.

 Claes Oldenburg, Pepsi-Cola Sign, 1961

 Claes Oldenburg, Pepsi-Cola Sign, 1961. Muslin soaked in plaster over wire frame, painted with enamel, 60 x 48 x 7.5 in.

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962. Silkscreen on synthetic polymer paint on canvas , 6’9 x 9’6

Monumental Pop Art. Right after the death of Marilyn Monroe. The repetition plays into the ideas of American Mass Media. One image is powerful, a hundred images repeated... more powerful?

Cult of celebrity. Media. Fame. Monumental. From vibrant Colors to Black & White fading into Silver. A call to the age of the Silver Screen Hollywood. Marilyn face fades away representing her premature death.

Key Work: Betye Saar, Black Girl’s Window, 1969

Key Work: Betye Saar, Black Girl’s Window, 1969. Assemblage, 36 x 18 x 1.5 in.

Betye Saar's Black Girl's Window 1969 is like reading a taro card, a fortune of her past present and future. there are elements of colorism.  This work was in the wake of the Watts Riots, the Black Revolution and her divorce. Printmaking collage and assemblage.

Melvin Edwards, August the Squared Fire, 1965

Melvin Edwards, August the Squared Fire, 1965. Steel, 64 x 45 x 22 in.

African American artist. 

The contours of August the Squared Fire curve and twist around an invisible axis, framed by strong rectilinear forms. The title of this work refers to the Watts uprising of 1965, and the formal arrangement of the steel structure is analogous to the destruction of 103rd Street in Watts.

Sculpture like music, poetry, syntax of his own.

elements of goodness.

Wallace Berman, Black Piece 3, circa 1967

Wallace Berman, Black Piece 3, circa 1967. Verifax collage, 23.5 x 23.5 in.

Jay DeFeo, The Rose, 1966

Jay DeFeo, The Rose, 1966. Oil with wood and mica on canvas, 129 x 92 x 11 in.

Oil Painting that takes on the physicality of sculpture work. The idea of the center.

 Jess, Lord Pervert, 1956

 Jess, Lord Pervert, 1956. Collage, 13 x 10 in.

Collage assembly.

Robert Frank, Trolley, New Orleans, 1955

Robert Frank, Trolley, New Orleans, 1955. Gelatin silver print, 9 x 13.5 in. (Included in The Americans, 1959)

Romare Bearden, The Conjur Woman, 1964

Romare Bearden, The Conjur Woman, 1964. Cut- and-pasted printed paper and gouache on board, 12 x 9.5 in.

Collage and found objects. African American experience and life. Bearden lived in Harlem and his work was in dialogue with other artists of the Harlem Renaissance. 

Jasper Johns, Flag, 1955

Jasper Johns, Flag, 1955. Encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric mounted on plywood, 42 x 60.5 in.

Everyday Familiar iconography.  Repetition. 

Integrating physical objects into the painting.

Robert Rauschenberg, Small Rebus, 1956

Robert Rauschenberg, Small Rebus, 1956. Oil, graphite, paint swatches, paper, newspaper, magazine clippings, black-and-white photograph, United States map fragment, fabric, and three-cent stamps on canvas, 37 x 46 in. Integrating physical objects into the painting.

Robert Rauschenberg, White Painting (Three Panel), 1951

Robert Rauschenberg, White Painting (Three Panel), 1951. Latex paint on canvas, 72 x 108 in.

Taking the self out of the work for the pursuit of minimalism.

Louise Nevelson, Sky Cathedral, 1958

Louise Nevelson, Sky Cathedral, 1958. Painted wood, 11’ x 10’ x 18”

Collected found objects and unified through the solid black paint.

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970. Mud, precipitated salt crystals, rocks, water, Great Salt Lake, Utah. 1,500 ft. long and 15 ft. (4.6 m) wide

Walter de Maria, The Lightning Field, 1977

Walter de Maria, The Lightning Field, 1977. 400 polished stainless steel rods, New Mexico

Agnes Martin, Night Sea, 1963

Agnes Martin, Night Sea, 1963. Oil on canvas with gold leaf, 72 x 72 in.

Agnes Martin believed music was the highest form of art. "Let the art be art" and allow viewers to have an emotional response. The work while minimalist and use of rulers and grid still show the handmade element when examine closely.

 Ruth Asawa, Untitled, 1958

 Ruth Asawa, Untitled, 1958. Iron, copper, and brass wire, 131 × 22 × 22 in.

Biomorphic forms from wire. 

Motion and Action.

Something beautiful and weightless from ugly materials.

 Alexander Calder, Double Gong, 1953

 Alexander Calder, Double Gong, 1953. Metal and paint, 60 × 132 × 132 in.

David Smith, Hudson River Landscape, 1951

David Smith, Hudson River Landscape, 1951. Welded painted steel and stainless steel, 49 × 72 × 17.5 in.

 Norman Lewis, Evening Rendezvous 1962

 Norman Lewis, Evening Rendezvous, 1962. Oil on linen, 50 x 64 in.

Picture depicting the Klansman: The small white marks emerging from gray twilight resemble hooded figures. The color combination of Red, White, and Blue mocks the patriotism the Klan claimed as its defense

Abstract expressionism

Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, 1952

Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, 1952. Oil and charcoal on unprimed canvas, 7’2 x 9’8

The mountains meet the see at the blue horizon line. Nova Scotia Canada. 

An abstract painting like Pollack and Rothko similar to a fresco.

Colors and gestures. Biomorphic shapes that play similarity to surrealism.

splash and pooled paint.

Removes the presents of the artists. 

Mark Rothko, No. 3/No. 13, 1949

Mark Rothko, No. 3/No. 13, 1949. Oil on canvas, 85.5 x 65 in.

Lee Krasner, Untitled, 1949

Lee Krasner, Untitled, 1949. Oil on board, 48 x 37 in.

Lee Krasner married Jackson Pollack.

Hieroglyphics. Krasner studied Hebrew growing up and some of the Hebrew alphabets letters appear in the work. Abstract expressionism, some cubism

Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950

Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950. Enamel on canvas, 8’0 x 17’3