The Sixties: Writings on Art
“I am for an art that helps old ladies cross the street.” So wrote Claes Oldenburg in 1961, defining his version of Pop Art. In this seminar we will explore writings on visual art from 1960 America and Europe by both critics and practicing artists. We will engage the difficulties of using language to explain visual material, and the challenges this creates for artists, critics, and historians, with particular emphasis on understanding the cultural and political shifts of the 1960s. We will read essays, statements, reviews, and interviews from the period, in addition to recent contextual and critical material.