Painting in the 1980s

Rosemary Cohane Erpf

Description

This book is the first to explore, in depth, major painters of the period and the factors that shaped their art. Accessible to both art novice and specialist, it is written in jargon-free, readable language, blending vignettes about the soaring art market of the eighties with illuminating interpretations of paintings by leading artists from around the world. Painting in the 1980s details where and how painting embodied the zeitgeist of the 1980s in original fusions of style and content.

Erpf knows each artist’s work well, and her discussions of the individual paintings are vivid and insightful. They bring the vitality of the art world in this understudied period to the fore. The individual descriptions and discussions of paintings are lively, engaging and provocative. They infuse each chapter with the author’s passion for the subject and carry the reader along. The thematics – painting as puzzle, German history, Italian place – hold each chapter together and set the foundation for the author’s original thinking and point of view.

This book explores painting by a broad swathe of artists who were at the heart of that painting resurgence. The many books that examine twentieth-century art tend to emphasize painting as part of European Modernism, American Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art, with late twentieth-century painting often given short shrift. Excellent monographs and exhibition catalogues on individual artists exist, but Erpf’s intention is to counter the paucity of literature devoted to a larger group of painters. This is not a comprehensive look at all the artists who contributed to 1980s paintings revival.

Gallerists, curators and art historians assigned labels such as New Image Painting, Neo-Expressionism, Italian Transavanguardia, Neo-Geo and the blanket designation Postmodernism to categorize painting in this era. Yet these classifications denote a false sense of homogeneity, which will be made clear in this book. This book’s narrative aims to excavate and analyse the art and ideas that shaped each artist’s style and their diverse and often ambiguous content.

Works by the following artists are included: Nicolas Africano, Georg Baselitz, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Joseph Beuys, Francesco Clemente, Sandro Chia, George Condo, Enzo Cucchi, Marlene Dumas, Eric Fischl, Denise Green, Philip Guston, Peter Halley, Mary Heilmann, Neil Jenney, Donald Judd, Anselm Kiefer, Gordon Matta-Clark, Robert Moskowitz, Mimmo Paladino, A.R.Penck, Lari Pittman, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Susan Rothenberg, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Joel Shapiro, Frank Stella and David True.

The artists discussed are all well known, but the surprises are in the innovative ways the artists insisted on returning to painting in a decade when it had been pronounced dead. Their courage and creativity comes through in the text.

This will appeal to artists, art and cultural historians more broadly, and is suitable as a textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in twentieth-century and contemporary art history.

Novice art historians, art enthusiasts and collectors will also find much to enjoy here – it has appeal well beyond simply those professionally involved in the art world.

Acknowledgments 

Introduction

1. New Image Painting: A Prelude to the 1980s 

2. Painting as Puzzle: The Downtown New York Art World of the 1980s 

3. Abstraction: Ideas about the Thing and the Thing Itself 

4. Addressing Germany’s Past: Painting in a Divided Nation 

5. A Sense of Place: The Italian Transavanguardia 

6. Worthy Misfits: Defying Categorization 

Conclusion 

Bibliography 

Index

Sujets

• Arts visuels
• Peinture
• Art Plastique
• Arts plastiques
• Techniques
• George Condo
• History of art
• Painting
• Postmodernism
• Modern Art
• Art
• History
• Marlene Dumas
• Technique

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 28 juin 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781789385595
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 24 Mo

Extrait

PAINTING IN THE 1980s

PAINTING IN THE 1980s
REIMAGINING THE MEDIUM
ROSEMARY COHANE ERPF
First published in the UK in 2022 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2022 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright 2022 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copy editor: Newgen KnowledgeWorks
Cover and layout designer: Aleksandra Szumlas
Cover photo: Detail of Mary Heilmann, The Thief of Baghdad, 1983. Oil on canvas, 60 42 1.75 in. Mary Heilmann. Digital image courtesy of the artist, 303 Gallery, New York, and Hauser Wirth. Photo credit: Stephen White. Full image on page 93.
Frontipiece image: Georg Baselitz, Orangenesser IX ( The Orange Eater IX ), 1981. Oil and tempera on canvas, 57 1/2 44 7/8 in. (146 144 cm). Private Collection 2022 Georg Baselitz/Gagosian Gallery, New York. Photo credit: Friedrich Rosenstiel, Cologne. Courtesy of Archiv Georg Baselitz. Production manager: Laura Christopher Typesetter: Aleksandra Szumlas
Print ISBN 978-1-78938-557-1
ePDF ISBN 978-1-78938-558-8
ePUB ISBN 978-1-78938-559-5
To find out about all our publications, please visit our website.
There you can subscribe to our e-newsletter, browse or download our current catalogue and buy any titles that are in print.
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This is a peer-reviewed publication.
To Sharon Romayne Taylor, and to the memory of my beloved sister Margaret Mary Cohane
All I know is that painting is useful and important, like music and art in general-painting is an indispensable necessity of life .
-Gerhard Richter
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. New Image Painting: A Prelude to the 1980s
2. Painting as Puzzle: The Downtown New York Art World of the 1980s
3. Abstraction: Ideas about the Thing and the Thing Itself
4. Addressing Germany s Past: Painting in a Divided Nation
5. A Sense of Place: The Italian Transavanguardia
6. Worthy Misfits: Defying Categorization

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
T hank you to James Campbell, Laura Christopher, Naomi Curston, Tim Mitchell, and everyone at Intellect Books who worked tirelessly on this publication. My brilliant editorial assistant, Madeline Long, was invaluable in bringing this book to completion. My gratitude to Sharon Taylor, Peter Cohane, and Ellen Cohane DePalma who gave freely of their editorial expertise. Peer reviewers Pam Allara and Emily Taub Webb provided insights and suggestions while I was completing the manuscript. For taking the time to read the manuscript pre-publication, I thank Dan Cameron, Lowery Stokes Sims, Eleanor Nairne, and Dominic van den Boogerd. Family and friends who provided love, support, and encouragement at every stage of the book-writing process include Megan Erpf, Ellen Cohane DePalma, Lorraine Smith, Elizabeth Callaghan, Timothy Cohane, Lisa Cohane, Peter Cohane, Patti Cohane, Susan Barocas, Nancy and Thomas Galdy, Priscilla Lundin Schwartz, Imani Michelle Scott, and Mary Hodel. Gratitude to Anton Lakatos for unwavering belief in my writing.
My thanks to many people who helped find images and research materials. They include Rebecca Africano, Jason Andrew, Lisa Ballard, Tobias B umer, Jennifer Belt, Katherine Borkowski, Jonathan Boyd, Natalie Bryt, Regina Barunke, Franca Candrian, Carol Chapin, Heidi Coleman, Carolyn Cruthirds, Alessandro Cucchi, William Davie, Natalie Donohue, Stephen Ellis, Esther Flury, Julia Fromm, Paul Gabrielli, Michael Harrigan, Patrick Hillman, Andrew Huff, Peter Kaiser, Sofia Kofodimos, Kerstin K ster, Maurizio Lanzetta, James McKee, Shayna Miller, Weng Yee Mooi, Sara Piccinini, Benjamin Provo, Omar Ramos, Chris Rawson, Inae Rurup, Jamie Russell, Mary Schwab, David Stark, Kelsey Tyler, Willem ter Velde, Caroline Wallis, Hetty Wessels, Stephen Westfall, Julia Westner, Helmut Wietz, Virginia Yearick, and Austin Yoon.
To the following galleries, I am so appreciative of your generosity in sharing digital images: Collezione Maramotti, Craig F. Starr Gallery, David Zwirner Gallery, Sammlung Froehlich, Gagosian Gallery, Gladstone Gallery, Hauser Wirth, Marc Strauss, Marianne Boesky Gallery, Michael Werner, Skarstedt Gallery, Sperone Westwater Gallery, and 303 Gallery, as well as Artestar, Index Magazine, and Regen Projects. Museums and foundations: Art Institute of Chicago, Daros Museum, Hall Art Foundation, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Jennifer Bartlett Trust, Kunsthaus Z rich, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Art Boston, Museum of Modern Art, Philip Guston Foundation, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Stedelijk Museum, The Willem de Kooning Foundation. Thank you all for your help.
Thank you to the artists who gave of their time, including Peter Halley, Carroll Dunham, George Condo, Mimmo Paladino, Sandro Chia. I m grateful to Achille Bonito Oliva, who provided me with a long interview, and to Thomas Galdy for his translation skills. Thanks to Paula Wallace, President of Savannah College of Art Design for awarding me the fellowship at the American Academy in Rome where I studied the Italian Transavanguardia. Thanks also to Julian Schnabel for taking the time to discuss this book with me and provide more materials and commentary than I could have asked for. Special thanks to Peter Halley, Julian Schnabel, George Condo, Studio Dumas, Atelier Anselm Kiefer, and Archiv Georg Baselitz for fact checking.
It takes a village to write a book, and I m grateful for the support and assistance from everyone.
Introduction
P ainting reemerged in the 1980s with an unprecedented force, since unmatched. Remarkably, this happened in spite of claims that painting was dead. This book explores painting by a wide swath of artists who were at the heart of that painting resurgence. Although there are books aplenty that examine twentieth-century art, they tend to emphasize painting as part of European Modernism, American Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art, with late-twentieth-century painting often given short shrift. Excellent monographs and exhibition catalogues on individual artists exist, but my intention is to counter the paucity of literature devoted to a larger group of painters. This is not a comprehensive look at all the artists who contributed to the 1980s paintings revival. Including a larger, more comprehensive group of 1980s painters would preclude a detailed study of each artist.
Gallerists, curators, and art historians assigned labels such as New Image Painting, Neo-Expressionism, Italian Transavanguardia, Neo-Geo, and the blanket designation Postmodernism to categorize painting in this era. Yet these classifications denote a false sense of homogeneity, which will be made clear in this book. This book aims to excavate and analyze the art and ideas that shaped each artist s style, and their diverse and often ambiguous content.
The conception for my book is founded on an interest in the painting that emerged during the 1980s and was identified within a postmodern dialogue. This happened primarily in the United States and Europe. No doubt, painting was practiced worldwide during this decade, but it is my understanding, although sweeping generalizations always have exceptions, that much of this painting followed earlier traditions and the most noteworthy painting which reflected issues of postcolonialism, responses to geopolitical situations, fresh interpretations of cultural mores, and a more rigorous consideration of gender roles, race, and cultural biases-although often sparked by pioneer painters in the 1970s and 1980s such as Robert Colescott-came into full flowering in the 1990s and after. Additionally, many important artists who were painting in the 1980s would not reach their mature styles until the 1990s. For example, works from the 1980s by the great Chinese painter Zhang Xiaogang are tentative. But in 1993, he came into his own with his powerful and influential Bloodline-Big Family series.
Each chapter is organized around an overarching theme, such as Painting as Puzzle to describe painting that emerged in downtown Manhattan or A Sense of Place to give the reader an underlying premise linking the work of painters in Italy, which will give readers context to connect works that vary in style and subject. This text will also illustrate the ways in which the genre was labeled, contextualized, and situated in critical discourse while tastemakers and collectors, new and seasoned, swarmed to support the work in a rapidly expanding art market. Painting practices will be situated in an art historical framework, teasing out factors which rang true to painters while detailing overriding similarities and differences to provide an understanding of how the genre reinvented itself.
The narrative begins just before the 1980s with the Whitney Museum s 1978 exhibition New Image Painting ( Chapter 1 ). Against the anti-painting sentiment, its curator Richard Marshall took the unlikely step of displaying a group of young, New York City painters who had started depicting recognizable images. The New Image artists were the forerunners of painting s revitalization and growth in the following decade.
Following New Image, a new set of edgy New York painters emerged in the 1980s and were by no means a homogenous group despite the fact that they became known as American Neo-Expressionists, a flawed label that remained an unwelcome presence for New York painters in the 1980s. They challenged the viewers to find the ambiguous meaning, even as no singular meaning exists. Even among this diverse subgroup, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Eric Fischl, Julian Schnabel, and David Salle blazed