Conceptual art
In 1967, Sol LeWitt published Paragraphs on Conceptual Art. This text is considered by many to be the movement's manifesto. It established a core rule for the new art form. The work prioritized ideas over traditional aesthetic concerns. Material objects became secondary to the thought process behind them. Some works could be constructed by anyone following written instructions. This method challenged the assumption that an artist must create special kinds of material objects. Joseph Kosuth elevated this notion in his 1969 essay Art after Philosophy. He argued that all art after Duchamp exists conceptually. Tony Godfrey later asserted that conceptual art questions the very nature of art itself. The movement sought to examine its own existence through language and logic.
Marcel Duchamp created Fountain in 1917. This standard urinal basin was signed with the pseudonym R.Mutt. He submitted it to the Society of Independent Artists exhibition in New York. The group rejected the piece despite their open policy. The artistic tradition did not see a commonplace object as art because it lacked handcrafting or unique creation. Duchamp provided prototypically conceptual examples through these readymade works. His relevance was acknowledged decades later by American artist Joseph Kosuth. Kosuth wrote in 1969 that all art after Duchamp is conceptual in nature. Other early readymades included Bicycle Wheel from 1913 and Bottle Rack from 1914. These objects gathered dust in Paris studios before becoming recognized sculptures. The first piece officially called a readymade appeared in 1915 as In Advance of the Broken Arm. It featured a snow shovel painted with its title.
Henry Flynt coined the term concept art in 1961. He published an article bearing the same name in An Anthology of Chance Operations. His concept art devolved from cognitive nihilism where paradoxes evacuate concepts of substance. Drawing on logic and mathematics syntax, he meant for it to supersede formalistic music. A work had to be a critique of logic using linguistic concepts as material. This quality was absent from subsequent conceptual art movements. By 1969, Art & Language began producing publications and texts. They started Art-Language: The Journal of Conceptual Art that year. Artists like Lawrence Weiner and Edward Ruscha used language in place of brush and canvas. They allowed language to signify in its own right rather than as one visual element among others. Peter Osborne noted this direction came from linguistic theories of meaning in Anglo-American analytic philosophy. Structuralist and post-structuralist Continental philosophy also influenced the turn toward language-based art during the mid-twentieth century. Early conceptualists were the first generation to complete degree-based university training in art.
Conceptual art emerged as a movement during the 1960s. It formed partly as a reaction against formalism articulated by New York critic Clement Greenberg. Greenberg argued Modern art followed progressive reduction toward defining essential formal nature. Elements running counter to this nature were to be reduced. Painting tasks involved defining what kind of object a painting truly is. Figuration and three-dimensional perspective illusion were found extraneous to the essence of painting. Some argued conceptual art continued dematerialization by removing the need for objects altogether. Others including many artists themselves saw it as a radical break with Greenberg's formalist Modernism. By the end of the 1960s, Greenberg's stipulations no longer held traction. The movement reacted against commodification of art too. It attempted subversion of the gallery or museum as location determiner of art. Lawrence Weiner stated once you know about a work you own it. There is no way he can climb inside somebody's head and remove it. Many works could only be known through documentation like photographs or written texts.
Neo-conceptual art describes practices in the 1980s and particularly 1990s. These initiatives derived from the conceptual art movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The Moscow Conceptualists and United States neo-conceptualists participated in this resurgence. Sherrie Levine worked within these subsequent initiatives. Young British Artists notably included Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin in the United Kingdom. In popular usage, particularly in the UK, conceptual art came to denote all contemporary art not practicing traditional skills. The Turner Prize during the 1990s associated itself heavily with this term. Tracey Emin was nominated for the prize in 1999. Her exhibit included My Bed surrounded by detritus such as condoms and blood-stained knickers. Martin Creed won the Turner Prize in 2001 for Work No. 227: The lights going on and off. This piece featured an empty room where lights went on and off repeatedly. Charles Saatchi funded Damien Hirst and exhibited his shark in formaldehyde in 1992 at the Saatchi Gallery. Contemporary artists have taken up many concerns of the original movement while they may or may not term themselves conceptual artists.
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Common questions
When did Sol LeWitt publish Paragraphs on Conceptual Art?
Sol LeWitt published Paragraphs on Conceptual Art in 1967. This text is considered by many to be the movement's manifesto and established a core rule for the new art form.
What year did Marcel Duchamp create Fountain?
Marcel Duchamp created Fountain in 1917. He signed this standard urinal basin with the pseudonym R.Mutt and submitted it to the Society of Independent Artists exhibition in New York.
Who coined the term concept art and when?
Henry Flynt coined the term concept art in 1961. He published an article bearing the same name in An Anthology of Chance Operations that described his concept art devolving from cognitive nihilism.
During which decade did conceptual art emerge as a movement?
Conceptual art emerged as a movement during the 1960s. It formed partly as a reaction against formalism articulated by New York critic Clement Greenberg.
Which artist won the Turner Prize in 2001 for Work No. 227 The lights going on and off?
Martin Creed won the Turner Prize in 2001 for Work No. 227: The lights going on and off. This piece featured an empty room where lights went on and off repeatedly.