Conceptual Art

From Library Journal
Part of the Tate Modern's "Movements in Modern Art" series-others include Abstraction, Cubism, and Surrealism, all published by Cambridge-this title might best be read in series rather than as a stand-alone work. Its brevity suggests an introduction, but the subject demands more. Conceptual Art was a revolution within a revolution, developing parallel to and inside of Modernism while radically questioning Modernism's goals. As Wood (art history, Open Univ., London) explains, Modernism emphasized pictorial form as a means of escape from a stultifying academic tradition, while Conceptual Art-at its zenith in the late 1960s to 1970s-was an art of ideas, producing not objects but documents. Thus, it baffled many who wondered at its basic premise, which ran counter to art's traditional goals of making objects to admire and fostering contemplative looking. Ultimately, the strategies and techniques of Conceptual Art joined the mainstream, and today much contemporary art derives from this once radical project. The book is academic in tone, and, although it is clearly written and closely reasoned, the general reader may find the complexity and jargon strenuous. The ideal audience is college art students with a background in modern art theory. Recommended for college and university art libraries.Michael Dashkin, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, New York Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
Paul Wood’s Conceptual Art is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand exactly how and why exhibitions of contemporary art have come to include anything and everything—from pickled sharks to mass-produced toilets, piles of rubbish to multi-screen videos. Wood’s text is coherent, precisely argued, and jargon-free: it provides a concise introduction to the important figures of a movement that changed the practice of modern art forever. "Conceptual art" commonly refers to work that conveys an idea or a concept in a manner that need not involve the creation or display of a traditional art object. Like Pop art, Abstract Expressionism, and Minimalism, Conceptual art was an historical form of avant-garde practice that rose to prominence in the postwar era and continues to exert an influence over visual art. Conceptual Art offers an easy-to-digest historical overview of the Conceptual art movement’s development, rise to prominence, and legacy. Artists and art collectives discussed in the book include Art & Language, Arte Povera, John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Victor Burgin, Marcel Duchamp, Fluxus, Joseph Kosuth, Richard Long, Nam June Paik, the Situationists, and Lawrence Wiener.

From the Publisher
The world of contemporary art is comprised of complex, often contradictory approaches to materials and ideas—Wood’s book provides a solid foothold for readers interested in grasping one of the more influential modes of 20th-century art.

About the Author
Paul Wood is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art History at the Open University in London. His principal academic interests concern modernism, realism, and avant-garde art. In addition to Conceptual Art, Wood is the author of The Challenge of the Avant Garde (Yale University Press, 1999.) Together with Charles Harrison, Wood is also the editor of the widely acclaimed anthology series Art in Theory (Blackwell, 1992-2000.)


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Part of the Tate Modern's "Movements in Modern Art" series-others include Abstraction, Cubism, and Surrealism, all published by Cambridge-this title might best be read in series rather than as a stand-alone work. Its brevity suggests an introduction, but the subject demands more. Conceptual Art was a revolution within a revolution, developing parallel to and inside of Modernism while radically questioning Modernism's goals. As Wood (art history, Open Univ., London) explains, Modernism emphasized pictorial form as a means of escape from a stultifying academic tradition, while Conceptual Art-at its zenith in the late 1960s to 1970s-was an art of ideas, producing not objects but documents. Thus, it baffled many who wondered at its basic premise, which ran counter to art's traditional goals of making objects to admire and fostering contemplative looking. Ultimately, the strategies and techniques of Conceptual Art joined the mainstream, and today much contemporary art derives from this once radical project. The book is academic in tone, and, although it is clearly written and closely reasoned, the general reader may find the complexity and jargon strenuous. The ideal audience is college art students with a background in modern art theory. Recommended for college and university art libraries.-Michael Dashkin, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, New York


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