Overview

"What is minimalism? The answer to this simple question has defied simple answers. In this highly readable history of minimalist art James Meyer argues that ""minimalism"" was not a coherent movement but a field of overlapping and sometimes opposed practices. He traces in comprehensive detail the emergence of six figures associated with the development-Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris, and Anne Truitt-and how the notion of minimalism came to be constructed around their art in the 1960s. Despite distinctive differences in method and points of view, Meyer shows, these artists became equated in a series of important exhibitions and texts that led to their designation as minimalists. Beginning with the first reviews of minimalist shows, the book tracks the development of an art that critics dubbed Cool Art, ABC Art, and Primary Structures before settling on the deprecating label ""minimal art."" Suggesting that such work was overly reduced in form and facture, this term implied that the new abstraction was barely legible as fine art to some viewers. Meyer describes the heated polemic that unfolded in response to these practices, the differing claims of the artists, and the sometimes intense rivalries that developed within a highly competitive, fashion-minded New York art scene. The book culminates with an analysis of minimalism's canonization in the late sixties, its reception in Europe, and its discrediting by leftist viewers who associated the new art with American capitalist-imperialism of the Vietnam War."

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9780300105902

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Reviews

I can think of no book that even undertakes a comparable art historical account - not merely tracing a movement year by year, but showing how the movement's consciousness of itself emerged... A tremendous contribution. Arthur Danto, Times Literary Supplement Meyer's writing is intelligent, informed and subtle. The book is well produced and generously illustrated. John A. Walker, The Art Book Illuminating, persuasive art history. Andrew Mead, The Architects' Journal Many skeptics deem the sixties too close for comfort and hence not suitable for an art history in the grand tradition. James Meyer proves them wrong. Minimalism: Art and Polemics in the Sixties establishes a historical precision and seriousness that many have thought lacking in the recent wave of writing about postwar American art. Christine Mehring, Art Journal By far the best account to date of Minimalism's development and the essential point of departure for all future research on the subject. Pepe Karmel, Art in America

"""I can think of no book that even undertakes a comparable art historical account - not merely tracing a movement year by year, but showing how the movement's consciousness of itself emerged... A tremendous contribution."" Arthur Danto, Times Literary Supplement ""Meyer's writing is intelligent, informed and subtle. The book is well produced and generously illustrated."" John A. Walker, The Art Book ""Illuminating, persuasive art history."" Andrew Mead, The Architects' Journal ""Many skeptics deem the sixties too close for comfort and hence not suitable for an art history in the grand tradition. James Meyer proves them wrong. Minimalism: Art and Polemics in the Sixties establishes a historical precision and seriousness that many have thought lacking in the recent wave of writing about postwar American art."" Christine Mehring, Art Journal ""By far the best account to date of Minimalism's development and the essential point of departure for all future research on the subject."" Pepe Karmel, Art in America"""

Author Information

James Meyer is Curator in the Department of Modern Art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

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