This groundbreaking account of postwar American art traces the profound influence of Antonin Artaud Proposing an original reassessment of art from the 1950s to the 1970s, No More Masterpieces reveals how artistic practice in postwar America was profoundly shaped by the work of the rebellious French poet and dramatist Antonin Artaud (1896-1948). A generation of artists mobilized Artaud's countercultural ideas to imagine new forms of representation and to redefine the relationship between artist and audience. The book shows how Artaud's radical writings inspired the experimental theatrical work of John Cage, Rachel Rosenthal, and Allan Kaprow; the attack on artistic and social conventions launched by assemblage artists Wallace Berman and Bruce Conner; and the feminist work of Carolee Schneemann and Nancy Spero. Lucy Bradnock traces the dissemination of Artaud's writings in America and demonstrates how his interest in political and cultural disorder, the dangers of authority, and the unreliability of representation found fertile ground in the context of the Cold War, disillusionment with the ideals of Abstract Expressionism, and the early years of identity politics.

No More Masterpieces: Modern Art After Artaud

Arts & Photography

Bradnock, Lucy

History & Criticism

Yale University Press

An extraordinary, unconventional reevaluation of postwar art through the lens of delirium Addressing the maniacal, eccentric, and disorienting in artworks made between 1950 and 1980, Delirious situates a fascination with the absurd and irrational within the context of the violence and brutality witnessed during World War II as well as the rapid expansion of industrial capitalism in the 1950s. Skepticism of science and technology—along with fear of its capability to promote mass destruction—developed into a distrust of rationalism, which in the arts had the paradoxical result of extracting irrational effects from rational means. Disturbing and challenging, these works upended traditional notions of aesthetic harmony. This thought-provoking book features work by approximately 70 artists from Europe, Latin America, and the United States, including Dara Birnbaum, León Ferrari, Bruce Nauman, Howardena Pindell, Peter Saul, Nancy Spero, and many others. Placing the fascination with delirium within historical, literary, political, and cultural contexts, it offers a provocative view of how like-minded artists experimented with irrational subject matter and techniques—ranging from sculpture, painting, photography, and works on paper to film, video, and book design—and forged a new aesthetic that directly responded to the unbalanced times in which they were created.

Delirious: Art at the Limits of Reason, 1950-1980

Baum, Kelly

Ryan, Tina Rivers

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The life and legacy of the influential Californian art movement, from James Turrell and Helen Pashgian to recent artists such as Anish Kapoor and Olafur Eliasson This volume pays homage to Southern California's pioneering Light and Space movement, providing insight into the atmosphere of the 1960s and '70s LA art scene, highlighting female protagonists and exploring its interdisciplinary approaches to art and technology. Light & Spacealso discusses the movement's legacy in contemporary artistic practices, and features special sections on, and interviews with, Light & Space artists. Artists include: Anish Kapoor, Ann Linn Palm Hansen, Ann Veronica Janssens, AVPD, Bruce Nauman, Connie Zehr, Craig Kauffman, De Wain Valentine, Doug Wheeler, Elyn Zimmerman, Eric Orr, Fred Eversley, Helen Pashgian, James Turrell, Jeppe Hein, John McCracken, Judy Chicago, Karin Sander, Laddie John Dill, Larry Bell, Lita Albuquerque, Mary Corse, Olafur Eliasson, Peter Alexander, Robert Irwin, Ron Cooper and Susan Kaiser Vogel.

Light & Space

Gad, Amira

Clark, Robin

Auping, Michæl

Gollnick, Elizabeth

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Walther Konig

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Books by Bradnock, Lucy