Kill for peace : American artists against the Vietnam War

279 Pages·2013·16.817 MB·English

by  Israel, Matthew Winer

K I L L F O R P E A C E
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K I L L F O R P E A C E
American Artists Against the Vietnam War
M AT T H E W I S R A E L
University of Texas Press Austin
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Th e publication of this book was supported in part by the UT Press
Fine Arts Endowment, funded by the Mattsson McHale Foundation, the
Stillwater Foundation, Frances Dittmer, Jeanne and Mi chael Klein,
and Jean and Dan Rather.
Copyright © 2013 by Matthew Israel
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2013
Requests for permission to reproduce material
from this work should be sent to:
Permissions
University of Texas Press
P.O. Box 7819
Austin, TX 78713-7819
http://utpress.utexas.edu/about/book-permissions
Th e paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Israel, Matthew (Matthew Winer)
Kill for peace : American artists against the Vietnam War / by Matthew Israel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-292-74542-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-292-74830-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Art, American—20th century—Th emes, motives. 2. Art—Political aspects—
United States—History—20th century. 3. Art and society—United States—
History—20th century. 4. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—
Protest movements—United States.  I. Title.
N6512.I87 2013
701'.03097309046—dc23
2012042868
doi:10.7560/745421
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To Samara, Ben, Amina, Mom, and Dad;
and in memory of Pop.
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It is essential that the community of artists and civilized men
register dissent, outrage, and infi nite grief as spokesmen
for the conscience of society.
Dore Ashton
In short, America was . . . engaged in a battle at home, a combat whose
subject—the bloody military incursions being fought thousands of miles
away—existed only in absence. In this country, the antiwar movement
and the defenders of the Pentagon were ultimately waging a war
of representation, a battle of words and images.
Maurice Berger
One continuing sociological characteristic of these rebellions of the
oppressed has been their “spontaneous,” short-term character. Th ey have
come and they have gone, having such eff ect as they did. When the next such
rebellion came, it normally had little explicit relationship with the previous
one. Indeed this has been one of the great strengths of the world’s ruling
strata throughout history—the non-continuity of rebellion.
Giovan ni Arrighi
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Con tents
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction 1
1. Th e Beginnings of the Vietnam War and the Antiwar Movement 12
2. Th e Beginnings of Artistic Antiwar Engagement: Artists and
Writers Protest and the Artists’ Protest Committee 23
3. Creating Antiwar Art 36
4. Angry Arts 68
5. 1968 102
6. 1969: AWC, Dead Babies, Dead American Soldiers 128
7. Th e Invasion of Cambodia, the New York Art Strike, and
Conceptual Art as Antiwar 147
8. Toward an End 161
Conclusion 173
Notes 188
Selected Bibliography 227
Index 240
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Acknowledgments
Throughout this project many people and institutions provided me
with support. I would like to thank the following: Vito Acconci, Carl Andre,
Artsy Daniel Belasco, Catherine Belloy, Maurice Berger, Judith Bernstein, Mel
Bochner, Kay Brown, Charles Cajori, G. B. Carson, Vija Celmins, the Center
for the Study of Political Graphics, Seymour Chwast, Carter Cleveland, Lin-
coln Cushing, Sebastian Cwilich, the Department of Art History at New York
University, Frederick Doner, David Douglas Duncan, Erin Edmison, the Felix
Gonzalez-Torres Foundation, James Foster, Gagosian Gallery, Rupert Gar-
cia, the Getty Research Institute, Evelyn Glaubman, Robert Goodnough, Red
Grooms, Priscilla Harmel, Dakin Hart, Jon Hendricks, Steven Heller, Ales-
sandra Henderson, Chrissie Iles, Ann Imbrie, Robert Indiana, the Inst itute
of Fine Arts at New York University, (my brother) Jesse Israel, Pepe Karmel,
Stephen Koch, Jesse Krotick, Lucy Lippard, Robert Lubar, Matthew Marks
Gallery, Marc Morrel, Robert Morris, Th e Museum o f Modern Art, New York
Molly Nesbit, Linda Nochlin, Michele Oka Doner, the Paula Cooper Gallery,
David Platzker, Violet Ray, Martha Rosler, Peter Saul, Carolee Schneemann,
Simon Shagrin, Alan Shapiro, Ava Shapiro, Michal Shapiro, Joel Smith, May
Stevens, Robert Storr, Priscilla Soucek, Jeff rey Weiss, (my grandmother) Ev-
elyn Winer, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
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K I L L F O R P E A C E
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