Modern Art. A Very Short Introduction

168 Pages·2005·3.59 MB·English

by  David Cottington

Modern Art: A Very Short Introduction
Very Short Introductions are for anyone wanting a stimulating
and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts, and have
been published in more than 25 languages worldwide.
The series began in 1995, and now represents a wide variety of topics
in history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities. Over the next
few years it will grow to a library of around 200 volumes – a Very Short
Introduction to everything from ancient Egypt and Indian philosophy to
conceptual art and cosmology.
Very Short Introductions available now:
ANARCHISM Colin Ward CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead
ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw CLASSICS Mary Beard and
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY John Henderson
Julia Annas CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard
ANCIENT WARFARE THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon
Harry Sidebottom Continental Philosophy
THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE Simon Critchley
John Blair COSMOLOGY Peter Coles
ANIMAL RIGHTS CRYPTOGRAPHY
David DeGrazia Fred Piper and Sean Murphy
ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn DADA AND SURREALISM
ARCHITECTURE David Hopkins
Andrew Ballantyne Darwin Jonathan Howard
ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes Democracy Bernard Crick
ART HISTORY Dana Arnold DESCARTES Tom Sorell
ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland DRUGS Leslie Iversen
THE HISTORY OF THE EARTH Martin Redfern
ASTRONOMY Michael Hoskin EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch
Atheism Julian Baggini EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
Augustine Henry Chadwick BRITAIN Paul Langford
BARTHES Jonathan Culler EMOTION Dylan Evans
THE BIBLE John Riches EMPIRE Stephen Howe
BRITISH POLITICS ENGELS Terrell Carver
Anthony Wright Ethics Simon Blackburn
Buddha Michael Carrithers The European Union
BUDDHISM Damien Keown John Pinder
CAPITALISM James Fulcher EVOLUTION
THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe Brian and Deborah Charlesworth
CHOICE THEORY FASCISM Kevin Passmore
Michael Allingham THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson William Doyle
FREE WILL Thomas Pink NINETEENTH-CENTURY
Freud Anthony Storr BRITAIN Christopher Harvie and
Galileo Stillman Drake H. C. G. Matthew
Gandhi Bhikhu Parekh NORTHERN IRELAND
GLOBALIZATION Manfred Steger Marc Mulholland
GLOBAL WARMING Mark Maslin PARTICLE PHYSICS
HEGEL Peter Singer Frank Close
HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood paul E. P. Sanders
HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson Philosophy Edward Craig
HINDUISM Kim Knott PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
HISTORY John H. Arnold Samir Okasha
HOBBES Richard Tuck PLATO Julia Annas
HUME A. J. Ayer POLITICS Kenneth Minogue
IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Indian Philosophy David Miller
Sue Hamilton POSTCOLONIALISM
Intelligence Ian J. Deary Robert Young
ISLAM Malise Ruthven POSTMODERNISM
JUDAISM Norman Solomon Christopher Butler
Jung Anthony Stevens POSTSTRUCTURALISM
KAFKA Ritchie Robertson Catherine Belsey
KANT Roger Scruton PREHISTORY Chris Gosden
KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY
THE KORAN Michael Cook Catherine Osborne
LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews Psychology Gillian Butler and
LITERARY THEORY Freda McManus
Jonathan Culler QUANTUM THEORY
LOCKE John Dunn John Polkinghorne
LOGIC Graham Priest ROMAN BRITAIN
MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner Peter Salway
MARX Peter Singer ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler
MATHEMATICS RUSSELL A. C. Grayling
Timothy Gowers RUSSIAN LITERATURE
MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope Catriona Kelly
MEDIEVAL BRITAIN THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffiths S. A. Smith
MODERN ART David Cottington SCHIZOPHRENIA
MODERN IRELAND Senia Pasˇeta Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone
MOLECULES Philip Ball SCHOPENHAUER
MUSIC Nicholas Cook Christopher Janaway
Myth Robert A. Segal SHAKESPEARE
NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner Germaine Greer
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TERRORISM Charles Townshend
ANTHROPOLOGY THEOLOGY David F. Ford
John Monaghan and Peter Just THE TUDORS John Guy
SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce TWENTIETH-CENTURY
Socrates C. C. W. Taylor BRITAIN Kenneth O. Morgan
SPINOZA Roger Scruton Wittgenstein A. C. Grayling
STUART BRITAIN John Morrill WORLD MUSIC Philip Bohlman
Available soon:
AFRICAN HISTORY FUNDAMENTALISM
John Parker and Richard Rathbone Malise Ruthven
THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea Habermas Gordon Finlayson
BUDDHIST ETHICS HIROSHIMA B. R. Tomlinson
Damien Keown HUMAN EVOLUTION
CHAOS Leonard Smith Bernard Wood
CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE Paul Wilkinson
Robert Tavernor JAZZ Brian Morton
CLONING Arlene Judith Klotzko MANDELA Tom Lodge
CONSCIOUSNESS Sue Blackmore THE MIND Martin Davies
CONTEMPORARY ART NATIONALISM Steven Grosby
Julian Stallabrass PERCEPTION Richard Gregory
THE CRUSADES PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Christopher Tyerman Jack Copeland and Diane Proudfoot
Derrida Simon Glendinning PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards
DESIGN John Heskett THE RAJ Denis Judd
Dinosaurs David Norman THE RENAISSANCE
DREAMING J. Allan Hobson Jerry Brotton
ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta RENAISSANCE ART
THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball Geraldine Johnson
THE END OF THE WORLD ROMAN EMPIRE
Bill McGuire Christopher Kelly
EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn SARTRE Christina Howells
FEMINISM Margaret Walters THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
THE FIRST WORLD WAR Helen Graham
Michael Howard TIME Leofranc Holford-Strevens
FOUCAULT Garry Gutting TRAGEDY Adrian Poole
For more information visit our web site
www.oup.co.uk/vsi/
David Cottington
MODERN ART
A Very Short Introduction
1
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide in
OxfordNew York
AucklandCape TownDar es SalaamHong Kong KarachiKuala Lumpur
MadridMelbourneMexico City NairobiNew DelhiShanghaiTaipeiToronto
With offices in
ArgentinaAustriaBrazilChileCzech RepublicFranceGreece
GuatemalaHungaryItaly Japan South KoreaPolandPortugal
Singapore SwitzerlandThailandTurkeyUkraineVietnam
Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and in certain other countries
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York
© David Cottington 2005
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
First published as a Very Short Introduction 2005
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,
Oxford University Press, at the address above
You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Cottington, David.
Modern art: a very short introduction/David Cottington.
p. cm.—(Very short introductions)
1. Art, Modern—20th century. 2. Art, Modern—19th century.
I. Title II. Series
N6490.C68 2005 709′.04—dc22 2004027127
ISBN 0–19–280364–6
357910 8642
Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in Great Britain by
TJ International Ltd., Padstow, Cornwall
Contents
List of illustrations and plates viii
Introduction: modern art – monument or mockery? 1
1
Tracking the avant-garde 17
2
Modern media, modern messages 43
3
From Picasso to pop idols: the eminence of the artist 71
4
Alchemical practices: modern art and consumerism 97
5
Past the post: whatever next? 125
Further reading 142
Index 147
List of illustrations
1 Damien Hirst, The 5 Vladimir Tatlin,
Physical Impossibility of Monument to the
Death in the Mind of Third International
Someone Living (1991) 7 (1920) 24
© Damien Hirst. Courtesy of Jay © DACS 2005. The Arts
Jopling/White Cube Gallery, Council of Great Britain
London
6 Chart prepared by
2 Film still from Un Chien Alfred H. Barr, Jr, for
andalou [An Andalusian the 1936 exhibition
Dog] (1928) by Luis catalogue Cubism
Bun˜uel and Salvador and Abstract Art 31
Dali 8 Museum of Modern Art,
Ronald Grant Archive New York/Scala, Florence
3 Edouard Manet, Le 7 Jackson Pollock at
Déjeuner sur l’Herbe work on No. 32 (1950) 49
[The Picnic Luncheon] National Portrait Gallery,
(1863) 12 Smithsonian Institute,
Washington/Scala,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris/
Florence. Photo: Hans
www.bridgeman.co.uk
Namuth
4 Marcel Duchamp,
Bottlerack (1914) 22
© Succession Marcel Duchamp/
ADAGP, Paris/DACS, London
2005. Private collection/
www.bridgeman.co.uk
8 Frank Stella (b. 1936): 13 Robert Morris,
Takht-I Sulayman I from Untitled (1965) 67
the Protractor Series, © ARS, New York/DACS,
1967. Acrylic and London 2005. Tate Modern,
London, 2004
flourescent acrylic
on canvas. 54
14 Cindy Sherman,
© ARS, New York/DACS,
Untitled Film Still
London 2005. Present
#15 (1978) 80
whereabouts unknown
© Cindy Sherman. Metro
9 Gerhard Richter, Pictures, New York
Betty (1988) 58
15 Judy Chicago, The
© Gerhard Richter. The Saint
Dinner Party (1979) 82
Louis Art Museum. Funds given
by Mr. and Mrs. R. Crosby © ARS, New York/DACS,
Kemper Jr., through the Crosby London 2005. The Brooklyn
Kemper Foundation, The Arthur Museum of Art, New York. Gift of
and Helen Baer Charitable the Elizabeth A. Sackler
Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Foundation. Photo: Donald
Van-Lear Black III, Anabeth Woodman
Calkins and John Weil, Mr. and
Mrs. Gary Wolff, the Honorable 16 Eva Hesse, Untitled,
and Mrs. Thomas F. Eagleton; or Not Yet (1967) 85
Museum Purchase, Dr. and
© The Estate of Eva Hesse.
Mrs. Harold J. Joseph, and Mrs.
Hauser & Wirth, Zurich/London.
Edward Mallinckrodt, by exchange
Photo: © Christie’s Images
10 Pablo Picasso, Still
17 David Smith, Cubi
Life (1914) 59
XXVII (1965) 103
© Succession Picasso/DACS
© Estate of David Smith/VAGA,
2005. Tate Gallery, London, 2004
New York/DACS, London 2005.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim
11 Pablo Picasso, Still Life
Museum, New York, by exchange,
with Fruit, Wineglass 1967
and Newspaper (1914) 60
© Succession Picasso/DACS 18 Bill Woodrow, Car
2005. The Kreeger Museum, Door, Armchair and
Washington, DC Incident (1981) 104
© Bill Woodrow. Private
12 Robert Rauschenberg,
collection. Photo: Lisson
Monogram (1959) 63 Gallery, London
© Robert Rauschenberg/VAGA,
New York/DACS, London 2005.
Moderna Museet, Stockholm