Art &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; Outrage , livre ebook

Pluto Press - John A. Walker

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

171 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

When art hits the headlines, it is usually because it has caused offence or is perceived by the media to have shock-value. Over the last fifty years many artists have been censored, vilified, accused of blasphemy and obscenity, threatened with violence, prosecuted and even imprisoned. Their work has been trashed by the media and physically attacked by the public.

In Art & Outrage, John A. Walker covers the period from the late 1940s to the 1990s to provide the first detailed survey of the most prominent cases of art that has scandalised. The work of some of Britain’s leading, and less well known, painters and sculptors of the post-war period is considered, such as Richard Hamilton, Bryan Organ, Rachel Whiteread, Reg Butler, Damien Hirst, Jamie Wagg, Barry Flanagan and Antony Gormley. Included are works made famous by the media, such as Carl Andre’s Tate Gallery installation of 120 bricks, Rick Gibson’s foetus earrings, Anthony-Noel Kelly’s cast body-parts sculptures and Marcus Harvey’s portrait of Myra Hindley.

Walker describes how each incident emerged, considers the arguments for and against, and examines how each was concluded. While broadly sympathetic to radical contemporary art, Walker has some residual sympathy for the layperson’s bafflement and antagonism. This is a scholarly yet accessible study of the interface between art, society and mass media which offers an alternative history of post-war British art and attitudes.

Introduction

1. 1949: Munnings and Modern Art

2. 1951: Gear and Abstraction.

3. 1953: The Cold War Monument that was never Built.

4. 1958: The Strange Case of William Green.

5. 1966: Art and Destruction.

6. 1967: Swingeing London.

7. 1971: The Catfish Controversy.

8. 1972: Modern Sculpture Vandalised to Destruction.

9. 1973: Womanpower Exhibition provokes Strong Reaction.

10. 1974: The Oak Tree that looked like a Glass of Water.

11. 1976: Bricks and Brickbats.

12. 1976: Pole-carrying Performance arouses Derision.

13. 1976: Can Dirty Nappies be Art?

14. 1976: From Shock Art to Shock Rock.

15. 1977: Hayward Annual savaged by Critics and a TV Journalist.

16. 1979: The Arts Council, Censorship and the Lives Exhibition.

17. 1979: Morgan's Wall: the Destruction of a Community Mural.

18. 1980: Performers Jailed for wearing 'Rude' costumes - crocheted penises

19. 1981: Portrait of Lady Di Attacked.

20. 1983-96: The War of Little Sparta.

21. 1983: The Destruction of Polaris.

22. 1984: Rape Picture 'Too Disturbing'.

23. 1984: Attack on 'Porno-Art' in Leeds.

24. 1986-87: Art, Money and the Bank of England.

25. 1986: Erotic or Sexist Art?

26. 1987: The Case of the Foetus Earrings.

27. 1988: Nude Painting deemed too Rude for Royal Eyes.

28. 1992: British Gulf War Painting accused of Anti- Americanism.

29. 1993: The House that was no longer a Home.

30. 1993: Outsiders seek to Outrage the Artworld.

31. 1993: The Artist who adores Little Girls.

32. 1994: Hirst's Lamb Vandalised.

33. 1994: Painting of Rape too brutal for Imperial War Museum.

34. 1994: Child Murder, a Suitable Subject for Art?

35. 1996: Perversity and Pleasure: The Art of Dinos and Jake Chapman.

36. 1996: Punishing a Graffiti Artist.

37. 1997: A 'Sick, Disgusting, Evil, Hideous' portrait of Myra Hindley.

38. 1998: An Angel descends on the North and divides the Community.

39. 1998: Sculptor found Guilty of Stealing Body- parts

Further Reading

Index

Sujets

Science

Informations

Publié par	Pluto Press
Date de parution	20 novembre 1998
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781783718221
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1650€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

ART AND OUTRAGE
ART AND OUTRAGE:
Provocation, Controversy and the Visual Arts
JOHN A. WALKER
First published 1999 by PLUTO PRESS 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
Copyright © John A. Walker 1999
The right of John A. Walker to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN   978 0 7453 1354 2   Paperback ISBN   978 1 7837 1877 1   PDF eBook ISBN   978 1 7837 1822 1   ePub eBook ISBN   978 1 7837 1823 8   Kindle eBook
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Walker, John Albert, 1938–
Art and outrage : provocation, controversy and the visual arts / John A. Walker
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–7453–1359–0 (hbk)
1. Arts, Modern—20th century—Great Britain—Public opinion. 2. Public opinion—Great Britain. I. Title.
NX543.W345    1999
709’.04’007441—dc21
98-29582 CIP
Designed, typeset and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Production Services, Chadlington, OX7 3LN Printed on Demand by CPI Antony Rowe, Eastbourne
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
   1 .
1949: Munnings and Modern Art
   2 .
1951: Gear and Abstraction
   3 .
1953: The Cold War Monument That Was Never Built
   4 .
1958: The Strange Case of William Green
   5 .
1966: Art and Destruction
   6 .
1967: Swingeing London
   7 .
1971: The Catfish Controversy
   8 .
1972: Modern Sculpture Vandalised to Destruction
   9 .
1973: Womanpower Exhibition Provokes Strong Reactions
10 .
1974: The Oak Tree That Looked Like a Glass of Water
11 .
1976: Bricks and Brickbats
12 .
1976: Pole-carrying Performance Arouses Derision
13 .
1976: Can Dirty Nappies Be Art?
14 .
1976: From Shock Art to Shock Rock
15 .
1977: Hayward Annual Exhibition Savaged by Critics and a TV Journalist
16 .
1979: The Arts Council, Censorship and the Lives Exhibition
17 .
1979: Morgan’s Wall : the Destruction of a Community Mural
18 .
1980: Performers Jailed for Wearing ‘Rude’ Costumes
19 .
1981: Portrait of Lady Di Attacked
20 .
1983–96: The War of Little Sparta
21 .
1983: The Destruction of Polaris
22 .
1984: Rape Picture ‘Too Disturbing’
23 .
1984: Attack on ‘Torno-Art’ in Leeds
24 .
1986–87: Art, Money and the Bank of England
25 .
1986: Erotic or Sexist Art?
26 .
1987–89: The Case of the Foetus Earrings
27 .
1988: Nude Painting Deemed Too Rude for Royal Eyes
28 .
1992: British Gulf War Painting Accused of Anti-Americanism
29 .
1993: The House That Was No longer a Home
30 .
1993–94: Outsiders Seek to Outrage the Art World
31 .
1993: The Artist Who Adores Little Girls
32 .
1994: Hirst’s Lamb Vandalised
33 .
1994: Painting of Rape Too Brutal for Imperial War Museum
34 .
1994: Child Murder – A Suitable Subject for Art?
35 .
1996: Perversity and Pleasure – The Art of Dinos and Jake Chapman
36 .
1996: Punishing a Graffiti Artist
37 .
1997: A ‘Sick, Disgusting, Evil, Hideous’ Portrait of Myra Hindley
38 .
1998: An Angel Descends on the North and Divides the Community
39 .
1998: Sculptor found Guilty of Stealing Body Parts
Notes
Index
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Anne Beech and Robert Webb of Pluto Press for their encouragement and editorial skills, and to Middlesex University for research funds which have provided some relief from teaching duties and contributed towards the cost of illustrations.
A book of this kind is necessarily dependent upon the published writings of many newspaper and magazine journalists, art critics and historians. I would like to thank all those whose work I have consulted and used. Thanks are also due to the Artangel Trust, the Angela Flowers Gallery, Mark Ashton (of the Camden Local Studies and Archive Centre), Naomi Bache for the loan of her dissertation Can Art Still Shock? (Middlesex University, 1996), Bryan Biggs (of the Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool), Jon Bird (of Middlesex University), Marianne Boesky (of Boesky & Calley Fine Arts, New York), Jenni Boswell-Jones, JoAnne Brooks (director of The Archives of J.S.G. Boggs), Barry Curtis (of Middlesex University), Katy Deepwell, Marianne Dickson (assistant keeper of the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull), Rose Frayn, Margaret Garlake, David Gear, Pamela Griffin (of the Hayward Gallery library), Peter Hagerty, Beth Houghton (head of the Tate Library and Archive), Jay Joplin (of the White Cube Gallery), London Animal Action, Kate Love, Norbert Lynton, Elisabeth McCrae (of the Lisson Gallery), Walter Macauley (chief librarian of the Belfast Telegraph, Daily Mail and The Evening News/Associated Newspapers Ltd), Derek Manley, Jayne Marsden (deputy chief librarian of the Yorkshire Post ), Anne Massey, Ian Ritchie (of the National Portrait Gallery Archive), Steve Robb, Richard Sewell, Kate Smith, R. Schopen (of the PR department of Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council), Express Newspapers PLC, the Hull Daily Mail , the Liverpool Post & Echo , the East Anglian Daily Times , Peter Sylveire, the staff of the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Harriet Vyner, Tim Wilcox (of Manchester City Art Gallery), Simon Wilson and Lyndsey Morgan (of the Tate Gallery), Jennifer Wood (of the Imperial War Museum Art Department), and the Tampa Museum of Art, Florida.
I am grateful to the following artists and photographers for information and permission to reproduce their work: Conrad Atkinson, Alice Beberman/Chute, Anne Berg, J.S.G. Boggs, Sue Coe, Bill Drummond (of the K Foundation), Ian Hamilton Finlay, William Gear, William Green, Antony Gormley, Rick Gibson, Newton Harrison, Marcus Harvey, Anthony-Noel Kelly, Mary Kelly, John Latham, Leeds United, David Mach, Kippa Matthews, Gustav Metzger, Elizabeth Moore, Jacqueline Morreau, David Muscroft, Hermann Nitsch, Tony Rickaby, Rebecca Scott, Beverly Skinner, Monica Sjöö, Sam Taylor-Wood and Jamie Wagg.
Thanks also to Tim Marlow, editor of tate: the art magazine , for permission to reproduce my article about Marcus Harvey’s Myra painting. (The article has been slightly revised.)
While every effort has been made to trace the copyright owners of the illustrations, the author/publisher will be glad to hear from any we have not been able to contact.
In order to avoid the scholarly apparatus of references and footnotes in the examples, I have dispensed with footnote numbers and simply listed, in date of publication order, the sources of information at the end of the book.
Introduction
Shock in Modern Art
Before 1800 European artists may have set out to astonish, impress and please their patrons and others who viewed their work but the idea of shocking and outraging them would not have crossed their minds. In contrast, during the nineteenth century, French artists such as Cézanne, Courbet, Daumier, Manet and Rodin managed to shock and offend conservative critics and the public with paintings, caricatures and sculptures that were radical in either form or content. The combination of an avant-garde ideology – ‘we artists lead the way and march ahead of public taste’ – and a capitalist market in art – in which artists competed against one another for sales, commissions, state approval and the attention of dealers, collectors and critics – encouraged individualism and extremism.
There were times, however, when artists collaborated and formed self-help groups – such as the Impressionists and the Nabis – but these were also rival factions which sought to differentiate themselves by means of style and aesthetic philosophy. Market and other imperatives, therefore, put a premium on such values as difference, invention, experiment, originality, newness or novelty. By the early twentieth century harmonious, organic compositions were replaced by fragmented, inconsistent and dissonant compositions. In many instances, the traditional artistic value of beauty was replaced by cults of the primitive and the ugly – witness Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907). With Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian came abstract art, a type of visual sign many lay people found incomprehensible or meaningless.
Shock tactics were increasingly adopted by the radical artists who belonged to the avant-garde movements of the period 1900 to 1939, such as, for instance, by the Futurists, Dadaists, Vorticists and Surrealists. One of the most famous shock effects within Surrealism was the slicing of a woman’s eye (actually a dead cow’s eye) in Un Chien Andalou , the film produced by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí in 1929. It is a tribute to the fevered imaginations of these two artists that this scene still causes those who have not seen it before to gasp in horror.
The artists’ desire to startle and outrage audiences – especially those belonging to the ruling bourgeois class – was often politically motivated by a desire to contribute to social change by either reform or revolution, despite the fact that they espoused quite distinct political creeds: there were anarchists, socialists, communists, conservatives and fascists among them.
Peter Bürger has summed up the artists’ transformatory ambition, which paradoxically was associated with a refusal to communicate in commonly understood languages, as follows:

In the historical avant-garde movements, shocking the recipient becomes the dominant principle of artistic intent … refusal to provide meaning is experienced as shock … And this is the intention of the avant-garde artist, who hopes that such withdrawal of meaning will direct the reader’s attention to the fact that the conduct of one’s life is questionable and that it is necessary to change it. Shock is aimed for as a stimulus … to break through aesthetic immanence and to usher in (initiate) a change in the recipient’s life praxis. 1

That this p