2. Beginnings
• 1960s
• Reaction to Abstract Expressionism
• Reduction
Night Creatures Untitled, 1969
—Lee Krasner —Donald Judd
3. Philosophy
• Eliminate emotions, allusions, and meanings
• Create a single object
• Move away from illusions and alternate perceptions
• Experience reality more directly
Artists
• Frank Stella • Carl Andre • Robert Morris
• Donald Judd • Sol LeWitt • Dan Flavin
4. Frank Stella
• Born 1936
• First minimalist
• Black paintings
• Portrait series
• Valparaiso series
• Ironic titles
“My painting is based on the fact that only what can be seen is
there. It really is an object […] you can see the whole without
confusion […] What you see is what you see.”
9. THE MAIN THING
WRONG
WITH PAINTING
IS THAT IT IS A RECTANGULAR PLANE PLACED FLAT AGAINST ATHE
A RECTANGLE IS A SHAPE
WALL.
ITSELF; IT IS OBVIOUSLY THE
WHOLE SHAPE; IT DETERMINES AND LIMITS THE
ARRANGEMENT OF WHATEVER IS ON OR INSIDE OF IT.
—Donald Judd
10. Frank Stella
Portrait Series, 1963
• Irregular shapes
• Internally defined
• Self-referential
• Objects
Carl Andre, Sidney Guberman, Leo Castelli
11. Frank Stella
Valparaiso Series
• Colorful
Valparaiso Flesh and Green, 1963
• Irregular shapes
—Frank Stella
• Internally defined
• Self-referential
• Objects
Empress of India, 1965
—Frank Stella
12. Donald Judd
• 1928—1994
• Most Famous
• Simplicity
• Boxes
• Stacks
• Progressions
• Industrial
• Specific Objects
“It isn’t necessary for a work to have a lot of things to look at, to
compare, to analyze one by one, to contemplate. The thing as a
whole, its quality as a whole, is what is interesting. The main things
are alone and are more intense, clear and powerful.”
19. Carl Andre
• Born 1935
• Close friend with Frank
Stella
• Influenced by
“constructivist” technique
and works by Ezra Pound
among other pieces of
literature
“Art excludes the unnecessary.
[…] I’m not interested in
expression or sensitivity.”
21. •Before Carl Andre moved
to sculpture, he was
working with literature and
philosophy
•Andre was influenced by
the works of Ezra pound
•These poems came in the
transition between
literature and sculpture
•The “poems” are similar to
minimalist sculpture in that
the content is not
Poem, 1966 important, while the
—Carl Andre physical structure is
22. Carl Andre
Andre worked with three types of
minimalist sculpture in his career:
1. Sculpture as form
2. Sculpture as structure
3. Sculpture as place
23. Sculpture as Form
•Pieces usually consisted of
wooden blocks
•Always comprised of
geometric shapes
•Stand vertical
•No complex shapes
Timber Piece (Well), 1962
—Carl Andre
27. Sculpture as Place
•Less rigid characteristics
than the other types of
sculpture
•Pieces spread across the
ground
•No definite size, shape, or
material used
•The piece of art defines
the space that it occupies
Copper Ribbon, 1969
—Carl Andre
29. Sol LeWitt
• 1928—2007
• Minimalist and
Conceptualist
• Repetitive forms
• Modular forms
• Seriality
“The use of serial ideas became my vocabulary, which by using
basic forms made a process of ideas.”
34. Robert Morris
• Born 1931
• Minimalist and
Conceptualist
• Outdoor art
• Viewer involvement
“Simplicity of shape does
not necessarily equate to
simplicity of experience.”
38. Dan Flavin
• 1933—1996
• Fluorescent lights
• Wanted viewers to
experience his art
• Influenced by lighting at
churches
• Started with abstract
expressionism
• First experimented with
found objects
“It is what it is, and it ain't
nothin' else... Everything is
clearly, openly, plainly
delivered.”
45. Criticism
• Not the work of the
artists
• No skill
• No meaning
• Not beautiful
• Not creative
Equivalent VIII, 1966
—Carl Andre
46. Minimalism
• Eliminate the unnecessary
• Create a single object
• Experience reality in the most direct way
“Everything is still. Everything is repeated. Everything is
obvious. The accumulation of facts collapses perception.
The indicated sum of these simple series is irreducible
complexity. And impenetrable chaos. They astound.”
—Mel Bochner
Hinweis der Redaktion
“I want it to be simple; also I want it to be non-naturalistic, non-imaginistic, and non-expressionistic.”
“I want it to be simple; also I want it to be non-naturalistic, non-imaginistic, and non-expressionistic.” judd
“I want it to be simple; also I want it to be non-naturalistic, non-imaginistic, and non-expressionistic.” judd
“I want it to be simple; also I want it to be non-naturalistic, non-imaginistic, and non-expressionistic.” judd
“I want it to be simple; also I want it to be non-naturalistic, non-imaginistic, and non-expressionistic.” judd
