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