Sandip K Luis

MINIMALISM AND POSTMINIMALISM

2024
SCULPTURE BEFORE THE WWII
The Endless Column (1938) and Bird in
Space (1919) Constantin Brâncuși
SCULPTURE AFTER THE WWII

Man Pointing 5 (1957) by

Swiss sculptor Alberto
Giacometti
SCULPTURE AFTER THE WWII

American sculptor David Smith

POST-PAINTERLY
ABSTRACTION

FRANK STELLA
POST-PAINTERLY
ABSTRACTION
• Extreme abstraction/purification in sculpture in the 1960s

• In search of “objecthood/वस्तु-त्व” (the essential qualities which make an object, object

(वे आवश्यक गण ु जो ककसी वस्तु को वस्तु बनाते हैं |), rejecting the ‘artfulness’ of art.

• Factory/machine productivity, deliberately lacking human touch and emotiveness (unlike

Abstract Expressionism) फ़ैक्टरी/मशीन उत्पादकता, जानबझ ू कर मानवीय स्पशश और
भावनात्मकता का अभाव |

ALSO KNOWN AS ‘ABC ART’ AND ‘LITERAL ART’ MINIMALISM

TONY SMITH
MINIMALISM
DONALD JUDD
MINIMALISM
CARL ANDRE
MINIMALISM
ROBERT MORRIS
MINIMALISM
SOL LEWITT
MINIMALISM
DAN FLAVIN
MINIMALISM
DAN FLAVIN
MINIMALISM
Link
The “60s” (1960s)

• The anti-establishment youth/student movement in the West

• Sexual Revolution (Feminist/LGBT movements) in the West
• The Civil Rights Movement against racial discrimination in the US
• Anti-Vietnam War Protests in the US
• The late-1960s reaction to the cold and austere rationalism of Minimalism

• Use of everyday, ephemeral (अल्पकालिक), and handmade materials and objects.

• Considering art making and viewing as a visceral/affective/embodied experience

(आंतीय/भावात्मक/सन्ननहहत अनभ ु व)

• Practiced particularly by women sculptors.

• Further developed into Site-Specific/Land/Process Art

POSTMINIMALISM
 EVA HESSE
POSTMINIMALISM
 EVA HESSE
Repetition Nineteen III, fiberglass, 1968 POSTMINIMALISM
LOUISE NEVELSON
POSTMINIMALISM
Dawn's Staff, 1969-1975, wood painted white

LOUISE NEVELSON
POSTMINIMALISM
LOUISE BOURGEOISE
POSTMINIMALISM
Le Trani Episode, 1971

“Since I am exclusively concerned, at least consciously, with

formal perfection, I allow myself to follow blindly the images that
suggest themselves to me. There has always been sexual
suggestiveness in my work. Sometimes I am totally concerned with
female shapes – clusters of breasts like clouds – but often I
LOUISE BOURGEOISE
merge the imagery – phallic breasts, male and female, active
and passive” – L B. POSTMINIMALISM
Full video: Link
Spiral Jetty (1970), a site-specific/land/process art near the Great Salt Lake
ROBERT SMITHSON
POSTMINIMALISM
Tilted Arc (1981), a site-specific work at Federal Plaza (NY), removed in
1989.

RICHARD SERRA
POSTMINIMALISM
Link
TUTORIAL ASSIGNMENT TOPICS

• Mexican Mural Movement and Frida Kahlo – Amit and Neha

• Harlem Renaissance – Saima
• American Social Realism (Ashcan School, Regionalists, Shahn, and Hopper) – Varun and Shreya
• Abstract Expressionism – Shinjiny
• Op and Pop – Suraj
• Minimalism – Sandeep

Presentation date: 18 April