Pop Art, Op Art and Minimalism:

Late 20th Century American Art

from NOMAs Collection
Teachers Manual

New Orleans Museum of Art

Introduction to the Teachers Manual

This learning resource is intended for teachers of students in Grades 1-12 and in many
cases must be adapted for specific grade levels. We hope that you will use the manual
and accompanying disc to help your students gain an in-depth knowledge of late 20th
century American art and the culture and historical events surrounding the art movements
by utilizing the works in NOMAs permanent collection.

Cover:

Robert Indiana (American, born 1928),

LOVE, Red Blue, 1966 - 97
aluminum with acrylic polyurethane enamel
72 x 72 x 36 in.
New Orleans Museum of Art

Pop Art, Op Art and Minimalism:

Late 20th Century Art from NOMAs Collection
Teachers Manual

Written by
Kathy Alcaine, Curator of Education
Tracy Kennan, Curator of Public Programs

Edited by
Allison Reid, Assistant Director for Education

This workshop and its accompanying materials were underwritten by

The RosaMary Foundation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Looking at Paintings and Sculptures: How to Bring the Art into Your Classroom 1

Pop Art, Op Art and Minimalism: Late 20th Century American Art

List of Images

Comparative Timeline

23

Curriculum Objectives

27

Vocabulary

30

Bibliography

34

Webography

35

Looking at Paintings and Sculptures:

How to Bring the Art into Your Classroom
The Education Division at NOMA has organized this packet Pop Art, Op Art and
Minimalism so that you, the educator, will use works of art from our collection and
apply the ideas within the art into your lesson plans. Included in this workshop packet is
a CD-ROM loaded with the images that we will discuss. It will also allow you and your
class will have a virtual tour of NOMAs
wonderful collection of modern and
contemporary art. You will be able to visually
interpret the work and encourage your
students to do the same. By using the essay
on modern and contemporary art and the
image description list, you understanding of
the works of art will deepen. You will then be
able to utilize the comparative timeline and
vocabulary list to apply the information to the
works of art. This will help you to put the
works of art into a historical and cultural
context. We have provided suggestions for
lesson plans correlating with the Louisiana
Benchmarks and Standards to aid in your
preparations. Using this as a pre-visit activity
before a NOMA field trip is an excellent way
to prepare your students for their museum
visit and to create a well-rounded experience
James Rosenquist (American, born 1933), Hybiscus and
Woman, 1987, 62 x 54
of looking at art.
Looking at Paintings
Paintings can be enjoyed in many different ways. Beginning with the purely visual sense,
the viewer sees the work of art and usually tries to understand what is painted. Is it a
person? Is it a landscape? Is it something that the viewer can identify? How does the
title clue you in to the subject of the painting? The initial response by the viewer is the
most important aspect because it may indicate how the viewer will react to the work of
art. However, you as the educator and your class can understand the painting on a deeper
level. First, you can ask the group a series of questions to help them look at the painting
in great detail. Then, apply the information found in the packet to foster a deeper
understanding of the work of art. This packet will provide you with several universal
questions to ask when examining an artwork, as well as hints for careful observation to
unlock the meanings within the artwork.
When you first approach the painting, look at it entirely. Have the group describe the
entire scene. Notice the paint application, the multiple layers of scenes or objects, or the
way the figure or still-life is depicted. Describe each element. How is the paint applied?

Does it give the illusion of space? Does it give the illusion of movement? Is it thickly
painted or can you barely see a brushstroke? What are the things that you recognize?
How can the group describe these elements to each other?
Many artists use a palette of colors to imply an overall feeling. What is the overall tone
or color scheme that the artist used? You may have an association with particular shades
of color such as warm colors and cool colors. Is it orange or red that looks like a bright
sun shining or is it a shade of green that looks lush and cool? Or is it very dark with spots
of added color? How does the painting make you feel?
What materials did the artist use? Is it painted on
canvas? Is it painted with oil or acrylic? How thick
or thin is the paint? How realistic or abstract is the
scene? What might have influenced the artist? Did
the artist choose advertisements for inspiration?
Describe how the advertisements were used. Did the
artist use found objects? What is the impression of
the found objects? Did the artist avoid any particular
association to nature by creating an abstract work of
art? Describe how this was done. Do you find any
connection with nature in the abstract work?
After contemplating the painting, read the image
description of the work of art in the packet. How
Louise Nevelson (born Russia, American,
does this information add to what you have
1900-1987), Cascades: Perpendiculars,
discovered about the painting? Does it answer some XVIII, 1980-1982, wood, black paint, 55 x
44x 8 in.
of your questions? What things do you know about
this time period or geographical place that you can add to the understanding of the artist
or work of art? Use the comparative timeline to put the painting into a historical and
cultural context. What happened in the artists life and the decade in which this painting
was completed? Is there anything significant that may have influenced the artists
landscape or painting style? You as the educator may be able to explain some of the
events during the period in which these works of art were created. You can add to and
explain the historical or cultural events that occurred in the late 20th century and even
encourage the students to create personal histories of family members or neighbors.
When the group discusses all of the possibilities of the artwork and the information
presented in the packet or found in outside research, you are encouraged to utilize the
curriculum objectives or suggested activities to apply the concepts of the art movements
of the late 20th century to the curricula. By choosing a particular painting or group of
artworks, the subject youre teaching can come alive and inspire creative thought.

Looking at Sculptures
The sculptures chosen for this workshop are found in front of the main building or in
NOMAs Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Sculpture is unique because in most cases, you can
walk around the art and see it from all
angles. Because you can walk around each
work, you can view them in an
environmental setting which becomes
integral to appreciating the art.
The sculptures in this workshop can be
viewed similarly to the paintings previously
discussed. When you see the sculpture,
discuss your initial impression of the work
and the environment surrounding it. What
is the subject of the sculpture? Using your
imagination, what do you think the artist
meant? How does the title fit with the
sculpture? Is the sculpture painted or is the
material the surface color? How does this
affect your impression of the art? Have the
group describe the subject matter, the
materials, and the placement of it in the
Sculpture Garden or around the museum.
In NOMAs Sculpture Garden, as opposed
to the objects inside the main building, you
are allowed to gently touch the sculptures.1
Claes Oldenburg (American, born Sweden 1929) and
How does the sculpture feel? Is it smooth,
Coosje van Bruggen (American, born Netherlands 1942), rough or jagged? What does the sculpture
Safety Pin, 1999, Stainless Steel, 21 x 21 ft.
appear to be made of? Is it the same
material that it is actually made of or is it
created to look like different material? Why do you think the artist chose this material?
How does the material affect the subject matter?
Continue to look at the work. Where is it placed? Is it surrounded by trees or located by
the lagoon? How does this affect the work of art? Do you think the placement adds to its
appreciation? The Sculpture Garden is unique because that the environment becomes a
part of the sculpture. How does the sculpture change when you move around it? What
parts stand out when you move around it?
In the same manner of looking at the paintings, read the image description of the work of
art that is found in the packet. How does this information add to what you have
1

Sculpture is artwork! Please do not climb on the sculpture and please respect the ground cover and
plantings. We ask that you use the Two Finger Rule when touching sculptures. This prevents poking,
scratching or any additional damage to the artwork.

discovered about the sculpture? What did you

discover about the artist and his/her style? Use the
comparative timeline to put the sculpture into a
historical and cultural context. What happened
during the artists life? What happened in the decade
in which this sculpture was completed? How was
the artist effected by the time in which he/she lived
or created the work? Where did the inspiration
come from? Is there anything significant that may
have influenced the creation of the work of art?
Use the lesson plan suggestions to apply what you
have learned about the sculpture and the time in
which it was created. Utilize the lush garden setting
Tony Smith (American, b. 1912),
to incorporate additional aspects into the
Lipizzaner, ca. 1976, painted steel, 9 x 7 ft
curriculum. We hope this will stimulate the
imagination and the artworks will inspire creative thought.

Pop Art, Op Art and Minimalism:

Late 20th Century American Art
American artists of the second half of the 20th Century responded to the many
modern art experiments that emerged during the early part of the century. Artistic
inquiries into both the formal and expressionistic qualities of art were further explored,
and total non-objectivity was strived for by artists who continued in the tradition of the
early modernists. American artists were also heavily influenced by events happening in
the world around them, specifically World War II. In the decades following the war,
artists searched for a new artistic vocabulary to express feelings of horror and
vulnerability elicited by these world events.
Abstract Expressionism developed during the 1950s and became the driving
force in American art of that decade. In the following decades, however, a succession of
art movements began to question the supremacy of this abstract style, in which the artist
and his/her actions were celebrated. This essay briefly examines three modern art
movements from the late 20th century: Pop Art, Op Art and Minimalism. Each of
these tendencies of modern art reflect increased artistic diversity during this era of
experimentation and change.
The Abstract Expressionists of the early 1950s were comprised of a young group
of artists working in New York City. Often referred to as the New York School, artists
such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de
Kooning, and Franz Kline created
works of art in which the natural
representation of objects was of less
importance than the artists feelings
about them or the aesthetic
experience of painting itself.
Pollock is remembered especially
for the large scale canvases that he
spread on the floor of his studio and
on which he dripped and dribbled
paint in a rhythemic fashion.
Energy, emotion and the idea of the
Pollock (American, 1912-1956), Composition (White,
artist at work are as important as the Jackson
Black, Blue and Red on White),1948, casein on paper mounted
finished product itself. In these
on masonite, 22 5/8 x 30 1/2 in.
paintings, the individuality of the
artist is celebrated. New York abstraction became an influencial force on the
international art scene, and even came to be associated with the ideals of American
nationalism-- democracy, freedom and individualism.
The two decades following the second world war were very prosperous years in
America. During this period of unprecedented economic growth, however, social and
cultural issues came to the forefront and became lightening rods for social unrest. The
Civil Rights Movement, rock and roll music, and the Vietnam War strained relations
between Americans both racially and generationally. Crime and violence escalated; drug

abuse rose; leaders were assassinated. Yet during these troubled times, the strength of
popular culture continued to increase so that it became a dominant force in both society
and the arts. The music and film industries refined mass entertainment while the
development of places like Disneyland (which opened in 1955) and the Las Vegas Strip
cemented the idea of the glitzy theme park as the dream vacation destination. The
consumer culture and its by-products of advertisements, billboards and product packaging
provided artists with a fresh iconography so that by mid-50s, young artists began to
challenge long held assumptions concerning the nature of representation. Obliterating the
distinctions between the traditional subjects of high art and the products of popular
culture, these radical young artists initiated a new style of art that was loosely dubbed Pop
Art.
Artists of the late 50s and 60s who enthusiastically embraced popular imagery
such as advertisements, comic strips, celebrities and everyday objects as subjects for art
created a new ideal for what should be considered art. Jasper Johns and Robert
Rauschenberg were two of the first American artists to realize the tremendous
possibilities of their everyday environment in the creation of new subject matter.
Rauschenbergs combine paintings or assemblages often included found objects (like a
quilt or a stuffed chicken) or silk screened images of older works of art or found
advertisements and magazine cut-outs mixed with paint. His work comments on the
power and meaning of objects within his society. Johns, on the other hand, worked in the
labor intensive encaustic process to create images of carefully constructed cultural icons
such as the target and the American flag. Both artists initiated a process of adapting
popular imagery as the subject of art.
This unification of popular and high
culture in art can also be seen in the art of
Andy Warhol, Robert Indiana, George Segal,
Claes Oldenburg and James Rosenquist.
From comics strips to coke bottles, no aspect
of American culture was too mundane to
become the subject of art. Oldenburgs large
scale reproductions of mundane objects, such
as Safety Pin, celebrates the everyday and can
be appreciated by anyone. Artists like Warhol
challenged the historical notion that
championed the handmade over the machinemade by working in modes of mechanical
reproduction such as silk screen printing, a
Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), Mick
method in which ink is forced through a
Jagger, 1975, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 in.
design-bearing screen of silk onto the printing
surface. Warhol dubbed his studio The Factory and often his assistants pulled prints to
his specifications. His reproductions of Brillo boxes, Campbells soup cans and CocaCola bottles presented staples of American life in heroic scale. Warhol also chose heroes
and heroines from the famous of his day. Mick Jagger of 1975 was one of several
celebrity silk screens produced by Warhol. Others subjects include Marilyn Monroe,
Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. In contrast, fellow artist George Segal chose his

subjects from the more mundane aspects of society. Three Figures on Four Park Benches
is a typical scene by Segal in which he represents the isolation and loneliness of
contemporary society. Segals process of wrapping models in plaster before casting the
sculpture in bronze allowed him to capture every element of their clothes and expression.
The art style of James Rosenquist developed from his job as a billboard painter.
Rosenquist was struck by the change in scale derived from the up-close painting of
oversized images as he produced them in relation to the way that they appear from the
street. Everything from beautiful women to automobiles to soft drinks were portrayed in
these large advertisements and Rosenquist adapted the subject matter and scale of the
billboards to his own canvas paintings. Similarly, Robert
Indiana was influenced by road signs, and created his
own personal style that reflected the lettering and
numbers of the American highway. His LOVE icon
appeared originally as a painting in the early 1960s and
became a symbol of the age.
While Pop artists looked to the media and
consumer culture for subject matter, other artists of this
era chose to focus on developing a non-objective
vocabulary. The Minimalists sought to rid their work of
illusionism and instead, tried to create paintings and
sculptures whose subject was the elements of art. Form,
color and line became the topics of these works so that
the presence of the artist was eliminated, something that
Robert Indiana (American, born 1928),
has once been asserted by the Abstract Expressionists.
LOVE, Red Blue, 1966 - 97, aluminum
Minimalists focused on repetition, mathematical
with acrylic polyurethane enamel, 72 x
72 x 36 in.
organization, geometric forms, pristine surfaces,
reducing their forms to their ultimate simplicity and
eschewing emotionalism or symbolism. Sculptors like Joel Shapiro and Tony Smith
create geometrical designs that only hint at any reference to another object. Smiths
Lipizzaner recalls the famous horses only in name. Its stark white geometric forms do not
really reference the forms of a horse except in its most simplified representation.
Similarly, Shapiros Untitled, from a series of his mature works which relate to the
human figure in various poses, can only be considered to be figurative in the most
abstract sense. Shapiro is concerned only with the lines formed by a human in space.
Op Art or Optical Art, like
Minimalism, was a style that sought to escape
subjectivity in art. Op artists also worked
during the 1960s and were interested in forms
of art-making that involved a wide range of
experiments with optics or optical illusions.
These experiments often involved the use of
bright colors, skewed perspectives and natural
or man-made light. Op artist Yaacov Agam
created works that relied on the movement of
the spectator to create the sensation of optical Yaacov Agam (Israeli, b. 1928) Open Spaces,
1970, Stainless Steel, 108 x 96 x 96 in.

illusion. His early projection paintings offered a changing panorama as the viewer moved
from one side of the geometric painting to the other. He would later create sculptures
with similar effect. Open Spaces, located in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden, offers a
changing landscape as one moves around the sculpture. Alma Thomas, who was
associated with the Washington Color School movement, created paintings in which the
idea of movement was implicit. Although she never disassociated herself from nature,
Thomas created abstract works in bright colors that imitated the effect of light moving
through a canopy of leaves.
There were certainly other important art forms that developed during these
decades, and many artists who did not fit neatly into one style or whose work changed
over the years. Judy Chicago is usually
considered the founder of feminist art and from
the mid-1970s through the 1980s she often took
up feminine subject matter. Even her early works
which were inspired by the hard-edged and
optical art styles seem to have a feminine quality.
Let It All Hang Out is an abstract piece which is
as concerned with color and line as it is any
particular subject matter, yet a floral shape can be
discerned. The subject matter of Chicagos later
works, however, became more and more evident.
Her Dinner Party was created during the years
1973 and 1979 and involved the collaboration of
hundreds of women who created sewn placemats
Chicago (American, born 1939), Let It All
and ceramic plates to adorn the 48 foot triangular Judy
Hang Out, 1973, 80 x 80 in.
installation which celebrates the accomplishments
of women throughout history. During the 1970s Americans began to develop a new
social consciousness as liberation movements and principles of equality came to the fore.
Pluralism in art became more evident as artists found new ways to express these social
ideals.
In conclusion, the artistic trends of the second half of the 20th century reflect
societal values as well as the history of modern art. While many of these artists were
attempting to separate their art from the emotional concerns of Abstract Expressionism,
they also reflect the earlier trends of modern art. The formal concerns of the Optical
artists and the Minimalists developed from Cubists experiments with form. Surrealism
and the tenets of Marcel Duchamp and the Dada movement are evident in the Pop artists
focus on everyday objects from popular culture. The art movements that developed in the
1950s, 60s and 70s would continue to influence artists working through the end of the
century and into the next as developments in communication, transportation and the
understanding of diversity opened new national dialogues that have a profound effect on
American art.

Image List
Pop Art: The term Pop Art was developed in the 1960s to describe a style of art that
explores everyday imagery that is a part of consumer culture. Common sources include
advertisements, comic strips, celebrities, consumer product packaging and other objects
of popular culture. Many of the artists who work in this style began their careers as
commercial artists working as window dressers (such as Andy Warhol), billboard
painters (James Rosenquist) or cartoonists (Claes Oldenburg). Popular culture
continues to influence artists working in the contemporary art world.

Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), Mick Jagger, 1975, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40

in.
Andy Warhol is considered to be one of the most influential and most recognizable
American artists of the 20th century.
He coined the phrase In the future,
everyone will be world-famous for
fifteen minutes. Not only is he
known for his celebrity persona, pale
complexion and striking white wig,
he is also known as the artist who
created multiple silk screen images
of Americas popular cultural icons.
He was born in 1928 near Pittsburgh
to a working class family. His
parents were Czech immigrants. He
graduated from Carnegie Institute of
Technology (now Carnegie Mellon)
with a degree in graphic design.
Shortly after graduating in 1949, he
moved to New York City and gained
success as a commercial artist.
Warhol was fascinated by the
concepts of the American dream,
Did you know: Warhol also created numerous
and commercialism. But most
avant-garde films in his lifetime. His first film,
importantly, he desired fame and
Sleep, produced in 1963 consisted of 5 hours and 21
wealth and was fascinated by
minutes of a man sleeping.
anyone who had it. He said
Whats great about this country is
America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things
as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the
President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke and just think, you can drink Coke, too.2
2

Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, (New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich, 1980), 7.

In 1962, Warhol began creating his multiple images of commercial products such as
Campbell soup cans, Coca Cola bottles and Brillo boxes. Influenced by his graphic
design background, he created images of things that fascinated him, usually mass
produced commercial products or celebrity images of movie stars such as Marilyn
Monroe. He also created art with multiple images of horrible car crashes, the electric
chair and the grieving First Lady, Jackie Kennedy. He painted or silk screened all of his
images with the same approach and all were products of the mass consumerism of
American culture which he loved. Early in the 1960s, Warhol created what he called
The Factory where his staff created the multiple silk screened works. Most of the time,
Warhol never touched the canvases, but directed his staff to produce the works. Mick
Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones, became the subject of many of Warhols
paintings in the mid-1970s (as well as Jaggers ex-wives). Warhol was close friends with
Mick Jagger, designing the 1971 cover for the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers along
with designing the trademark mouth and lips logo that is almost synonymous with the
band. The painting Mick Jagger illustrates Warhols silk screening technique. He created
multiple images of the same portrait, painting or sometimes exaggerating certain facial
features, such as the eyes or the lips, all with different colors. Warhol desired a massproduced, mechanical look with the implication that the artists hand had little to do with
the creation.

Robert Indiana (American, born 1928), LOVE, Red Blue, 1966 - 97, aluminum with
acrylic polyurethane enamel, 72 x 72 x 36 in.
Robert Indiana was born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana, and later adopted the name
of his native state. Between 1945 and 1948 he studied at various art schools in
Indianapolis. From 1949 to 1953, he
studied at the Chicago Art Institute
School and the Skowhegan School of
Painting and Sculpture in Maine with
the assistance of the GI Bill. In 1953
and 1954 he studied at the Edinburgh
College of Art and London University,
after which he settled in New York.
Indiana was one of a small group of
New York artists who, in the mid-60s,
began incorporating advertisements,
billboards, and other manifestations of
commercialism into their artwork.
These artists, including Andy Warhol,
Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and
James Rosenquist, developed what
became known as American Pop Art.
Indiana was particularly interested in
bold commercial letters of bright, garish
colors often seen on road signs and

10

billboards because of their power to communicate boldly and directly. The artists use of
strong lines and bold colors connect him both to the Op and Color Field painters of the
1960s. His paintings and sculptures explored new relationships between words and
images as he incorporated graphic representations of words such as LOVE, EAT, and
DIE.
Between 1964 and 1966 Indiana developed a Activity: Create a graphic
motif that is direct and symbolic of emotion. representation of your name using a text
style and color combination that
The now famous LOVE was conceived first
describes your personality.
as a painting and later translated into
sculpture. In his parintings, Indiana placed
the four letter word within a square canvas, dividing the four letters into two sets of two
and tilting the O slightly to the right. Painted in striking hues of red, blue and green,
the word became an icon for a generation. In 1973 the image was made into a stamp
which sold for 8 and the text was also translated into rings, Christmas cards and other
consumer goods. The image, however, soon became Americas most plagiarized work of
art. The large painted aluminum sculpture of LOVE in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden
stands six feet high and can be read from many vantage points within the garden. It still
serves as a symbol of sentimentality and a reminder of an era.

George Segal (American, 1924-2000), Three Figures and Four Benches, 1979,
painted bronze, 52 x 144 x 58 in.
Regarded as one of the greatest American Pop Artists, George Segals figures are
unmistakable. Segal grew up in
New York City, the son of a
kosher butcher, and attended
New York University and the
Pratt Institute. The artist began
his artistic career as a painter
and a student of Hans
Hofmann, an abstract painter
and highly regarded teacher.
He gradually turned to sculpture
because it enabled him to create
three-dimensional objects. Like
his fellow Pop artists, Segal
attempted to demystify art by
making it accessible. Segal
often said that his goal was to
Activity: You and two friends can recreate the park capture the paradox of
individual solitude in the midst
bench scene while you are in the Besthoff Sculpture
of populous places. His figures
Garden. Try to imagine what the artist intended by
are placed in mundane
trying to stay in that position while carrying on a
situations, such as a lunch
conversation.

11

counter, movie ticket booth, bus interior, or,

Did you know: There are 8,500
as in this case, a park bench. His works are
park benches in New York Citys
usually created in plaster cast from an actual
human figure and sometimes recast in bronze. Central Park in Manhattan.
Segals work expresses the loneliness and
tensions of modern life. His sculptures have often been compared to the paintings of
Edward Hopper, a fellow American whose work suggested a sense of mystery and
loneliness. Both men captured specific moments of modern life.
Three Figures and Four Benches is an excellent example of Segals work as three figures
are posed in an ordinary situation as if frozen in time. The three figures, intentionally
rough and unfinished but still highly detailed, sit near each other but do not communicate.
All three figures stare off into space, involved in their own thoughts. The viewer is
forced to contemplate their relationship to each other and with their environment.

Claes Oldenburg (American, born Sweden

1929) and Coosje van Bruggen (American,
born Netherlands 1942), Safety Pin, 1999,
Stainless Steel, 21 x 21 ft.
Of all the artists who turned to popular culture
and mass marketing for inspiration, Claes
Oldenburg is certainly one of the most wellknown. He is sometimes referred to as the
Pope of Pop and is famous for
monumentalizing ordinary objects such as
clothespins, typewriter erasers, safety pins and
shuttlecocks. Oldenburg was born in
Stockholm, Sweden and brought to Chicago in
1937. He studied literature at Yale University
and took art courses only in his senior year.
He continued his art studies during night
classes at the Art Institute of Chicago while
working during the day as art editor and
cartoonist for Chicago Magazine. By 1956
Oldenburg moved to New York City and
became particularly fascinated with the
window displays he saw
in neighborhood shop
Did you know: The safety pin was invented in 1849 by
windows. In 1960 he
Walter Hunt who coiled an 8 wire with a twist in the middle
established The Store, an
to create a spring and added a clasp to catch the pointed end.
environment piece in
His invention was an improvement upon the straight pin,
which Oldenburg filled a
originally used by the Romans.
vacant shop with sculpted
parodies of consumer

12

goods including pastries, ice cream sundaes and articles of clothing made from painted,
plaster-dipped burlap. After the exhibit closed in 1961, the shop became his studio and
was renamed the Ray Gun Manufacturing Company. It became the site of several
theatrical happenings. From small-scale painted plaster objects, the artist moved on to
create large-scale soft, or collapsible, sculptures of common objects made from vinyl and
canvas. These works were often collaborations with his wife, Coosje van Bruggen, who
sewed many of the pieces. Eventually, the two artists translated these giant works into
more solid forms using fiberglass and bronze.
While the pop esthetic is easily discernible in the work of Oldenburg, there is also a hint
of surrealist influence. The choice of objects-- hamburgers, water faucets, electrical
plugs, lipstick-- speak to the consumption of the masses, whereas their colossal size and
distorted scale seem to emerge from a surrealists dream. Oldenburgs work can be found
in many cities and sculpture gardens including Giant Lipstick at Yale University, Clothespin in Philadelphia, Geometric Mouse at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in
Washington DC, Spoonbridge and Cherry at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and
Safety Pin at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Safety Pin extends 21 feet above the
garden path as visitors to the Besthoff Sculpture Garden walk underneath the outstretched
arm of the pin. Oldenburg and van Bruggens work intrigues viewers who recognize the
familiar form, yet become awe-struck by its excessive size.

James Rosenquist
(American, born 1933),
Hybiscus and Woman,
1987, 62 x 54
James Rosenquists
paintings of juxtaposed
images is considered Pop
art, but because of his
choice of subject matter, he
has been called the dark
horse of Pop art.
Rosenquist was born in
North Dakota, but in his
youth, he and his family
moved to various places in
the mid-West. At an early
age, with his mothers
encouragement, Rosenquist
expressed a talent and
interest in art. He arrived in
New York City to study at
the Art Students League in
1955. To support himself

13

he worked as a sign and billboard painter.

Activity: Create your own layered
He was successful at this job and would
produce numerous billboards above the city
collage by choosing two or three
streets and signs along major roads depicting magazine images and cutting them in
catchy advertisement displays. Rosenquist
strips. Alternate images as you glue
was fascinated by the scale of the ads on the
the strips to a piece of paper.
billboards that seemed abstract in their
monumentality when seen up close, but
normal when seen at a distance. He was greatly influenced by the advertisements that he
painted as well as images from his childhood memories of his fathers jobs at gas stations
and as an airplane mechanic. When he began painting in the early 1960s he included
images of American popular culture that were fragmented, rotated, and superimposed on
top of each other. He made political statements with his art as a celebration and
commentary on the advertising world.
In 1965 Rosenquist created one of his best known and largest works called F-111. It was
an 86 foot long painting that wrapped around the gallery walls. Images of spaghetti
noodles, light bulbs, a young girl under a hairdryer (taken directly from a mixture of
magazine ads), as well as an atomic bomb were superimposed with varying scales in size
on top of a full size image of an F-111 fighter bomber. This painting, created in the midst
of the Vietnam War, helped create a name for
Rosenquist as an artist. He experimented with
Did you know: The Hibiscus numerous designs throughout his career but his
is the state flower of Hawaii and advertising beginnings never seemed to escape his
art. In the 1980s he started a cross hatch or slashing
the national flower of Malaysia.
technique by layering images on top of each other
where the slashes reveal each image. Many of
Rosenquists cross hatch paintings included images of flowers that can be found around
his Florida home mixed with advertising images, such as the faces of women as seen in
Hybiscus and Woman. At first glance the painting looks abstract, but the images seem to
reveal themselves like a puzzle as the viewers eye discerns the flowers and the female
faces.

Louise Nevelson (born Russia, American, 1900-1987), Cascades: Perpendiculars,

XVIII, 1980-1982, wood, black paint, 55 x 44x 8 in.
Louise Nevelson was born Leah Berliawsky in Russia and moved with her family to
Rockport, Maine as a child. Her father and grandfather were both lumberjacks, and as a
young child of six she often played with the scraps from her fathers lumberyard. She
claims to have known at an early age that she
wanted to be an artist, yet it was not
Did you know: It takes more than
immediately clear which path she would take.
500,000 trees to make the
In 1920 she married a wealthy ship owner and
newspapers Americans read on one
moved to New York, where she spent the next
Sunday.
decade studying painting at the Art Students

14

League. She also studied

operatic voice, acting, modern
dance and poetry during the
1920s. During the 30s,
Nevelson traveled abroad and
studied with Hans Hofmann in
Munich, Germany. It was not
until the 1940s that she turned
to sculpture and developed her
signature style.
Louise Nevelsons three
dimensional assemblages of
found objects follow the
tradition of the Cubists and the
Dadaists who, earlier in the
twentieth century, turned
everyday objects into works of
art. Her most characteristic
works were large wooden walls
assembled from stacking
wooden wine crates or
vegetable boxes to establish
vertical and horizontal unity.
Within each box she placed
other found wooden objects Did you know: Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were
such as balusters, furniture
the first artists to use found objects in a work of art.
parts or shelf moldings that
Synthetic Cubism combined drawing and painting with
the artist found in junk
collage of newspapers and other materials in the 1910s.
shops and demolition sites.
The entire assemblage was then painted with a solid black paint, or, in her later works,
white or gold. The result is an all-over bas relief (projecting little from the background)
of patterns which has an abstract feel, yet does not conceal its relationship to objects in
the real world. Cascades: Perpendicular XVIII is typical of Nevelsons work. Found
wooden objects have been placed inside and attached to wooden boxes, and the entire
piece is painted matte black. The wooden objects are easily recognizable, yet form a
decorative blend of positive and negative space.

Activity:

Create your on found object construction. Before throwing

away recyclable items, use it to create a multi-layered colorful collage.

15

Robert Gordy (American, 1933-1986), Rimbauds Dream #2, 1971, acrylic on

canvas, 82 x 64 in.
Robert Gordy was born in Louisianas Bayou
Country and became a nationally recognized artist by
the 1970s. He was greatly influenced by the works of
the French Modern artists such as Cezanne, Gauguin,
Matisse, and the American Abstract Expressionists.
He was a student of Hans Hofmann. Gordy fills his
canvases by incorporating figures and symbolic
elements into a rich, visual fabric where content and
form combine and support each other. Many of
Gordys paintings are dominated by the female figure
in a decorative landscape.
Rimbauds Dream #2 is one of two paintings inspired
by French poet Arthur Rimbauds attempt to seek
fortune in Africa. In flat, bright colors, Gordys
anonymous figures are packed into a shallow space where they seem to hover on the
surface of his painting. His sharp-edged modeling of form and graphic approach gives
the flattened figures an unexpected sense of weight. This approach is related to graphic
design and advertising.
Op Art: The term Op Art relates to several tendencies in art-making developed
during the 1960s that involved a wide range of experiments with optics or
optical illusions. These experiments often involved the use of bright colors,
skewed perspectives and natural or man-made light. Whereas Pop Art was
primarily concerned with the subject of art, Op Art is more concerned with its
formal qualities.
Yaacov Agam (Israeli, b. 1928) Open Spaces, 1970, Stainless Steel, 108 x 96 x 96 in.
Yaacov Agam was born in Rishon Le
Zion in Israel in 1928. He started
painting in 1940 and studied art in
Jerusalem, Zurich and Paris. Agam has
always been a pioneer in art. He is
considered one of the founders of the
Op (optical) art movement and is
particularly associated with a form of
art in which the illusion is created by
the movement of the spectator. His
relief paintings of the 1960s include
works of large, regular geometric
shapes painted over grid-like

16

projections. Seen straight on, the color shapes are frontalized, but as one walks from one
end to another, they shift into tilted, perspective shapes. In the 1950s and 60s, Agam
was also one of the very first artists to use computers and electronics to create art.
The three open rectangles of Open Spaces frame the natural environment of the Sculpture
Garden. The setting and the viewer are integral to the sculpture. The round, stainless
steel bars of Agams artwork segment the garden into small landscape views which vary
depending on the location of the viewer. In this way, the sculpture is interactive by
relying on the viewer to create new scenes by moving around the sculpture.

Activity:

Create your own view box to change your perspective on your

neighborhood. Cut a square from a piece of cardboard and use it to create a
window on your world. Make two drawings of the different perspectives
you see.

Alma Thomas (American, 1891-1978), Dogwood Display II, 1972, acrylic on canvas,
45 x 27 in.
Alma Thomas was affiliated with the
Washington Color School art movement.
She painted with an affection for the
natural surroundings from a childhood in
the rural south to her adult life in
Washington D.C. Thomas was born in
Columbus, Georgia in 1891. In 1907,
during the early movement of the Great
Migration, her family left the racially tense
Georgia for Washington D.C. which
promised better education and economic
opportunities for African Americans. At
the age of thirty, after working as a teacher
for a few years, she enrolled in Howard
University where she was the first student
and first woman to graduate with a degree
in fine arts. She received a Master of Arts
from Columbia University and continually
took classes at American University while
teaching art to junior high school students.
In 1960 at the age of 70, Thomas retired
from teaching to dedicate herself full-time
to her painting career. It was at this point
that she worked with the Washington Color
School with artists such as Morris Louis

17

and Kenneth Noland. This group was concerned with the primacy of color, optical effects
and geometric structure. Thomas was also loosely associated with this group, but she
never fully disassociated her work from nature.
In the mid-1960s, Alma Thomas began painting bright geometric shapes and designs on a
stark white background. She explained that her influences were the flowers and trees
moving in the wind. She continued to play with colors , patterning surface shapes as well
as the backgrounds. In Dogwood Display II she applied a repetitious application of white
blocks on top of a multi-colored background. The repeated shapes seem to float on the
canvas. The distances between the white shapes vary, offering a sense of movement and
vibration. Thomas felt that her paintings were abstracted views of nature reminiscent of
a blurred aerial view of trees and flowers.

Judy Chicago (American, born 1939),

Let It All Hang Out, 1973, 80 x 80 in.
Judy Chicago is most associated with
feminist theory and its application to art.
The Womens Movement of the 1970s
arose against stifling situations forced
upon women by society. Chicago
highlighted this theme in her artwork and
sought to assert the role of women as
artists represented in art history. Her
seminal piece, The Dinner Party, was
created between 1973 and 1979 and was a
collaboration between the artist and
hundreds of volunteers who helped her
create the triangular shaped dinner table
with 39 places set for important women
throughout history. Chicago has
continued to explore other gender related issues throughout her career, often creating
series that confront issues such as birth (The Birth Project, 1980 - 85) and power
(Powerplay, 1980s). Chicago has also been active as an art instructor and writer.
Chicago was born Judy Cohen in Chicago, Illinois in 1939. She attended art classes at
the Art Institute of Chicago and went on to study art at the University of California, Los
Angeles. At UCLA, Chicago was influenced by the many movements that were popular
in California at the time. It was also at UCLA that she first felt discrimination because of
her gender. After completing graduate school in the sculpture department of UCLA,
Chicago began taking night courses in auto body painting along with a class in boatbuilding to learn how to mold fiberglass. The geometrical style of Let it All Hang Out
was probably influenced by her early training at UCLA, though the piece is also informed
by her feminist beliefs. Although the work is essentially geometrical, it also seems to

18

have a feminine presence. The colors radiate outward like the petals on a flower, creating
the illusion of pulsating movement.
Minimalism: Minimalism in art originated in the 1960s when a group of
younger artists including Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella and Kenneth Noland
rebelled against what they perceived to be the emotionalism and sensualism
of the Abstract Expressionists. They sought an art that was depersonalized,
in which the hand of the artist is nowhere present. Minimalist forms in
painting and in sculpture are reduced to their ultimate simplicity.
Tony Smith (American, b. 1912), Lipizzaner,
ca. 1976, painted steel, 9 x 7 ft.
Tony Smith was one of the leading Minimalist
sculptors of this 1960s movement. Smith studied
at the Art Students League in the mid-1930s,
supporting himself by working as a toolmaker. He
was trained as an architect at the New Bauhaus in
Chicago in 1937. He continued his architectural
studies under Frank Lloyd Wright from 1938 to
1940. Although a working architect, he associated
himself with the Abstract Expressionists in the
1950s and was influenced by artists like Jackson
Pollock, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and
Clyfford Still. Smith turned to producing sculpture
in the 1960s and practically overnight became well
known for his black, large-scale, Minimalist
Did you know: Archduke Maximillian
works. He was particularly interested in the
of Austria began breeding Spanish horses
problem of reductive form and artistic
in 1562. He named the Lipizzaner horses
anonymity, features which dominated
after Lipizza, an especially rugged area of
Minimalist theory.
Austria.

Lipizzaner differs from most of Smiths sculptures in that it is completely pristine white,
instead of his usual black pieces. But like many of his sculptures, the piece is derived
from a simplified idea of an existing object. The sculpture is based on the idea of a
prancing horse, yet the sculpture is actually a construction of polyhedron models. The
design of the forms reminded the artist of a prancing horse, so he named the piece after
the famed horses from the Spanish Riding School. The artwork reflects the ballet-like
steps that the Lipizzaner horses are trained to perform at formal occasions. The models
only give the slightest reference to the horse form, stripping the idea of a horse to its most
minimal expression. The subject of the sculpture comes across only in the name of the
piece, otherwise it appears to be a study in geometry and form.

19

Joel Shapiro (American, b. 1941), Untitled, 1991, Bronze, 102 x 43 x 78 in.

Joel Shapiro is one of Americas best known modernist sculptors. He was first associated
with the Minimalists of the 1970s, but he went on to develope a less rigid, more personal
style in his mature works. Shapiro was born in New York in 1941 and grew up in
Queens. After receiving a bachelors degree from New York University in 1965, he spent
two years in southern India as a Peace Corps volunteer. He returned to New York in
1967 at the height of the Minimalist movement and enrolled at NYU as a graduate
student in art. Because his early work was exhibited almost immediately, his discovery of
new methods and materials took
place in the public eye. While he
absorbed the Minimalists
essentially geometric vocabulary,
Shapiro soon developed his own
style using an economy of forms
to suggest the human figure.
Achieving a balance between
abstraction and representation,
the geometric forms of Untitled
can be said to resemble the torso
and appendages of a human
figure striking a precarious pose.
This impression changes as we
move around the object,
encountering a multiplicity of animated compositions. Most of Shapiros works are
untitled so that the viewer is reliant upon the form to gain meaning from the object.
His usual method of making these metal sculptures is to create a small wooden
model by joining rectangular pieces of wood with hot glue and a pin gun. After adjusting
this small-scale model, the artist constructs a model at full scale from pieces of sawn
wood. These wooden lengths are then sand-cast in bronze at the foundry, and care is
taken to retain the wood grain and saw marks of the original wood. The separate bronze
bits are then reinforced with steel and welded together, leaving a hollow center. Because
the artist has not named the piece, the viewer is free to interpret the work in whatever
manner he may wish. Shapiro has received a number of commissions for permanent
installations in public spaces. His works can be found in unexpected places such as an
18th century plantation and the Piazza Barberini in Rome.

Did you know: Steel is an alloy of iron, carbon, and small proportions of
other elements. Iron contains impurities in the form of silicon, phosphorus,
sulfur, and manganese; steelmaking involves the removal of these impurities,
known as slag, and the addition of desirable alloying elements.
.

20

George Rickey (American, 1907-2002), Four Lines Oblique, 1973, stainless steel, 20
ft. high
George Rickey was born in South Bend, Indiana,
the son of an engineer and the grandson of a clock
maker. His family moved to Scotland when he
was a young boy. Rickey studied at Oxford
University, where he participated in drawing
classes but ultimately finished his degree in
history. After Oxford he settled on becoming an
artist and during the 1930s he spent time in Paris,
New York, and various universities in Illinois and
Michigan. In 1941, he was drafted into the Army
Air Corps and worked maintaining the computing
instruments for B-29 bombers. It was during this
time that Rickey discovered his genius for
mechanics and interest in sculpture. He began his
career in sculpture by making mobiles, and
eventually started to make kinetic sculptures.
Rickey once said, ...I never considered making
any sculpture that didnt move.
Rickey typically used simple geometric shapes and
lines made of stainless steel, and then balanced
them in such a way that the elements of the piece
would move only by the forces of nature, gravity
and wind. Rickey did not incorporate mechanical
devices to provide motion. His search for the
essence of movement led to the evolution of a new spatial vocabulary in visual art and
influenced sculptors such as Lin Emery and John Scott. Rickey himself best described the
delicate dance of Four Lines Oblique when he said, I wanted whatever eloquence there
was to come out of the performance of the piece--never out of the shape itself.

Jess Bautista Moroles (American, b. 1950), Las Mesas Bench, 1989, Granite, 156 x
66 x 56 in.
Jess Moroles, was born and raised in Texas. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the
University of North Texas in 1978. In 1980, he received a grant to live and work in
Pietrasanta, Italy. Upon his return from Italy, Moroles commenced to make the body of
work for which he is widely known. Moroles works predominantly in stone, especially
granite. He uses a diamond saw because it is incredibly strong and sturdy and allows
Moroles to easily cut through hard stones like granite. After purchasing his first diamond
saw in 1981, he established his own studio in Rockport, Texas. The studio is a family
effort and he is largely assisted by his parents, brother, sister and brother-in-law. The
Moroles Studio turns out large-scale sculptures and site specific commissions.

21

Moroles works predominately in granite and creates universal forms and

geometric shapes. He works the stone to create an interplay of rough and smooth
surfaces, creating deep pockets and whimsical weaves. Moroles uses this technique to
great effect in Las Mesas Bench, located in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden. The mixture
of textures, the geometric surfaces, the layers of carving and the color of the stone are
reminiscent of the mesas found in the American Southwest. His technique of deep
carving and a
combination of cool
polished surfaces
with rough hewn
rock reminds the
viewer of the team
of man and nature
that produced this
piece. Although
Moroles has strayed
from the Minimalist
ideal of eschewing
the hand of the
artists, his use of
basic forms is
related to the 60s
movement.
In the
summer of 1996,
Jess Moroles
celebrated the
opening of his
Cerrillos Cultural
Center, an exhibition, performance and studio space located in the town of Cerrillos, New
Mexico, about 30 miles south of Santa Fe. Because of the assistance and opportunities he
was given as a young artist, Moroles wants to offer similar opportunities to emerging
artists. Therefore, the artist has plans to use this space as art studios and housing for
artists in residence from other countries.

Did you know: Mesa is Spanish for table and describes a

flat-topped tableland with one or more steep sides, common in
the Southwest region of the United States

22

COMPARATIVE TIMELINE
Date
1911-1920

1921-1930

Modern Art Events

World
1913 Duchamp makes his first ready- 1914 Archduke Ferdinand of
made in Paris.
Austria and wife assassinated in
Sarajevo; beginning of WWI.
1913 The Armory Show opens,
exhibiting a substantial collection of
1917 Russian Revolution begins.
modern art to America.
1920 League of Nations holds its
first meeting in Geneva.
1924 Breton publishes his first
Surrealist manifesto in Paris.
1928 Buuel and Dal produce the
film Un Chien Andalou.

1931 The first large Surrealist

exhibition is shown in the United
States.
1935 WPA, formed under Roosevelts
New Deal, employs artists to decorate
public buildings and parks.
1937 Picasso paints Guernica.
1938 L. Bourgeois emigrates to NYC.

1917 US declares war on Germany in

WWI.
1918 World War I ends on July 17.
1929 U.S. women win the right to vote.

1922 Mussolini takes power in Italy. 1927 Charles A. Lindberg completes

the first solo non-stop flight across the
1925 Hitler publishes Mein Kampf.
Atlantic.
1928 Alexander Fleming discovers
penicillin.

1928 Amelia Earhart becomes first

woman to fly across the Atlantic.

1936 Spanish Civil War begins.

1929 Stock Market crashes; the Great

Depression begins.
1931 Empire State Building opens.

1937 George VI crowned King of

England.

1933 FDR inaugurated as 32nd

President, prohibition ends.

1936 Hitler sends troops to

Rhineland.

1936 Jesse Owens sets a new long

jump record of 268.

1938 Kristallnacht -- Nazis destroy

Jewish synagogues and businesses
throughout Germany and Austria.

1939 Al Capone freed from Alcatraz

prison.

1928 First complete talking film

created.
1931-1940

United States
1914 World War I begins.

23

1941-1950

1940 Sculptor David Smith moves to

Bolton Landing in upstate New York
to create his studio.
1941 Breton and Ernst emigrate to
the United States.

1943 Chiang Kai-Shek becomes

President of China.
1944 US and Allied forces land at
Normandy.

1945 Yalta Conference takes place

1946 Jackson Pollock takes the canvas with Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin.
off the easel and onto the floor
creating his all over drip paintings.
1950 - 53 Korean War

1951-1960

1945 30,000 US Marines land on Iwo

Jima; Atomic bomb developed.
1947 Jackie Robinson becomes the
first African American to play major
league baseball with the Brooklyn
Dodgers.

1956 Jackson Pollock dies in car

crash.

1952 Elizabeth II becomes Queen of

England.

1953 Dr. Salk develops the polio

vaccine.

1959 Frank Lloyd Wright completes

the construction of the Guggenheim
Museum in New York.

1953

1954 RCA manufactures the first color

TV set (12 screen-$1,000).

1960 Andy Warhol begins a painting

series on Superman and Dick Tracy.

1961-1970

1941 Japan bombs Pearl Harbor,

Hawaii; US declares war on Germany
and Italy in WWII.

1960 Minimalists begin working in

New York.

Scientists identify DNA.

1957 Sputnik I is launched.

1959 Fidel Castro proclaims
himself premier after overthrowing
Batista.

1955 Rosa Parks is arrested for

refusing to move to the back of the
bus.

1960 Dead Sea Scrolls are found at

Qumran.
1961 1,400 Cuban exiles land in
the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to
overthrow Castro.

1957 School desegregation law is

established by Brown v. Board of
Education.
1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers
the I have a dream... speech at
Lincoln Memorial.

1961 Construction of the Berlin

Wall begins in East Germany.

1963 Pres. J. F. Kennedy assassinated

in Dallas.

1961 Oldenburg opens The Store.

24

1962 Warhol develops his silkscreening technique.

1965 Rosenquist completes his 86
foot long painting, F-III.

1964 South Africa banned from

Olympic Games because of
Apartheid policies.
1964 - 75 Vietnam War

1963 Betty Friedan publishes The

Feminine Mystique.
1964 Beatlemania sweeps the U.S
beginning with their first hit I Wanna
Hold Your Hand.

1967 The Belgian Surrealist Magritte

dies.

1971-1980

1967 The first heart transplant occurs

in South Africa.
1965 Race riots provoked by police
violence erupt in the Watts section of
1970 Color Field painter Mark Rothko
Los Angeles.
commits suicide in his New York
studio.
1967 Thurgood Marshall is sworn in.
He is the first African American
1970 Robert Smithson creates Spiral
Supreme Court Justice.
Jetty, an environmental artwork on
the Great Salt Lake.
1969 Neil Armstrong makes first step
on the moon
1974-9 Judy Chicago creates The
1971 China joins the United
1974 Richard Nixon resigns from
Dinner Party, the first large scale
Nations.
presidency; Gerald Ford becomes 38th
collaborative feminist work of art.
President.
1975 Ethiopia ends monarchy after
1975 - 80 Piazza dItalia is
3,000 years.
1977 Apple II, the first personal
constructed in New Orleans, heralding
computer, goes on sale; Star Wars
postmodernism.
1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes
movie premiers.
first female British Prime Minister.
1978 The Sydney and Walda Besthoff
1979 A major nuclear accident occurs
Foundation established.
1979 Mother Teresa awarded
at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania;
Nobel Peace Prize.
Walkmans are sold in stores for the first
time
1980 John Lennon shot and killed in
NYC.

25

1981-1990

1983 Maya Ying Lin completes the

Vietnam Veterans Memorial in
Washington, D.C.
1985 Christo and Jeanne-Claude
wrap up Pariss oldest bridge, the
Pont-Neuf.
1989-1992 Controversial works by
Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe
and others raise First Amendment
issues of censorship in the U.S.

1991-2004

1993 NOMA reopens after a large

expansion project; Spiritgates are
installed shortly after the opening.
1996 Jess Moroles establishes
Cerrillos Cultural Center in Cerillos,
New Mexico.

1981 Prince Charles of England

weds Lady Diana Spencer.
1985 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes
the Soviet leader.
1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident
occurs in the Soviet Union.

2003 Opening of NOMAs Sydney

and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden
occurs.

1982 Time Magazines Man of the Year

is given to a non-human--a computer-for the first time.
1984 AIDS virus is identified.

1989 Tiananmen Square massacre

occurs in Beijing.

1986 Space Shuttle Challenger 10

explodes 73 seconds after lift-off.

1992 Soviet Union dissolves.

1991 Gulf War Ends.

1994 Church of England approves

ordaining women as priests.

1993 Toni Morrison wins the Nobel

Prize for Literature. She is the first
black American to receive the award.
.
1999 The Yankee Clipper, Joe
DiMaggio dies at age 84; he holds
record for 56 consecutive game hitting
streak in baseball.

1994 The Chunnel is completed

uniting England and France.

1997 Architect Frank Gehrys

1997 Scientists in Scotland
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opens in successfully clone a sheep producing
Bilbao, Spain.
a lamb named Dolly.
2002 George Rickey dies.

1981 Sandra Day OConnor becomes

the U.S. Supreme Courts first female
judge.

2001 On September 11, two airplanes

1999 The Euro is introduced as the crash into the World Trade Center
unifying monetary unit for countries Buildings in New York City.
in the European Union.
2002 US declares war on Iraq.

26

CURRICULUM OBJECTIVES/SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

Following are suggestions for classroom activities and research projects. In parenthesis
you will find coordinating Benchmarks from the 1997 Louisiana Department of
Educations State Standards for Curriculum Development:
GEOGRAPHY/SCIENCE:
Using the internet and library, research the various climates, vegetation and resources
of different areas of the U.S. like the east coast, west coast and the southeast. Find
different websites or books that feature cities or segments of these areas. Compare and
contrast your findings to the different areas. (G-1A-E, M, H; G-1B-E4; G-1C-E2, E4;
G-1D-E4; G-1B-H1, H3)
In the first half of the 20th century, a large number of African Americans including
Alma Thomass family left the rural south to find opportunities in the large northern
cities. Locate the cities and states that many of the families left behind. Locate the
cities and states that became their new homes. Discuss the differences between those
states, specifically in climate, elevation and population. What are the population
differences in these states in the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s? What are the agricultural
differences between these areas? What are the differences in the industries in each
state?(G-1B; G-1C; SE-E-A; SE-M-A; SE-H-A; H-1C-E; H-1B-era 7, era 8)
On a map of North America, denote the major bodies of water and discuss each type.
What are the major rivers that run through each area of the United States? What cities
are near these major water ways? (G-1B-E1; G-1B-M2, M3)

Look at Moroles Las Mesas Bench and compare it to the geologic formations found
in Arizona and New Mexico. In geologic terms, how are these formations created?
How did the artist take the landscape of the southwest and turn it into inspiration for
his sculpture? (G-1B-E4, M3, H3; ESS-M-A4-7; ESS-H-C5)

MATHEMATICS:
Calculate the distance between New Orleans and New York City, Los Angeles and
Washington D.C., and Chicago and Pittsburgh in both miles and kilometers. What is
the shortest distance to travel to these places? Draw a graph to display the distances
between all cities. What artists were from these cities and where did they find
success? (N-4-E, M, N-6-E, M; M-1-E, M; M-4-E; M-5-M; G-1A-E3)
Find the average yearly temperature in degrees Fahrenheit of the five cities listed
above and convert the temperature to Celsius. (M-1-E; M-4-E; M-5-M)

Calculate the size difference in an actual safety pin (various sizes) and Oldenburgs
Safety Pin. Use different measurement systems to come up with a variety of answers.

Create a graph of real safety pin sizes compared to Oldenburgs. (N-4, 5, 6, 9-E; N-4,
5-M; N-1, 6-H; M-1, 4-E, M-1, 3, 5, 6-M; M-4-H; P-2-E, M)
Look at Thomass Dogwood Display II, Rickeys Four Lines Oblique and Smiths
Lipizzaner from the image list. Compare and contrast the lines and shapes that the
artists created. Discuss the ways in which the shapes in sculpture and painting affect
the overall composition. How do the shapes convey movement. (G-1, 2-E, H, G-2-M)

Use the map of the Sculpture Garden and choose a set of four sculptures located near
each other. Walk the distances between your four sculptures using the heel to toe
method. Measure your foot and calculate the distances between all sculptures.
Compare the distances and give ratios for all sets of combinations. (M-1, 3, 5-E, M-1,
2-M, M-6-M, M-3,H)

LANGUAGE ARTS:
Write a descriptive interpretation of Jesus Bautista Moroless Las Mesas Bench and
George Segals Three Figures on Four Benches from the slide list. (ELA-2-E1, M1,
H1, H5, ELA -7-E4, M4, H4)
Proclaim a new art movement and write a Manifesto to support it. Use one of the
movements discussed in the packet as a basis. What are you trying to express? What
materials should you use? What subjects (or non-subjects) will you depict? (ELA-2,
ELA-5)
Research and present a report on a twentieth century artist or art movement. (ELA-2;
ELA-4)
Look at Robert Gordys Rimbauds Dream #2. By using the internet and other
sources, who is Rimbaud? When and what did he write? Explain how Gordy
interpreted the work of Rimbaud in his painting. (ELA-2; ELA-5; ELA-6-E2, M2, H2)
Look at the development of advertising in the U.S. beginning in the 1950s. Choose an
advertising technique and product and make up your own advertisement. Construct
your own advertising packaging. (ELA-1-E6; ELA-1-M4; ELA-4-E6; ELA-4-M5
ELA-4-H5)
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Write a brief history of the life of an artist who worked in the U.S. in the 1960s.
What occurred in the U.S. at this time? How did it effect the artist? (H-1D-E1, E3;
H-1A-M2; H-1C-M17; H-1C-H10; ELA-2; ELA-4)
What was the American involvement in the Korean and Vietnam Wars? Research
your family history to find relatives who were involved in either of the two wars. How
did the wars affect the civilians living in the U.S.? How did they affect the military

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personnel? What writers or artists were involved in the wars? (C-1C-M2, M3, H1,
H2; C-1D-M3; H-1B-M16, M17; H-1C-M17; H-1B-H10, H11, H13; H-1C-H13)
What are some of the major technological inventions of the 20th century? What
impact has each had on society? How did artists express the changes in technology in
their writings and art? (H-1D-E2; H-1C-M17)

Research the Lipizzaner horses. Where do they come from? How are they bred and
trained? Compare these horses to other famous breeds of horses. How did Tony
Smith make Lipizzaner to look like the famed horses? (H-1C-M14; H-1C-H8, H9;
AP-2VA-1, 5)

VISUAL ARTS:
Keep a pencil and a pad of paper by your bed. After having a dream, jot down the
dream as you best remember it. Transform the dream into a visual image.
(Benchmarks 2, 7, K-12)
Create a sculpture using the ideas of minimalism. Choose an object and create a work
of art by reducing it to its most basic shape of squares, cylinders or other geometric
shapes. (CE-1VA, Benchmark 3; G-1, 2, 4, 6-E, H, G-2, 4-M; G-1-H)
Discuss realism versus abstraction. Paint or draw a realistic scene. Create the same
subject in the style of Moroles, Thomas or Shapiro. (CE-1VA-H4)
Look at the various works of Pop Artists like Warhol, Rosenquist, Indiana, Segal,
Oldenburg or Nevelson. Where did they get their images for their works of art?
Choose a work of art by one of the artists and trace the origin of the materials or
inspiration and how it was worked into or used for the final work of art. (ELA-5; AP2VA; HP-3VA; CA-4VA)

Look at artists such as Louise Nevelson who used found objects to create new
artworks. Create a three dimensional work from found objects. (CE-1VA; CA-4VA)

Find an ordinary object and turn it into a work of art. On the internet, look at artwork
by Pop artists like Oldenburg, Lichtenstein and Warhol. Like these artists, create a
new way to look at ordinary objects by enlarging them into sculptures or paintings.
(ELA-5 CE-1VA; AP-2VA)

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Vocabulary
Abstract Expressionism: An art movement that emerged in the mid 1940s. The artists
mixed intensely emotional and improvisational gestures and concerned themselves with
psychic self-expression, spirituality, and individualism.
Abstract: A work of art or a term applied to a work of art that is not recognizable as a
picture of a person, place, or thing. An abstract work of art may reflect an emotion, a
sensation, or some aspect of the real world that has been generalized, simplified,
distorted, or rearranged.
Assemblage: A three-dimensional work of art in which a variety of non-art objects
and/or images are assembled or combined together to create one sculptural work.
Avant-garde: A style of art which is experimental or daring. The content is often
unfamiliar, shocking or radical for its time. Avant-garde is derived from the French
military term meaning "front line."
Color Field Painting: In this style the emphasis was placed on the flatness and texture of
the canvas rather than a depiction of a recognizable object. Color Field artists often
poured or brushed paint on an unprimed canvas that was placed on the floor. The color
seeped or stained through the canvas fabric creating the image.
Commercial artist: A professional artist who makes a living by using his creative talents
for commercial purposes rather than personal expression. Graphic design, advertising,
billboard design, window dressing, and web design are some examples of occupations of
commercial artists.
Conceptual art: Art created to explore the idea of art rather than the actual art object.
Conceptual artists used text as well as photography, publications, drawings, video, film,
and performance to focus on an inquiry into art practice and meaning. Conceptual works
could be seen in nontraditional art contexts like books, magazines, mail, advertisements,
and billboards.
Consumer Culture: The way in which consumption is organized within modern
capitalist societies over the modern period. In a consumer culture consumption by and
large takes the form of consuming commodities, goods obtained through market
exchange rather than produced for direct use.
Cubism: An art movement beginning in 1907 with Picasso and Braque. Cubism was an
attempt to represent on a two-dimensional surface all of the three-dimensional qualities of
an object or sitter.

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Dada: A term chosen to describe the non-art movement. The movement was
developed in Zurich in 1916 amidst World War I. It was an attack on the pretentious
Western world that had come to the worst example of humankind seen in the atrocities of
the War. Nonsense texts, performances and absurd works of art produced the effect of
anti-art.
Encaustic: The medium, technique or process of painting with molten wax (mostly
beeswax), resin, and pigments that are fused after application into a continuous layer and
fixed to a support with heat. This achieves a lustrous enamel appearance. The Greeks
used this method of painting as early as the 5th century BCE.
Expressionism: Having to do with the emotional qualities of a work of art, especially
related to the emotions of the artist communicated through emphasis and distortion,
which can be found in works of art of any period.
Feminist art: Concerning art that was created since the late 1960s, it is art that addresses
the social status or historical condition of women, or can be identified as woman-made.
Formalism: Having to do with the formal qualities of a work of art. Formal qualities
include a works overall design or organization. Form or visual elements in a work of art
include color, shape, size, and structure.
GI Bill: Officially known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, the GI Bill was
designed to provide greater opportunities to returning war veterans of World War II. The
bill, signed by President Roosevelt on June 22, 1944, provided federal aid to help
veterans adjust to civilian life in the areas of hospitalization, purchase of homes and
businesses, and especially, education. This act provided tuition, subsistence, books and
supplies, equipment, and counseling services for veterans to continue their education in
school or college.
The Great Migration: The period between 1910 and 1940 when millions of African
Americans migrated from the rural south to industrial cities in the North.
Hard-edged painting: For this style of painting, artists used crisp, geometric and
symmetrical shapes with crisp, hard edges.
Juxtaposed: Placed side by side for comparison.
Mesa: Spanish for table, it is a high, broad, and flat tableland with sharp slopes
descending to the surrounding plain. The geographic feature is common in the Southwest
United States.
Modernism/ Modern art: In art historical terms it is used to describe new styles and
attitudes toward art created from about the 1860s through the 1970s. Modernism began as

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a response to the urbanization and industrialization of Western society and often

challenged the traditional values and beliefs of the middle class and others. During this
time artists viewed contemporary events, feelings and ideas as viable subjects for their
work, rather than limiting themselves to traditional subject matter.
Minimalism: Minimalism in art originated in the 1960s when a group of younger artists
including Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella and Kenneth Noland rebelled against what they
perceived to be the emotionalism and sensualism of the Abstract Expressionists. They
sought an art that was depersonalized, in which the hand of the artist is nowhere present.
Minimalist forms in painting and in sculpture are reduced to their ultimate simplicity.
New York School: The innovative New York-based group of artists that included the
Abstract Expressionists. The movment began in the 1940s.
Non-objective: In terms of modern art, it refers to art works that have no representation
of recognizable figures and objects.
Op Art: The term Op Art relates to several tendencies in art-making developed during
the 1960s that involved a wide range of experiments with optics or optical illusions.
These experiments often involved the use of bright colors, skewed perspectives and
natural or man-made light.
Pluralism: The doctrine that numerous distinct ethnic, religious, and cultural groups
should and do coexist, and that no single group is superior to others. Pluralism is also
used to refer to art in the 1970s and 1980s, when the great variety of attitudes and style
was taken as a sign of cultural vigor.
Polyhedron: A three-dimensional figure bounded by polygons. Each of its sides is called
a face. Each of the straight lines which describe the meeting of faces is called an edge,
and each point at the end of an edge is called a vertex. The plural form can be either
polyhedrons or polyhedra.
Pop Art: The term Pop Art was developed in the 1960s to describe a style of art that
explores everyday imagery that is a part of consumer culture. Common sources include
advertisements, comic strips, celebrities, consumer product packaging and other objects
of popular culture.
Popular Culture: Low (as opposed to high) culture, parts of which are known as kitsch
and camp. Examples include pulp novels and comic books, film, television and
advertising.
Silk screening: A print-making technique also known as serigraphy. In the process, an
image is imprinted onto a screen. Ink or paint is brushed through the fine screen and the
image that was imprinted onto the screen is painted onto the canvas or paper.

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Surrealism: a movement founded by Andr Breton in 1924. The term is French for
transcending the real. The movement absorbed the nonsensical Dada movement and was
heavily based on the writings of Sigmund Freud. Surrealist practices are meant to liberate
the unconscious through various methods and suspend conscious control.
Washington Color School: A term applied to the artists who participated in an
exhibition at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art in 1965. The common characteristic
of the artists such as Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland was their interest in color, the
geometric structures and the optical effects presented usually on an unprimed canvas.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SUGGESTED READING

Arnason, H. H. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography.

New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986
The Brooklyn Museum. Louise Bourgeois: The Locus of Memory, Works 1982-1993.
The Brooklyn Museum, 1994
Craven, Wayne. American Art: History and Culture. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher
Education,
2003.
Day, Holliday T. Crossroads of American Sculpture. Indianapolis Museum of Art, 2000.
The Eclectic Eye: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation. Los
Angeles:
Frederick R. Weisman Philanthropic Foundation, 2004.
Fineberg, Jonathan. Art Since 1940: Strategies of Being. New York: Harry N. Abrams,
1995.
Foresta: Merry A. A Life in Art: Alma Thomas, 1891-1978. Washington D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981.
Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Alma W. Thomas: A Retrospective of the Paintings. San
Francisco:
Pomegranate Communications, Inc., 1998.
Hopps, Walter, and Sarah Bancroft. James Rosenquist: A Retrospective. New York: The
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2003
Joselit, David. American Art Since 1945. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 2003.
Lucie-Smith, Edward. Art Today. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1995.
_____. Judy Chicago: An American Vision. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications,
2000.
The New Orleans Museum of Art. The New Orleans Museum of Art Handbook. New
Orleans,
Rose, Barbara. American Painting: The Twentieth Century. New York: Rizoli
International Publications, Inc., 1986.
Ryan, Susan Elizabeth. Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech. New Haven: Yale
University
Press, 2000.

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WEBOGRAPHY
www.artarchives.si.edu
www.artcyclopedia.com
www.artlex.com/ArtLex/Intro.html
www.artnetweb.com/oldenburg/index.html
www.artsconnected.org/artsnetmn/whatsart/oldenb.html
www.hirshhorn.si.edu
www.judychicago.com
www.metmuseum.org/special/Joel_Shapiro
www.moroles.com
www.nga.gov/education/classroom
www.nmwa.org
www.noma.org
www.warhol.org
http://www.whitney.org/learning/resource/index.php

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