Kultermann, Udo. author.

Art and life / Udo Kultermann; translated by John William Gabriel.

New York : Praeger Publishers, [1971]

210 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

"The art products of the 1960's, with their new, bizarre, and often random combinations of elements, structured by chance and determined in large part by active audience participation, have brought the work of art closer to real-life experience than ever before. Song, dance, literature, architecture, theater, light, sound, mechanical effects, and a limitless number of derivatives have become accepted components in the shaping and constructing of modern artistic events. Whereas the art of previous centuries was a reflection or distillation of reality, much art of today encompasses elements of reality unchanged. In this critical survey of the artistic culture of the past decade -- which complements his earlier The New Painting and The New Sculpture -- art critic and historian Udo Kultermann sees the Happening as the quintessential embodiment of this trend; for, while the mixed-media approach, structure through accident, and the use of prosaic materials are also evident in, for instance, the most recent painting and sculpture, in the Happening "the powers of imagination released are often not easily analyzed; there is much that cannot be rationally decoded; there is an ever-present risk of failure; and that is why Happenings touch closer to the heart of the human situation in our time than any other form of contemporary art." Professor Kultermann analyzes the Happenings of Allan Kaprow, Jim Dine, Michael Kirby, the Gutai group of Japan, and a number of European artists, with the special intention of relating the culture of the 1960's to reality and examining the function of art in our epoch. As a close observer of the current scene, he also looks at other relevant manifestations -- land art, "instrumental theater," the music of John Cage, the Living Theater, the musical Hair, "television culture," and intermedia objects of all sorts, including sculpture, poetry and film. In addition, he identified the forerunners of today's intermedia artists, those who earlier sough to expand consciousness by breaking down barriers between traditional art forms. He finds among the most influential precursors the Comte de Lautreamont, Brecht, Artaud, Jarry, Pirandello, the Dadaists (especially Duchamp and Schwitters), the Surrealists (particularly Dali), the Constructivists, and Cocteau. More than 170 striking [black and white] photographs illustrate the text." -- Dust jacket flaps.

Arts, Modern 20th century.
Arts 20e siècle.
Arts, Modern

Gabriel, John William, translator.

Location: Library main 227702
Call No.: NX458 .K8 1971
Status: Available