Art & Language (1992)
Excerpt fr. John A. Walker’s Glossary of Art, Architecture & Design since 1945, 3rd. ed.
artdesigncafé | café library | Published 07 December 2010
This text is an excerpt from Walker’s 1992 glossary previously published by Library Association Publishing, London.
Art & Language
Art & Language is an Anglo-American grouping of artists who worked collaboratively, which made a significant contribution to the conceptual art movement of the period 1966-75. (The work began in 1966 but the group was not formally constituted until 1968.) British participants included Michael Baldwin, Terry Atkinson, David Bainbridge and the art critic / historian Charles Harrison. American participants included lan Burn, Sarah Charlesworth, Joseph Kosuth and Mel Ramsden plus the Australian Terry Smith. (The membership of Art & Language fluctuated continuously.) Following critiques of minimal art, Art & Language adopted language as their main means of expression. In 1969 they began to issue a journal entitled Art-Language whose obscure and difficult discourse was influenced by British analytical philosophy and several other academic disciplines.
Analysis of the concept art was extended to the broader socio-economic context in which it was marketed, and so a gradual politicization (i.e. Left-wing) occurred (see, for instance, the US publication The Fox (three issues 1975-6). From the mid-1970s onwards Art & Language fragmented due to ideological disagreements. Terry Atkinson left to pursue an independent career as a socialist painter. During the 1980s the British branch of Art & Language exhibited paintings produced in response to the popularity of neo-expressionism but the content and style of these canvases were still dependent upon the conceptual critique of contemporary art and its institutions which was the hallmark of the group.
See also Conceptual Art, Neo-Expressionism, Political Art.
References and further reading
> Paul Maenz (Ed). Art & Language. (Cologne, Dumont, 1972).
> Art & Language 1966-75. (Oxford, MoMA, 1975).
> Charles Harrison & Fred Orton. A provisional history of Art & Language. (Paris, Éditions E Fabre, 1982).
> Charles Harrison / Art & Language. Confessions: Incidents in a museum. (Lisson Gallery, 1986).
> Charles Harrison. Essays on Art & Language. (Oxford, Blackwell, 1991).
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