Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In this important work, Frances Colpitt chronicles the Minimal art movement of the 1960s. Maintaining the original spirit of the period--enthusiasm for innovation and a passionate commitment to intellectual inquiry--Colpitt provides an excellent documentary history that is both thorough and nonpartisan.



Using a metacritical approach that embraces critical writings of the artists themselves, interviews by herself and the others, and a generous sampling of illustrations, Colpitt sets foth the issues and arguments and identifies key concepts that are crucial to an understanding of Minimal art. These include the frequent use of industrial materials and techniques; nonrelational principles of composition; and theoretical issues of scale, presence and thatricality. Also discussed are issues of abstraction, illusion, and reductionism as revealed in the writing and artistic productions of such leading innovators as Frank Stella, Donald Judd, and Robert Morris, among others. An appendix lists major exhibitions and reviews.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Arguably the most intelligent and complete study of this subject ever published. It may be the finest work in the ambitious seven-volume series "Studies in the Fine Arts: Criticism" or the best study of a single art movement of the complex decade of the 1960s. What one will not find here are step-by-step analyses of individual pieces of minimalist art or even good reproductions of these works. However, Colpitt's breakdown of key components of minimalist "aesthetics" provides a highly intelligent and convincing structure for the understanding of the minimalist phenomenon as a whole. The subtitle "The Critical Perspective" is an important indicator of the author's approach: this is minimalism as seen by the critics, discussed by the artists, and defined by its theory. It is perhaps because minimalism itself is so heavily dependent on ideology that this approach works so well; but much credit must be given to Colpitt's ability to make the ideology intelligible through thinking and writing styles that are direct and straightforward. This is not to say that the book is easy. Colpitt looses novice readers by neglecting to set the stage for the appearance of minimalism; by failing to spell out the reason for its critical importance to our time, both culturally and sociologically; and by virtually ignoring the "significant other" of this period, the pop movement. Nonetheless, this is one of the most important pieces of art critical scholarship to appear this year. -D. J. Johnson, Providence College

Author notes provided by Syndetics

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