Elke Seibert

Prehistoric Pictures and American Modernism

Abstract Art at MoMA 1937-1939

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

"In April 1937, the Museum of Modern Art in New York hosted an exhibition that served as a catalyst for the appropriation of prehistoric rock art in postwar abstract painting. With the title "Prehistoric Rock Pictures in Europe and Africa", it displayed a range of copies from the influential collection of the German ethnologist Leo Frobenius. Largely disregarded in modern American art history up until now, this book highlights the importance of this exhibition to artists such as Josef Albers, Adolph Gottlieb, David Smith, and The American Abstracts Artists group, who sought inspiration from the prehistoric images' primordial creativity. With a transnational scope, the book brings to the surface new facts about the transatlantic connections between Paris and New York and the importance of communication and collaboration between them. In doing so, Seibert reveals that this debate was about more than just legitimizing abstract art forms from the past, but about recognizing an autonomous American abstract art. Presenting unseen archival material, letters, and exhibition documentation, Prehistoric Pictures and American Modernism offers a new reading of the development of modern American abstraction, and will hold an important place in the historiography of the movement, its global traditions, and its legacy"--

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Academic
• Seitenzahl: 256
• Erscheinungstermin: 24. April 2025
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 234mm x 156mm x 25mm
• Gewicht: 454g
• ISBN-13: 9781350418325
• ISBN-10: 1350418323
• Artikelnr.: 70618364

Autorenporträt

Elke Seibert is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Cultural Department Canton Nidwalden, Switzerland, specialising in the interdisciplinary study of reception processes in contemporary and fine art from the 18th to the 20th century.

Inhaltsangabe

Part One: Introduction 1 Preface 2 Prehistory as a Modern Idea in Europe
and "Primitivism" as intertwined concepts (1900-1940) Part Two: Prehistoric
Artifacts, Prints, Painted Copies and the Genesis of Modern Art in New York
(1937) 3 Alfred Barr's View of Prehistory and Modernism as Shown at MoMA 4
Barr`s exhibition concept: "Prehistoric" Avant-Garde and Lala Eve Rivol's
Federal Art Project 5 Leo Frobenius's Objectives, His Collection in Western
debates-and Henry Moore 6 The Making of the MoMA Exhibition Prehistoric
Rock Pictures in Europe and Africa (28 April-30 May, 1937) Part Three: The
Art of Copying the Past-in Transatlantic Dialogue 7 Copies and Copyists:
Pictorial Heritage at the Museum of Modern Art 8 Copying for the Index of
American Design (1935-42) Part Four: Modern American Abstract Art and their
Re-appropriation of Prehistoric Rock Paintings 9 The Founding of the
American Abstract Artists (1936) and their Appropriation of Prehistoric
Rock Paintings (1937-40) 10 Bridging Time and Space:Transcontinental AAA
Networks in the Interwar Period 11 The Influence of (prehistoric) Artistic
Concepts from Mexico on the American Abstract Artists 12 Prehistorical
Modernists: Gottlieb, Lassaw, Schanker, Smith Part Five: Conclusion 13 The
"Modernity" of Prehistory in the Thirties in Paris and New York Appendix I
and II Bibliography Index