The Art of Less: Minimalism

THE ART OF LESS: MINIMALISM

Back to Basics

As the gulf between high and low culture widened in art, music, and literature during the 1960s, works in these arts often became increasingly difficult and complex. In response, some artists and com-posers went the opposite direction, creating works with a bare-bones, back-to-basics approach that drew attention to form and materials rather than content or meaning. The result was named minimalism by art critic Barbara Rose.

Painting

Minimalism first appeared in paintings by artists, such as Frank Stella, who rejected the emotional content of abstract expressionism. Instead, such work—called post-painterly abstraction—removed subjects and personality entirely from the picture; the work was not a picture of anything save itself. The resulting works, similar to Ellsworth Kelly's hard-edge paintings, consisted of flat color in geometric shapes.

Sculpture

The trend was first identified as minimalism in sculpture when artists such as Carl Andre, Donald Judd, and Robert Morris began creating physically imposing works with simple geometric forms of untreated materials, often of a single color. The focus was on the materials, since the objects were not intended to represent anything.

Music

In the late 1960s the term also was applied to a new movement in music. While many serious composers were writing scores of increasing complexity, others scaled back to write pieces influenced by African and Asian music with simpler instrumentations—often relying on electronic keyboards and percussion instruments—and repeated phrases and rhythms that gradually changed in the course of the piece. The best-known minimalist composers were Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Terry Riley.

The Influence of Minimalism

Minimal art requires minimal talent, according to some critics. However, minimalism introduced a new concern for the substance of art as opposed to content or technique, and it became a major trend in the arts of the 1960s.

CARNEGIE HALL THREATENED

Since 1891 Carnegie Hall had been the most highly regarded concert hall in New York. How-ever, in early 1960 it appeared that Carnegie Hall was slated for demolition by its owners after their contract with the New York Philharmonic expired in 1959 and the orchestra planned to move to Lincoln Center, then under construction. A committee, headed by violinist Isaac Stern, campaigned to save the auditorium, and in April 1960 the New York state legislature authorized the city to purchase the building. It did so, turning it over to a new corporation with Stern as president. Carnegie Hall reopened in September following renovations to the building.

Sources:

Kenneth Baker, Minimalism: Art of Circumstance (New York: Abbeville, 1988);

Barbara Haskell, Blam! The Explosion of Pop, Minimalism, and Performance, 1958-1964 (New York Whitney Museum of American Art/Norton, 1984);

Michael Nyman, Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond (London: Studio Vista, 1974).