How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art

Clement Greenberg, the noted American art critic, observed that when Hitler occupied Paris in 1940, the art world’s centre of gravity shifted to the USA, and to New York in particular.

This lecture looks at the way in which America came increasingly to dominate the making, marketing and selling of art between 1940 and the early 1980s.

These developments are set against the social and political changes of the period, including the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and the growth of the consumer society. The work under consideration ranges from the realism of artists such as George Tooker, through the abstract work of Jackson Pollock, de Kooning, Jasper Johns (the only artist ever to appear on The Simpsons), Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Frank, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Chuck Close and Jeff Koons, as well as a host of lesser-known but impressive figures.

It looks at the international power exerted by art dealers such as Peggy Guggenheim, Betty Parsons, Leo Castelli and Larry Gagosian (once described by Time magazine as the most powerful man in the global art market).

Banner image: Jackson Pollock:Lucifer (detail) © Rob Corder

How to book this event:

All Arts Society Wensum members are welcome to attend this event without booking.

THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER

Mr Barry Venning

Barry Venning is an art historian whose interests and teaching range from the art of late medieval Europe to global contemporary art. He has published books, articles and exhibition catalogue essays on Turner, Constable and European landscape painting, but also has an ongoing research interest in postcolonial art and British visual satire. He works as a consultant and associate lecturer for the Open University. His media work includes two BBC TV documentaries, radio appearances for BBC local radio and abc Australia, and a DVD on Turner for the Tate.