Tatami and wood: ink rubbings and the discussion of materiality in postwar Japanese calligraphy and art

This paper discusses the relationship between postwar Japanese avant-garde calligraphy and the abstract art of the 1950s, showing how calligraphy contributed to the international postwar discussion of materiality. Postwar Japanese art – as exemplified by the art collectives Gutai and Mono-ha – is widely recognized for its close attention to materiality. This study will introduce Japanese avant-garde calligraphy into the discussion of materiality, examining the relationship between the avant-garde calligraphers’ use of traditional takuhon ink rubbings and the technically identical surrealist technique of frottage, invented in 1924 by Max Ernst as a way to implement ideas of automatism in art and to release the ‘material’ from conscious control. The first attempt to examine the encounter between Japanese calligraphy and surrealism, this study argues that when Japanese avant-garde calligraphers such as Inoue Yūichi (1916–85) and abstract painters such as Hasegawa Saburō (1906–57) began incorporating traditional takuhon ink rubbings into their active art practice in the 1950s, they introduced a new dimension of spirituality into the international discourse on materiality

Whose names count? Jacques Rancière on Alfredo Jaar’s Rwanda Project

This article focuses on Jacques Rancière’s reflections on Alfredo Jaar’s The Rwanda Project in the context of wider discussions of the politics of naming the dead. Against the claim that his reflections reveal a depoliticizing, universalist commitment to naming all the dead, it contends that foregrounding the relation between naming and counting in this discussion shows Rancière’s focus to be the policing and politics of naming. In an original argument, it focuses specifically on how, for Rancière, in this context, individualized proper names function politically and dissensually. To do so it explores (i) Rancière’s analysis of the role of the mainstream media during the Rwandan genocide in perpetuating the police order (or order of grievability) which divided nameable individuals from anonymous masses, thereby constituting living and dead Rwandans as of little or no account, and (ii) his account of how Jaar’s art is able to disrupt the ‘partition of the sensible’ underpinning this count. The article concludes by considering how Rancière’s ideas about the relationship between naming and counting and between politics and police serve as a useful supplement to and extension of existing discussions of grievability

Twentieth-Century Drawings from the Museum of Modern Art, New York [Press Release]

Press release template for the exhibition, "20th Century Drawings," April 4–26, 1962, at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts

20th Century Drawings from the Museum of Modern Art [Checklist]

Checklist of artists and artworks in the exhibition, "20th Century Drawings," April 4–26, 1962, at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts

Twentieth-Century Art From the Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Collection.

Twentieth-century art from the Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Collection Catalog of the exhibition held May 26 - September 1, 1969 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York Text by William S. Lieberman See MoMA cataloghttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/the-rockefellers/1037/thumbnail.jp

Masterpieces from the David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection : Manet to Picasso

Masterpieces from the David and Peggy Rockefeller collection : Manet to Picasso. [Exhibition Masterpieces from the David and Peggy Rockefeller collection: Manet to Picasso at The Museum of Modern Art New York, June 9 - September 6, 1994]. This magnificent treasury showcases 21 paintings--by such masters as Renoir, Monet, and Seurat--given to the Museum of Modern Art in New York by David and Peggy Rockefeller. Reproduced in full color, the works provide a fresh look at the early flowering of the modern spirit in painting. Kirk Varnedoe presents an illuminating commentary on each painting. See also MoMAhttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/the-rockefellers/1030/thumbnail.jp

Spoken because "I" : the habitation of Heide.

An exhibition in collaboration with the Next Wave Festival Incorporated.Guest curator Suzannah Barta. Text by Suzannah Barta and Juliana Engberg. Includes bibliographical references.Artists Suzannah Barta, Joy Hirst, Jennifer Peck, Cathy Smith, Kathy Temi

Noël Skrzypczak: talking to strangers

Single leaf, folded.Artist: Noël Skrzypczak Curator: Linda Short