Passages in modern sculpture

"Not long ago the respectable Tate Gallery in London came under heavy public attack for purchasing a sculpture by the young American Carl Andre, because it seemed to be no more that a double layer of old bricks. Critics defended the work, but the public continued to believe that it was a "put-on" and failed to accept it as art. In doing so, they were enacting a familiar drama of modern art, whereby something that is difficult to grasp is thought of as fraudulent. For this public, Rodin's sculpture would constitute a standard of clarity and accessibility, while the other works of artists such as Andre, Robert Smithson, and Michael Heizer are rejected as meaningless. But it can be argued that Rodin's work itself defined by the same attitudes toward the body and its movement that were proposed a century later by these young artists. In this brilliant study of modern sculpture from Rodin to the present, Rosalind Krauss examines major works in the light of different approaches to general sculptural issues in order to illuminate the connections between them. By focusing clearly on such different examples as Brancusi's Bird in Space, Picasso's Construction in Metal Wire, David Smith's Tanktotem I, and Robert Morris's Columns, the author allows us to observe and understand the logical progression from the figurative works of the nineteenth century to the range of abstract styles of the 1970s. The book is illustrated with many fine photographs of the works discussed, several made especially for this book. Since one of the most difficult problems involved in a sensible and clear analysis of sculpture is the photographing of works themselves, this book is a valuable contribution to the literature on visual grounds as well as on critical and historical levels."--Publisher's description.