Art history timeline atlas
Pop, Minimal And Conceptual Art
Pop embraced mass culture, Minimalism stripped objects down, and Conceptual art made the idea itself a primary material.
Postwar Experiments And Global Networks
Historical context
These movements challenged older ideas of expression. A soup can, metal box or written instruction could all become art by changing context and attention.
They also forced viewers to confront consumer culture, industrial fabrication, authorship and institutions.
How to look
- Look beyond one center. Postwar art moves through New York, Paris, Mexico City, Lagos, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Seoul and many other networks.
- Notice how the artwork becomes action, environment, document, idea, institution critique, body politics or public argument.
Makers, works, and materials
Date range: c. 1955-1975
Regions: Americas, Europe
Media: Painting, Sculpture, Installation, Text, Print
Movements: Pop art, Minimalism, Conceptual art
Makers to research
- Andy Warhol
- Roy Lichtenstein
- Donald Judd
- Sol LeWitt
- Yoko Ono
Named works to compare
- Pop screenprints
- Minimal objects
- Instruction-based works
The idea as artwork
A Conceptual artwork can exist as instructions, documents or language. The physical object may be secondary to the rule that produces it.
Legacy and why it matters
Pop, Minimal and Conceptual art transformed contemporary galleries, design, branding, installation and the legal/philosophical question of authorship.