Primary Structures (1966 exhibition)

Exhibit Catalog Cover designed by Elaine Lustig Cohen

Primary Structures: Younger American and British Sculptors was a minimalist art exhibit shown from April 27 - June 12, 1966 at the Jewish Museum in New York. It was organized by the museum's Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Kynaston McShine.

Response

This exhibit was a critical and media success as reported in Time[1] and Newsweek,[2] presenting the public with a show dedicated to a "New Art". Critical labels for the art included "ABC art," "reductive art" and "Minimalism,"[3] though these labels were all roundly rejected by the artists themselves, notably Donald Judd.

The Primary Structures art featured new, stripped-down naked and materials with smooth, shiny surfaces, but perhaps the most unusual new idea to come from the exhibit was the concept of artist as "designer", not necessarily as "maker". During a forum on the "New Sculpture" conducted at the museum, in which McShine, Judd, Barbara Rose, Robert Morris, and Mark di Suvero participated, di Suvero famously remarked, "Primary Structures is the key show of the 1960s...", and also, "...my friend Donald Judd cannot qualify as an artist because he doesn't do the work", to which Judd replied, "...The point is not whether one makes the work or not... I don't see... why one technique is any more essentially art than another..."[4] This show ushered in a radical new way of presenting ideas and space that did not rely on the artist's hand, but rather on the final result.

McShine, in an effort to broaden appeal and show a wide variety of artists working in this form, included a West Coast contingent and most of the British artists from the "New Generation" show at the Whitechapel Art Gallery from 1965. It appeared that Primary Structures was to be formulated around Anthony Caro's former St. Martin's students, and the American group led by a relatively established Tony Smith.

1993 renovation

In 1989, a major expansion and renovation project was undertaken at the museum. Upon completion in June 1993, the layout of the Primary Structures show was done away with, and only a few installation shots of the show remain to record the original exhibit and the old galleries.

Listing

Sculpture Court/Entry

Lobby

Gallery 1

Underpass

Gallery 2

Gallery 3

Gallery 4

Gallery 5

Gallery 8

Gallery 10

Notes

  1. ↑ Time magazine, June 3, 1676, "Engineer's Esthetic", pg. 64
  2. ↑ Newsweek magazine, May 16, 1966, "The New Druids", pg. 104
  3. ↑ See Battcock's, Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology
  4. ↑ See Meyer's Minimalism for a partial transcript of this discussion.
  5. ↑ Exhibit catalog lists Morris' Floor Piece as the expected work
  6. ↑ Exhibit images have also illustrated Cage in Gallery 5
  7. ↑ Although listed in the catalog, inclusion of this piece has not been confirmed.

References