Art & Language is a

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

ists' collaboration that has undergone many changes since it was created in the late 1960s. The group was founded by artists who shared a common desire to combine intellectual ideas and concerns with the creation of art. The first issue of the group's journal, ''

Art-Language ''Art-Language: The Journal of Conceptual Art'' (1969-1985) was a magazine published by the conceptual artists of Art & Language. Involving more than 20 artists in the United States, Europe, and Australia, and covering almost 20 years prod ...

'', was published in November 1969 in England.

First years

The Art & Language group was founded around 1967 in the United Kingdom by

Terry Atkinson Terry Atkinson (born 1939) is an English artist. Atkinson was born in Thurnscoe, near Barnsley, Yorkshire. He lives in Leamington Spa, England with his wife, artist Sue Atkinson, with whom he has frequently collaborated. In 1967, he began to ...

(b. 1939), David Bainbridge (b. 1941),

Michael Baldwin Michael Baldwin is a fictional character from the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless''. The role is portrayed by Christian LeBlanc, originally from November 26, 1991 to July 7, 1993, and again since April 25, 1997. Michael has had relat ...

(b. 1945) and

Harold Hurrell Harold Hurrell (born 1940 in Barnsley, Yorkshire; lives in Hull, England) is a British Conceptual art, conceptual artist and former member of the Art & Language artist group. Life Harold Hurrell studied at Sheffield College of Art from 1961 ...

(b. 1940). The group was critical of what was considered mainstream modern art practices at the time. In their work conversations, they created gallery art and presented these ideas in a journal as part of their discussions. Between 1968 and 1982, the group grew to nearly fifty people. Among the first to join were critic and art historian,

Charles Harrison Charles Harrison may refer to: * Charles Harrison (artist) (1942-2009), British Conceptual artist & member of the artist group Art & Language * Charles Harrison (Australian politician) (1915–1986), member of the South Australian House of Assembly ...

, and artist

Mel Ramsden Mel Ramsden (born 1944) is a British conceptual artist and member of the Art & Language artist group. Life and work Ramsden was born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, Great Britain. He studied at Nottingham College of Art from 1961 to 1963, went to ...

. In the early 1970s, individuals including

Ian Burn Ian Burn (29 December 1939 – 29 September 1993) was an Australian conceptual artist. He was a member of the Art and Language group that flourished in the 1970s. Ian Burn was also an art writer, curator, and scholar. Biography Ian Burn was ...

Michael Corris Michael Corris is an artist, art historian and writer on art. He is Professor Emeritus of Art, Division of Art, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, United States. Previously, Corris held the post of Profes ...

, Preston Heller, Graham Howard,

Joseph Kosuth Joseph Kosuth (; born January 31, 1945), an American conceptual artist, lives in New York and London,

, Andrew Menard, and Terry Smith joined the group. Two collaborators from Coventry,

Philip Pilkington Philip Pilkington is an Irish economist working in investment finance. He became well-known for his critiques of neoclassical economics on his blog ''Fixing the Economists''. Since then he has written a book entitled ''The Reformation in Econom ...

and David Rushton, followed. The first issue of ''

Art-Language The Journal of conceptual art ''Art-Language: The Journal of Conceptual Art'' (1969-1985) was a magazine published by the conceptual artists of Art & Language. Involving more than 20 artists in the United States, Europe, and Australia, and covering almost 20 years product ...

''(Volume 1, Number 1, May 1969) is subtitled ''The Journal of Conceptual Art''. ''

'' had, however, brought to light the beginning of a new art movement. While that community was far from a unanimous agreement as to how to define the nature of conceptual art, the editors and most of its historic contributors shared similar opinions about other art movements. Conceptual art was critical of

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

for its bureaucracy and its historicism, and of

minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

for its philosophical conservatism. The practice of conceptual art, especially in its early years of origin, was primarily based on theory, and its form, predominately textual. As the distribution of the journal and the teaching practices of the editors and others contributors expanded, the conversation grew to include more people. In England, by 1971, artists and critics including

, David Rushton, Lynn Lemaster, Sandra Harrison, Graham Howard and Paul Wood had joined. Around the same time in New York,

joined, followed by Paula Ramsden,

Mayo Thompson Mayo Thompson (born February 26, 1944 in Houston, Texas, United States) is an American musician and visual artist best known as the leader of the experimental rock band Red Krayola. Background His formal education includes Garden of Arts Kind ...

, Christine Kozlov, Preston Heller, Andrew Menard and

Kathryn Bigelow Kathryn Ann Bigelow (; born November 27, 1951) is an American filmmaker. Covering a wide range of genres, her films include '' Near Dark'' (1987), '' Point Break'' (1991), '' Strange Days'' (1995), '' K-19: The Widowmaker'' (2002), ''The Hurt Loc ...

. The name "Art & Language" remained precarious due to the various interpretations of both the many pieces of art and the purpose of the group. Its significance, or instrumentality, varied from person to person, alliance to alliance, discourse to discourse, and from those in New York who produced ''The Fox'' (1974–1976), for example, to those engaged in music projects and those who continued the Journal's edition. There was disagreement among members, and by 1976, there was a growing sense of divide that eventually led to competing individualities and varied concerns. Throughout the 1970s, Art & Language dealt with questions about art production and attempted a shift from conventional "nonlinguistic" forms of art, such as painting and sculpture, to more theoretically text-based works. The group often took argumentative positions against such prevailing views of critics like

Clement Greenberg Clement Greenberg () (January 16, 1909 – May 7, 1994), occasionally writing under the pseudonym K. Hardesh, was an American essayist known mainly as an art critic closely associated with American modern art of the mid-20th century and a formali ...

and

Michael Fried Michael Martin Fried (born April 12, 1939 in New York City) is a modernist art critic and art historian. He studied at Princeton University and Harvard University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Merton College, Oxford. He is the J.R. Herbert Boone Pr ...

. The Art & Language group that exhibited in the international ''

Documenta 5 documenta 5 was the fifth edition of documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition. It was held between 30 June and 8 October 1972 in Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hes ...

'' exhibitions of 1972 included Atkinson, Bainbridge, Baldwin, Hurrell, Pilkington, Rushton, and Joseph Kosuth, the American editor of ''

''. The work consisted of a filing system of material published and circulated by Art & Language members.

New York Art and Language

Burn and Ramsden co-founded The Society for Theoretical Art and Analysis in New York in the late 1960s. They joined Art & Language in 1970–71. New York Art & Language became fragmented after 1975 because of disagreements concerning principles of collaboration. Karl Beveridge and Carol Condé, who had been peripheral members of the group in New York, returned to Canada where they worked with trade unions and community groups. In 1977, Ian Burn returned to Australia and Mel Ramsden to the United Kingdom.

Late 1970s

By the end of the 1970s, the group was essentially reduced to Baldwin, Harrison, and Ramsden with the occasional participation of

and his group

Red Crayola The Red Krayola (originally Red Crayola) is an American avant rock band from Houston, Texas formed in 1966 by the trio of singer/guitarist Mayo Thompson, drummer Frederick Barthelme, and bassist Steve Cunningham. The group were part of the 196 ...

. The political analysis and development within the group resulted in several members leaving the group to work in more activist-oriented political occupations. Ian Burn returned to Australia, joining Ian Milliss, a conceptual artist who had begun work with trade unions in the early 1970s, in becoming active in Union Media Services, a design studio for social and community initiatives and the development of trade unions. At the beginning of the 1970s, there were about thirty members. The Art & Language group emphasized the use of language on the theory that language is the basis from which ideas and concepts are built. Their philosophy was that language permits index words which appear, disappear, and for some even persist, thus allowing viewers and artists alike to analyze the evolution of a word through the proposal of different definitions.

Exhibitions and awards

Awards and critics

In 1986, Art & Language was nominated for the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

. In 1999, Art & Language exhibited at PS1 MoMA in New York, with a major installation entitled ''The Artist Out of Work''. This was a recollection of Art & Language's dialogical and other practices, curated by Michael Corris and Neil Powell. This exhibition closely followed the revisionist exhibition of ''Global Conceptualism: Points of Origin'' at the

Queens Museum The Queens Museum, formerly the Queens Museum of Art, is an art museum and educational center located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. The museum was founded in 1972, and has among its pe ...

of Art, also in New York. The Art & Language show at PS1 offered an alternative account of the antecedents and legacy of '"classic" conceptual art and reinforced a transatlantic rather than nationalistic version of events from 1968 to 1972. In a negative appraisal of the exhibition,

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

Jerry Saltz Jerry Saltz (born February 19, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American art critic. Since 2006, he has been senior art critic and columnist for '' New York'' magazine. Formerly the senior art critic for ''The Village Voice'', he received the Pu ...

wrote, "A quarter century ago, 'Art & Language' forged an important link in the genealogy of conceptual art, but next efforts have been so self-sufficient and obscure that their work is now virtually irrelevant."

Permanent collections

Other exhibits around the world include the works of Atkinson and Baldwin (working as Art & Language) held in the collection of the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

in the United Kingdom. Papers and works relating to "New York Art & Language" are held at the

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

, Los Angeles.

Theoretical installations

Art & Language and the collaborated for the first time in January 1995, during the "Art & Language & Luhmann" symposium, organized by the Contemporary Social Considerations Institute (Institut für Sozial Gegenwartsfragen) of Freiburg. The 3-day symposium saw the intervention of speakers including

Catherine David Catherine David (born 1954) is a French art historian, curator and museum director. David was the first woman and the first non-German speaker to curate documenta X in Kassel, Germany (21 June – 28 September 1997). David is currently depu ...

, who prepared the Documenta X, and

Peter Weibel Peter Weibel (; born 5 March 1944 in Odessa, USSR) is an internationally known Austrian post-conceptual artist, curator and new media theoretician. He started out in 1964 as a visual poet but soon jumped from the page to the screen within the sen ...

, artist and curator. There was also a theoretical installation of an Art & Language text produced in playback by the Jackson Pollock Bar. The installation was interpreted by five German actors playing the roles of Jack Tworkow,

Philip Guston Philip Guston (born Phillip Goldstein, June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980), was a Canadian American painter, printmaker, muralist and draftsman. Early in his five decade career, muralist David Siquieros described him as one of "the most promising ...

Harold Rosenberg Harold Rosenberg (February 2, 1906 – July 11, 1978) was an American writer, educator, philosopher and art critic. He coined the term Action Painting in 1952 for what was later to be known as abstract expressionism. Rosenberg is best known for ...

Robert Motherwell Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American Abstract Expressionism, abstract expressionist Painting, painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of th ...

and

Ad Reinhardt Adolph Dietrich Friedrich Reinhardt (December 24, 1913 – August 30, 1967) was an abstract painter active in New York for more than three decades. He was a member of the American Abstract Artists (AAA) and part of the movement center ...

. Using

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated thr ...

, the actors used pre-recorded text for a "New Conceptual" conversation. Ever since this collaboration, each new Art & Language exhibition has been joined by a Jackson Pollock Bar theoretical installation.

Past members and associates

References

External links

Interview with Michael Baldwin and Mel Ramsden about Art & Language (2011)MP3

Art & Language: Blurting in A & L online
Hypertext version of a complete print work of 1973 by American members of Art & Language, with articles and a discussion forum.

with four German articles on Art & Language and a chronology with illustrated works.
Artists group page in Artfacts.Net
with actual major exhibitions. * Andrew Hunt
''Art & Language''
''Frieze'', October 2005. * Tom Morton
''Art & Language''
''Frieze'', April 2002.

Works by Art & Language at the Mulier Mulier Gallery

Art & Language page at Lisson Gallery

Art & Language at René Schmitt Druckgraphik

Official site of Taddeus Ropac Gallery

Official site of Kadel Willborn Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Art and Language British conceptual artists English artist groups and collectives English contemporary artists Conceptual art Art movements Postmodern artists