Carl Andre (born September 16, 1935) is an American

minimalist 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 Do ...

artist recognized for his ordered linear and grid format sculptures and for the suspected murder of contemporary and wife, Ana Mendieta. His sculptures range from large

public art Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically acce ...

works (such as ''Stone Field Sculpture'', 1977 in

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

, Connecticut and ''Lament for the Children'', 1976 in Long Island City, New York), to large interior works exhibited on the floor (such as ''144 Magnesium Square'', 1969), to small intimate works (such as ''Satier: Zinc on Steel'', 1989, and ''7 Alnico Pole'', 2011). Andre married earth-body artist

Ana Mendieta Ana Mendieta (November 18, 1948 – September 8, 1985) was a Cuban-American performance artist, sculptor, painter and video artist who is best known for her "earth-body" artwork. Born in Havana, Mendieta left for the United States in 1961. Earl ...

. In 1985, she fell from their apartment window and died after an argument with him. He was acquitted of a second-degree murder charge in a 1988

bench trial A bench trial is a trial by judge, as opposed to a trial by jury. The term applies most appropriately to any administrative hearing in relation to a summary offense to distinguish the type of trial. Many legal systems (Roman, Islamic) use bench ...

, but supporters of Mendieta, have protested at his subsequent exhibitions.

Early life

Andre was born September 16, 1935 in Quincy,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. He completed primary and secondary schooling in the Quincy public school system and studied art at Phillips Academy in

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andove ...

from 1951 to 1953.''Naked by the Window,'' by Robert Katz published 1990 by The Atlantic Monthly Free Press While at Phillips Academy he became friends with

Hollis Frampton Hollis William Frampton, Jr. (March 11, 1936 – March 30, 1984) was an American avant-garde filmmaker, photographer, writer, theoretician, and pioneer of digital art. He was best known for his innovative and non-linear structural films that defi ...

who would later influence Andre's radical approach to sculpture through their conversations about art''12 Dialogues,'' Carl Andre and Hollis Frampton 1962–1963 published by Nova Scotia College of Art and Design Press and New York University Press, edited by Benjamin HD Buchloh and through introductions to other artists.''Minimalism: Art and Polemics in the Sixties,'' edited by James Meyer, published 2004 by Yale University Press , Andre served in the U.S. Army in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

1955–56, and moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1956. While in New York, Frampton introduced Andre to

Constantin Brâncuși Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian Sculpture, sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of ...

, through whom Andre became re-acquainted with a former classmate from Phillips Academy,

Frank Stella Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. Stella lives and works in New York City. Biography Frank Stella was born in M ...

, in 1958. Andre shared studio space with Stella from 1958 through 1960.

Work

Early work

Andre has cited Brâncuși as inspiration for his early wood sculptures, but his conversations with Stella about space and form led him in a different direction. While sharing a studio with Stella, Andre developed a series of wooden "cut" sculptures (such as ''Radial Arm Saw cut sculpture'', 1959, and ''Maple Spindle Exercise'', 1959). Stella is noted as having said to Andre (regarding hunks of wood removed from Andre's sculpture) "Carl, that's sculpture, too." From 1960 to 1964, Andre worked as freight brakeman and conductor in New Jersey for the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

. The experience with blue collar labor and the ordered nature of conducting freight trains would have a later influence on Andre's sculpture and artistic personality. For example, it was not uncommon for Andre to dress in overalls and a blue work shirt, even to the most formal occasions." During this period, Andre focused mainly on writing and there is little notable sculpture on record between 1960 and 1965. The poetry would resurface later, most notably in a book (finally published in 1980 by NYU press) called ''12 Dialogues'' in which Andre and

took turns responding to one another at a typewriter using mainly poetry and free-form essay-like texts. Andre's

concrete poetry Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct mea ...

has exhibited in the United States and Europe, a comprehensive collection of which is in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

Mature work

In 1965, he had his first public exhibition of work in the ''Shape and Structure'' show curated by

Henry Geldzahler Henry Geldzahler (July 9, 1935 – August 16, 1994) was a Belgian-born American curator of contemporary art in the late 20th century, as well as a historian and critic of modern art. He is best known for his work at the Metropolitan Museum ...

at the

Tibor de Nagy Gallery The Tibor de Nagy Gallery is an art gallery located on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan. History Tibor de Nagy Gallery is among the earliest modern art galleries in New York City. The gallery was founded by ...

. Andre's controversial ''Lever'' was included in the seminal 1966 show at the Jewish Museum in New York entitled ''

Primary Structures Primary Structures: Younger American and British Sculptors was an exhibition presented by the Jewish Museum in New York City from April 27 to June 12, 1966. The show was a survey of recent work in sculpture by artists from the Northeast United Sta ...

''. In the late 1960s, the entrepreneur Karl Ströher from

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(

Wella Wella AG is a German hair care company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1880 by Franz Ströher, it specialises in hair care, styling and colorants sold to individuals as well as hairdressers and was controlled by Procter & Gamb ...

) acquired three major works from Andre to give them on loan to the

Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (HLMD) is a large multidisciplinary museum in Darmstadt, Germany. The museum exhibits Rembrandt, Beuys, a primeval horse and a mastodon under the slogan "The whole world under one roof". As one of the oldest pub ...

Peter Iden Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

then acquired these works for the

Museum für Moderne Kunst The Museum für Moderne Kunst (''Museum of Modern Art''), or short MMK, in Frankfurt, was founded in 1981 and opened to the public 6 June 1991. The museum was designed by the Viennese architect Hans Hollein. Because of its triangular shape, it i ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

in 1981. The works have since been shown in various "Change of Scene" exhibitions (1992–2002) at the museum in Frankfurt and internationally. In 1969, Andre helped organize the

Art Workers Coalition The Art Workers' Coalition (AWC) was an open coalition of artists, filmmakers, writers, critics, and museum staff that formed in New York City in January 1969. Its principal aim was to pressure the city's museums – notably the Museum of Modern Art ...

. In 1970, he had a solo exhibition at the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

Equivalent VIII

In 1972, Britain's

Tate Gallery 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 ...

acquired Andre's ''

Equivalent VIII ''Equivalent VIII'', 1966, 120 Firebricks, 5 x 27 x 90 ¼ inches, occasionally referred to as ''The Bricks'', is the last of a series of minimalist sculptures by Carl Andre. The sculpture consists of 120 fire bricks, arranged in two layers, in a ...

'', an arrangement of 120

firebrick A fire brick, firebrick, or refractory is a block of ceramic material used in lining furnaces, kilns, fireboxes, and fireplaces. A refractory brick is built primarily to withstand high temperature, but will also usually have a low thermal cond ...

s. The piece was exhibited several times without incident, but became the center of controversy in 1976, after being featured in an article in ''The Sunday Times'' and later being defaced with blue food dye. The "Bricks controversy" became one of the most famous public debates in Britain about contemporary art.

Lever

Carl Andre's 'Lever' consists simply of a single line of 137 firebricks. The work concisely divides a space as the bricks hug the floor. The exhibiting of ‘Lever’ at “Primary Structures” brought recognition to Carl Andre.

Criticism

The gradual evolution of consensus about the meaning of Carl Andre's art can be found in ''About Carl Andre: Critical Texts Since 1965'', published by

Ridinghouse Ridinghouse is a British book publisher specialising in art. Ridinghouse’s publications are distributed by Cornerhouse in the UK and Europe, and by RAM Publications + Distribution, Inc. in North America. Company history Ridinghouse was found ...

in 2008. The most significant essays and exhibition reviews have been collated into one volume, including texts written by some of the most influential art historians and critics:

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 formal ...

Donald Kuspit Donald Kuspit (born March 26, 1935) is an American art critic and poet, known for his practice of psychoanalytic art criticism. He has published on the subjects of avant-garde aesthetics, postmodernism, modern art, and conceptual art. Educatio ...

Lucy R. Lippard Lucy Rowland Lippard (born April 14, 1937) is an American writer, art critic, activist, and curator. Lippard was among the first writers to argue for the " dematerialization" at work in conceptual art and was an early champion of feminist art. ...

Robert C. Morgan Robert C. Morgan (born 1943) is an American art critic, art historian, curator, poet, and artist. Biography Robert C. Morgan received his M.F.A. in sculpture from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1975 and his Ph.D. in art education f ...

, Barbara Rose and

Roberta Smith Roberta Smith (born 1948) is co-chief art critic of ''The New York Times'' and a lecturer on contemporary art. She is the first woman to hold that position. Early life Born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. Smith studied at ...

Personal life

In 1979, Andre first met artist

through a mutual friendship with artists Leon Golub and

Nancy Spero Nancy Spero (August 24, 1926 – October 18, 2009) was an American visual artist. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Spero lived for much of her life in New York City. She married and collaborated with artist Leon Golub. As both artist and activist, Nanc ...

at AIR Gallery in New York City. Andre and Mendieta married in 1985. In 1988, Andre was tried and acquitted in the death of Mendieta. Mendieta fell to her death from Andre's 34th story apartment window in 1985, after an argument with Andre. Andre was charged with

second degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

. He elected to be tried before a judge with no jury. In 1988, he was acquitted of all charges related to Mendieta's death. Andre remains a controversial figure, and museums who exhibit his work have been met with outrage from Mendieta's supporters. In 2017, protestors attended the opening of his exhibition at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Los Angeles, distributing postcards that read “Carl Andre is at MOCA Geffen. ¿Dónde está Ana Mendieta?” (Spanish for "Where is Ana Mendieta?").

Artist books

''Quincy'', 1973. Artist book by Carl Andre which features commissioned photographs of landscapes and monuments in his hometown of

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

. ''Quincy'' was originally printed in conjunction with Andre's 1973 solo show at Addison Gallery, and reprinted by Primary Information in 2014. ''America Drill'', 2003, Les Maîtres de Forme Contemporains, mfc-michèle didier and Paula Cooper Gallery. Limited edition of 100 numbered, signed and stamped copies, 400 numbered copies and 100 artist's proofs.

Bibliography

* ''About Carl Andre: Critical Texts Since 1965'', 2008, published by

. * * Lauter, Rolf: ''Carl Andre: Extraneous Roots.'' Museum für Moderne Kunst in the Monastery of the Carmelites, Frankfurt am Main 07.06.-14.07.1991. * Lauter, Rolf; Christian K. Scheffel; ''Carl Andre: Blickachsen 4, Skulpturen im Kurpark Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe'', Bad Homburg 18.05.-05.10.2003. * Christel Sauer: ''Carl Andre: Cuts'', DE/EN, Basel 2011, * Rider, Alistair. ''Carl Andre: Things in their Elements''. London: Phaidon Press, 2011.

References

External links

Official WebsiteFilmed interview with Carl Andre – TateShotsCarl Andre collection MMK Frankfurt

Carl Andre exhibition at Paula Cooper Gallery, NYC 2014Retrospective Gets a Master’s Touch Carl Andre Emerges to Guide Installation at Dia:Beacon NEW YORK TIMES by Randy KennedyCarl Andre Dia Retrospective
from the Art Story Foundation website

from the Guggenheim Museum

Timeline of Exhibitions 1964–present
Carl Andre
at the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

Brooklyn Rail
''In Conversation: Carl Andre with Michèle Gerber Klein and

Phong Bui Phong H. Bui (born September 17, 1964, in Huế, Vietnam) is an artist, writer, independent curator, and Co-Founder and Artistic Director of ''The Brooklyn Rail,'' a free monthly arts, culture, and politics journal. Bui was named one of the "100 ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Andre, Carl 1935 births Living people Minimalist artists Sculptors from New York (state) American contemporary artists People from Quincy, Massachusetts People acquitted of murder