Benjamin H. D. Buchloh
Encyclopedia
Benjamin H. D. Buchloh is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Modern Art at Harvard University
. His 2000 book, Neo-Avantgarde and Culture Industry, is a collection of eighteen essays on major figures of postwar art written since the late 1970s. It covers Nouveau Réalisme in France
(Arman
, Yves Klein
, Jacques de la Villeglé), postwar German art (Joseph Beuys
, Sigmar Polke
, Gerhard Richter
), American Fluxus
and Pop Art
(Robert Watts
and Andy Warhol
), minimalism
and postminimal art (Michael Asher
and Richard Serra
), and European and American conceptual art
(Daniel Buren
, Dan Graham
). Buchloh addresses some artists in terms of their oppositional approaches to language and painting, for example, Nancy Spero
and Lawrence Weiner
. About others, he asks more general questions concerning the development of models of institutional critique
(Hans Haacke
) and the theorization of the museum
(Marcel Broodthaers
); and addresses the formation of historical memory in postconceptual art (James Coleman
).
Buchloh is currently a co-editor of the journal October
, and in 2004 he co-authored Art Since 1900 with Rosalind Krauss, Hal Foster and Yve-Alain Bois
. He earlier edited the journal Interfunktionen, and had previously taught at institutions including the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, the State University of New York at Old Westbury
, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, Barnard College
and Columbia University
.
In Fall 2009, Benjamin Buchloh resided at the American Academy in Berlin
as a Daimler Fellow, and is currently working on a monograph of Gerhard Richter titled Gerhard Richter: Painting After the Subject of History.
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. His 2000 book, Neo-Avantgarde and Culture Industry, is a collection of eighteen essays on major figures of postwar art written since the late 1970s. It covers Nouveau Réalisme in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(Arman
Arman
Arman was a French-born American artist. Born Armand Pierre Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman is a painter who moved from using the objects as paintbrushes to using them as the painting itself...
, Yves Klein
Yves Klein
Yves Klein was a French artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. He is the leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany...
, Jacques de la Villeglé), postwar German art (Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
, Sigmar Polke
Sigmar Polke
Sigmar Polke was a German painter and photographer.Polke experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matter and materials. In the 1970s, he concentrated on photography, returning to paint in the 1980s, when he produced abstract works created by chance through chemical reactions between paint...
, Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has simultaneously produced abstract and photorealistic painted works, as well as photographs and glass pieces, thus undermining the concept of the artist’s obligation to maintain a single cohesive style.- Biography :Gerhard Richter was born in...
), American Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
and Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
(Robert Watts
Robert Watts
Robert Watts is a British film producer who is best known for his involvement with the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film series. His half brother is Jeremy Bulloch, who played Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy.-Chichester University Visit:...
and Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
), minimalism
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
and postminimal art (Michael Asher
Michael Asher
Michael Max Asher is a conceptual artist, described by The New York Times as "among the patron saints of the Conceptual Art phylum known as Institutional Critique, an often esoteric dissection of the assumptions that govern how we perceive art." Rather than designing new art objects, Asher...
and Richard Serra
Richard Serra
Richard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...
), and European and American conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
(Daniel Buren
Daniel Buren
Daniel Buren is a French conceptual artist.- Work :Sometimes classified as an abstract minimalist Buren is known best for using regular, contrasting maxi stripes to integrate the visual surface and architectural space, notably historical, landmark architecture.Among his chief concerns is the...
, Dan Graham
Dan Graham
Dan Graham , is a conceptual artist now working out of New York City. He is an influential figure in the field of contemporary art, both a practitioner of conceptual art and an art critic and theorist. His art career began in 1964 when he moved to New York and opened the John Daniels Gallery....
). Buchloh addresses some artists in terms of their oppositional approaches to language and painting, for example, Nancy Spero
Nancy Spero
Nancy Spero was an American visual artist.-Life and work:Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Spero lived for much of her life in New York City. She was married to, and collaborated with artist Leon Golub....
and Lawrence Weiner
Lawrence Weiner
Lawrence Weiner was a central figure in the formation of conceptual art in the 1960s His work often takes the form of typographic texts.- Life and career :...
. About others, he asks more general questions concerning the development of models of institutional critique
Institutional Critique
Institutional Critique is an art term that describes the systematic inquiry into the workings of art institutions, for instance galleries and museums, and is most associated with the work of artists such as Michael Asher, Marcel Broodthaers, Daniel Buren, Andrea Fraser, Fred Wilson and Hans...
(Hans Haacke
Hans Haacke
Hans Haacke is a German-American artist who lives and works in New York.- Early life :Haacke was born in Cologne, Germany. He studied at the Staatliche Werkakademie in Kassel, Germany, from 1956 to 1960. He was a student of Stanley William Hayter, a well-known and influential English printmaker,...
) and the theorization of the museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
(Marcel Broodthaers
Marcel Broodthaers
Marcel Broodthaers was a Belgian poet, filmmaker and artist with a highly literate and often witty approach to creating art works....
); and addresses the formation of historical memory in postconceptual art (James Coleman
James Coleman
James Coleman may refer to:*James P. Coleman , Governor of Mississippi*James Smoot Coleman , American political scientist*James Samuel Coleman , American sociologist*James Coleman , Irish artist...
).
Buchloh is currently a co-editor of the journal October
October (journal)
October is a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in contemporary art, criticism, and theory, published by the MIT Press.-History:...
, and in 2004 he co-authored Art Since 1900 with Rosalind Krauss, Hal Foster and Yve-Alain Bois
Yve-Alain Bois
Yve-Alain Bois is an historian and critic of modern art. Yve-Alain Bois was born on April 16, 1952 in Constantine, Algeria.-Education:...
. He earlier edited the journal Interfunktionen, and had previously taught at institutions including the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, formerly Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, is the Arts Academy of the city of Düsseldorf. It is well known for having produced many famous artists, such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Thomas Demand, and Andreas Gursky...
, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, the State University of New York at Old Westbury
State University of New York at Old Westbury
The State University of New York College at Old Westbury is a university college that is part of the State University of New York system. The college is in Old Westbury, New York, with portions in the neighboring town of Jericho, New York...
, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
In Fall 2009, Benjamin Buchloh resided at the American Academy in Berlin
American Academy in Berlin
The American Academy in Berlin is a research and cultural institution in Berlin whose stated mission is to foster a greater understanding and dialogue between the people of the United States and the people of Germany.The American Academy was founded in September 1994 by a group of prominent...
as a Daimler Fellow, and is currently working on a monograph of Gerhard Richter titled Gerhard Richter: Painting After the Subject of History.
About Buchloh
- Ken Gewertz, "'The caesura of civilization': Why did visual arts ignore WWII, Holocaust?" Harvard University Gazette, Oct. 27, 2005.
- Steve Bradt, "Buchloh Named Rosenblatt Professor of Modern Art," Harvard University Gazette, June 16, 2005.
- Samuel C. Scott, "Buchloh Joins Art History Faculty," The Harvard Crimson, July 8, 2005.