Land & Environmental Art (Themes & Movements) [Hardcover]

Jeffrey Kastner (Author), Brian Wallis (Author)

Book Description

Series: Themes & Movements | Publication Date: October 29, 1998

The traditional landscape genre was radically transformed in the 1960s when many artists stopped merely representing the land and made their mark directly in the environment. Drawn by the vast uncultivated spaces of the desert and mountain as well as post-industrial wastelands, artists such as Michael Heizer, Nancy Holt or Robert Smithson moved earth to create colossal primal symbols. Others punctuated the horizon with man-made signposts, such as Christo's "Running Fence" or Walter de Maria's "Lightning Field". Journeys became works of art for Richard Long whilst Dennis Oppenheim and Ana Mendieta immersed their bodies in the contours of the land. This text traces early developments to the present day, where artists are exploring eco-systems and the interface between industrial, urban and rural cultures. Alongside photographs, sketches and project notes, Kastner compiles an archive of statements by all the featured artists alongside related texts by art historians, critics, philosophers and cultural theorists including Jean Baudrillard, Edmund Burke, Guy Debord, Michael Fried, Dave Hickey, Rosalind Krauss, Lucy R. Lippard, Thomas McEvilley, Carolyn Merchant and Simon Schama.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

If ever a series could elucidate the many forces active in contemporary art, it is Phaidon's "Themes and Movements." Divided into three major sections beginning with a survey by cultural critic and curator Brian Wallis, the book defines land and environmental art and places it in a broader context. The second section, presented by critic and editor Kastner, contains classic examples of work starting in 1947 with a maquette by Isamu Noguchi and ending with a 1996 proposal by Mark Dion. Each work is illustrated chronologically with expanded captions noting intention, process, and exhibition history. The last section is loaded with articles, reviews, and artists' statements that directly support both the survey and the works. A book like this is badly needed to consolidate a subject that has often been scattered into many categories; here Smithson, De Maria, and Christo appear alongside Ukeles, Mendieta, and Chin. Some of the artists are more conceptual while others are more sculptural, but nearly all have taken their work outside the museum setting. A virtual tour of an exhibition that spans more than four decades and thousands of miles; highly recommended for academic and large public libraries.ASusan M. Olcott, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Jeffrey Kastner, based in New York, is a writer on art and culture. Senior editor of Cabinet magazine, he is a former senior editor of ARTnews, and contributing editor of Art Monthly. As well as lecturing on art in America and Europe, Kastner has contributed reviews and essays on contemporary art and popular culture for numerous magazines, including Artforum, Art & Design, Flash Art, The Economist and frieze. Brian Wallis is Chief Curator and Director of Exhibitions at the International Center of Photography, New York. As well as curating, he has taught Critical Theory at Yale University and was McCracken Fellow at New York University. Wallis has authored and edited numerous books on contemporary culture, among them Art After Modernism (New Museum/David Godine, 1984), Blasted Allegories (New Museum/MIT Press, 1986) and Constructing Masculinity (Routledge, 1995). In 1996 he curated the exhibition 'Counterculture: Alternative Information from the Underground Press to the Internet' at Exit Art in New York. Wallis was formerly senior editor of Art in America and a curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, where he organized serveral exhibitions including a Hans Haacke retrospective in 1986. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (October 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714835145
• ISBN-13: 978-0714835143
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 10.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #944,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent collection and commentary!, October 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Land & Environmental Art (Themes & Movements) (Hardcover)

This book should be a permanent reference for all artists including photographers and architects. The timelessness of the projects reflects the timelessness of the book itself. The diversity of projects and their ideas makes a remarkable statement about art and its boundaries.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Land Art Book., October 25, 2008

By 

dream factory (Triangulum, M33) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Land & Environmental Art (Themes & Movements) (Paperback)

In the 1960's maverick artists stopped merely representing landscapes and turned to making their mark onto the environment itself. Christo/Claude flew onto the scene with sweeping bravado. And we are familiar with De Maria's surreal 'Lightning Field' and Smithson's iconic 'Spiral Jetty'. By the way thanks to global warming the waters have receeded and the Jetty is back!
This fantastic big book sweeps through more than 100 land artists and their various far ranging methods of impressing upon nature. Captivating large photographs are perfectly wed to the text explaining the process of how the pieces were planned and produced.
There are a fair number of environmemental art books on the market. Leave it to Phaidon to present the best one. . . . . Note; another great one is 'Land Art in the US...' by Malpas.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good survey of the Land Art movement in its context, June 19, 2009

By 

Michael A. Duvernois (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Land & Environmental Art (Themes & Movements) (Paperback)

There are more, and better, images in the Taschen Land Art books, but this is the best source for a serious discussion of the importance and place of the art movement.