Exit Interview: Benjamin Buchloh in conversation with Hal Foster

by Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Hal Foster

Two of the most important voices in art history discuss their intellectual foundations, the changing role of criticism, and the possibilities for artistic practice today.

In Exit Interview , the prominent art critics and historians Hal Foster and Benjamin Buchloh discuss their intellectual foundations and the projects they've worked on together, from October magazine to Art Since 1900 . Through three engaging conversations, Foster engages Buchloh on his early influences and aspirations, his formative years in Berlin, London, and Dusseldorf, and his career in North America, while exploring the impact of other art historians and critics. Buchloh candidly addresses his successes, critical significance, and unexplored avenues in art history, providing a unique window into his motivations and experiences. With a powerful postface by Buchloh, Exit Interview builds from biography and anecdote to important reflection on one’s critical life as a whole.

Genres: Art

184 pages, Paperback

Published April 23, 2024

About the author

Benjamin Heinz-Dieter Buchloh is a German art historian. He is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Modern Art in the History of Art and Architecture department at Harvard University.

Reviews

[Cléo]

the last 80 pages is where it’s at

[Special Blend · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've ever studied with Buchloh, you've probably sat through at least part of his lectures wondering what his deal is. Students at Barnard, Columbia, and Harvard have pondered Buchloh's sometimes overly complex language, questioning whether it was purposely obfuscating controversial beliefs like Marxism. His classes blended art history with subjects previously relegated to sociology classes, including critiques of capitalism and its effects on artistic production, such as increased deskilling and a misplaced focus on the market. His criticism has targeted many artists—sometimes valid but other times missing things not inherent to his radar as a white male. For example, a review of Mark Bradford's work reeked of never giving the artist or his ideas a chance. (He is not always dismissive of work by people of color, however, especially if the work aligns with his belief systems. LaToya Ruby Frazier, whose photographic work is sometimes reminiscent of the Bechers, is a favorite of his.)

These are transcripts of well-planned interviews between Buchloh and the otherwise barely sufferable Hal Foster that reveal Buchloh's biography. Here, you learn that Buchloh didn't grow up in a Bavarian castle but in a "petite bourgeoisie" family in Nazi and post-Nazi Germany. He associated with radicals, lived in communes, and, ironically, got his first art job at Zwirner (the elder's) gallery. The connections between German reconstruction, its skepticism of capitalism's commercialization of everything, his attendance at the first Documenta exhibitions, and his early work with important artists while organizing shows for Zwirner become clear. Ultimately, Buchloh's syllabi unfold as biographies of a well-lived life rooted in turbulent, devastated, and restorative times.

Notably, the October circle, of which Buchloh is a part, engages in a lot of mythologizing while their influence outside the ivory towers has generally been offstage. Rosalind Krauss' CUNY PhD "union cards" and connections discussed in the book were exclusionary, and the October circle, in years past, upheld beliefs in the European defining high art with some "exotic" exceptions. In recent years, there have been corrections to this view and Buchloh admits to blind spots in the book, which is appreciated.

Buchloh is undeniably an intelligent guy, and his contributions have been necessary, unique, and often prescient—both in and outside of the art world. This book is definitely a good read if you're at all curious about Buchloh. It explains the man and perhaps kills the enigma often hidden in his words.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and fascinating read providing deep insight into Benjamin H. D. Buchloh's biography, politics, and thought. This series of extended conversations sheds light on this seminal scholar's art history and criticism through the lens of some of the artists on which he has focused over the past several decades, including Marcel Duchamp, Marcel Broothaers, Andy Warhol, Dan Graham, Daniel Buren, Hans Haacke, Michael Asher, Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Lawrence Weiner, Louise Lawler, Martha Rosler, Gabriel Orozco, Isa Genzken, and many others. Buchloh's razor sharp mind, dry humor, and self-effacement add to the pleasure of reading this account of the course of Constructivism, Dada, Pop Art, Minimalism, Conceptualism, and everything in between.

As a graduate student, I studied with Buchloh at Columbia University in the late 1990s. I wish I had had access to such insight before spending six months on a paper concerning the practice of Bernd and Hilla Becher, which failed to impress.

[Aria]

:)

[Caleb Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

cool, gossipy

[William Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stimulating encounter between two major critics of modernism in art. Numerous ideas to chew on.

[yuefei]

end of an era

always been more than a little suspicious (though ultimately sympathetic) of buchloh’s work, which imo has defined a particular understanding of what a critical aesthetics consists of. this interview, in part thanks to foster’s insistent questioning, is a really candid reflection on his trajectory and the historical experiences that fed into it. sprinkled with a little sentimentality.

(also, the book is gorgeoussssssss)