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Left Shift: Radical Art in 1970s Britain
Compared to the 1960s, the 1970s is a neglected decade. This is a history of radical political art in Britain during the 1970s, art that sought to re-establish a social purpose. It argues that what was unique about the visual fine art of the decade was the impact of left-wing politics, women's liberation and the gay movement. Artists discussed Rashid Araeen, Conrad and Terry Atkinson, Joseph Beuys, Derek Boshier, Stuart Brisley, Victor Burgin, John Drugger, Gilbert and George, Margaret Harrison, Derek Jarman, John Latham, Mary Kelly, Bruce McLean, David Madalla, Jamie Reid, Jo Spence, John Stezaker and Stephen Willats who responded to the historical events of a period marked by economic and political crises. A wide variety of art forms is banners, drawing, film, community murals, painting, performance, photography, photomontage, posters, sculpture and video. Many radical artists challenged prevailing art institutions, such as the Arts Council, often establishing alternatives, like the Artist's Union.
The book, which is set out on a year-by-year basis, also examines key conferences, exhibitions, galleries, magazines, organizations and critics; art theory and the various views of artists and critics meant that the 1970s was a decade of intellectual ferment.
The book, which is set out on a year-by-year basis, also examines key conferences, exhibitions, galleries, magazines, organizations and critics; art theory and the various views of artists and critics meant that the 1970s was a decade of intellectual ferment.
294 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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March 9, 2016
The book sets about investigating the critic Peter Fuller’s query:
“Where was the art of the seventies?”
According to John A. Walker, Britain vigorously documented the development of the arts before the 1970s; however, there isn’t enough account and documentation about the aforementioned era.
“Did nothing happen in the 1970s aside from glam rock and punk, disco music and Saturday Night Fever, platform shoes and bell-bottomed pants, jogging, skateboarding, streaking, Star Wars and Charlie’s Angels? Arguably, the 1970s is still a neglected decade despite the fact that there have been a number of general histories, nostalgic stylistic revivals, books and exhibitions about conceptual art…”
Walker continues with statements of theoretical, historical and political reasons for the problem that, later on, sparked the radical shift in British modern art:
“It is worth recalling a time when the paradigm shift from modernism to post-modernism took place. The death of Pablo Picasso in 1973 has been viewed as signifying the end of modernism and hence a point of ‘cultural closure’ but, of course, to critics of modernism it was a point of ‘cultural opening”
“. . . a loss of centre in contemporary art; a reflection, I think, of a deeper loss of centre in society as a whole . . . In the seventies the optimism, faith in the future, and the belief in a mainstream largely disappeared. Art became fragmented into separate areas, none of which could hold the centre in the sense of supplying a dominant stylistic idiom or set of concerns or beliefs.”
“It was a period of expanded materials/media: instead of pigment and clay many artists began to employ banners, bodily waste, books, concepts/language, flags, film, mixed-media installations, mirrors, patchwork, performance, photocopies, photography, photomontage, posters, the postal system, sound and video.”
“Where was the art of the seventies?”
According to John A. Walker, Britain vigorously documented the development of the arts before the 1970s; however, there isn’t enough account and documentation about the aforementioned era.
“Did nothing happen in the 1970s aside from glam rock and punk, disco music and Saturday Night Fever, platform shoes and bell-bottomed pants, jogging, skateboarding, streaking, Star Wars and Charlie’s Angels? Arguably, the 1970s is still a neglected decade despite the fact that there have been a number of general histories, nostalgic stylistic revivals, books and exhibitions about conceptual art…”
Walker continues with statements of theoretical, historical and political reasons for the problem that, later on, sparked the radical shift in British modern art:
“It is worth recalling a time when the paradigm shift from modernism to post-modernism took place. The death of Pablo Picasso in 1973 has been viewed as signifying the end of modernism and hence a point of ‘cultural closure’ but, of course, to critics of modernism it was a point of ‘cultural opening”
“. . . a loss of centre in contemporary art; a reflection, I think, of a deeper loss of centre in society as a whole . . . In the seventies the optimism, faith in the future, and the belief in a mainstream largely disappeared. Art became fragmented into separate areas, none of which could hold the centre in the sense of supplying a dominant stylistic idiom or set of concerns or beliefs.”
“It was a period of expanded materials/media: instead of pigment and clay many artists began to employ banners, bodily waste, books, concepts/language, flags, film, mixed-media installations, mirrors, patchwork, performance, photocopies, photography, photomontage, posters, the postal system, sound and video.”
Displaying 1 of 1 review