WHAT:“Other Primary Structures”
WHEN: Part 1: March 14-May 18; Part 2: May 25-August 3
WHERE: The Jewish Museum, 1109 5th Ave (at 92nd St), New York
WHY THIS SHOW MATTERS: When Kynaston McShine curated “Primary Structures” at the Jewish Museum in 1966, it was a landmark exhibition not simply because it was the first museum show to survey the movement we now call minimalism, but also because it introduced most of the artists we now associate with that style: Tony Smith, Robert Smithson, Dan Flavin, Ellsworth Kelly, Carl Andre, Richard Artschwager, Donald Judd, Robert Morris, Walter de Maria, and Sol LeWitt, among others. What that show, which was focused on art from the U.S. and the U.K., didn’t have a lot of was artists who weren’t white guys.
In an updated take on the original, deputy director Jens Hoffmann has created a two-part show that aims to give a more international perspective on the development of a minimalist tendency in art as it occurred around the globe in the 1960s. In his show, Hoffmann includes minimalist-inclined works from artists from Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, many of whom have seldom been exhibited in the U.S. Part 1, which focuses on work made between 1960 and 1967, places an emphasis on Latin American artists. Part 2, which looks at art created from 1967 to 1970, highlights works from Asia.
Noteworthy exhibits in part 1 include Brazilian artist Lygia Clark’s “Bichos” — hinged sculptures from 1962 that she intended visitors to move and rearrange. While “Bichos” are rarely actually experienced in this capacity due to their rare condition, the Jewish Museum asked the artist’s foundation to create replicas that art lovers are free to handle. There are also two works by Polish artist Edward Krasinski that were only just recently found in his family home and are on view for the first time in the U.S. Additionally, for exhibition history buffs, the museum has created a fairly large replica of the museum with all of the pieces from the original show housed inside. Look for the tiny Dan Flavin that glows just as red as its real-life inspiration.
Click on the slideshow to see work from “Other Primary Structures.”
