What should I read as an introduction to conceptualist art?

March 10, 2013 5:50 AM

ArtHistoryFilter: I saw a documentary on conceptualist art, featuring the likes of Bruce Nauman, Lawrence Weiner and Sol LeWitt. Now I'd like to know more. What's a good introductory book to the thinking behind conceptualism?

I'm not an art history grad, just an interested bystander, so anything neither too technical nor too shallow would be nice.

posted by ar0n to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Best answer: Lucy Lippard's Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972 : a Cross-reference Book of Information on Some Esthetic Boundaries ... is mostly a catalog of most of the important performances at this time, with much original documentation. The orginal text is best. It's really not technical.

If you were looking for techincal, much of the October Crowd (Kraus, Foster, Bois, etc) would be where to go next.
posted by PinkMoose at 6:40 AM on March 10, 2013

The Painted Word.
posted by Wet Spot at 7:23 AM on March 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

This textbook offers a good overview from Duchamp through the 90s.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 9:16 AM on March 10, 2013

I came here solely to recommend the Phaidon book in Monsieur Caution's comment. It is a good book.
posted by The River Ivel at 12:31 PM on March 10, 2013

I have this book, conveniently listed as "Bought Together" with the text that Monsieur Caution linked to and have found it a useful primer.
posted by marylynn at 12:55 PM on March 10, 2013

I'd also recommend the Painted Word, to get you up to speed on what happened, right before Conceptual Art. It may give you a frame of reference to make a little more sense on what was going on.
posted by alex_skazat at 4:03 PM on March 10, 2013

Response by poster: Just ordered Lippard's Six Years, but will definitely check the others out. These are all great tips, thanks!
posted by ar0n at 7:22 PM on March 11, 2013