Lucy R. Lippard
Encyclopedia
Lucy Lippard is an internationally known writer, activist and curator
from the United States
. Lippard was among the first writers to recognize the de-materialization at work in conceptual art
and was an early champion of feminist art. She is the author of 21 books on contemporary art
and has received numerous awards and accolades from literary critics and art associations.
and Charlottesville, Virginia
, before enrolling at Abbot Academy in 1952. After earning a B.A. degree from Smith College
, she worked with the American Friends Service Committee
in a Mexican village —- her first experience of a foreign nation. Later, she earned an M.A. degree in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University
.
Since 1966, Lippard has published 20 books on feminism, art, politics and place and has received numerous awards and accolades from literary critics and art associations.
Co-founder of Printed Matter (an art bookstore in New York City centered around artist's books), the Heresies Collective, Political Art Documentation/Distribution, Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America, and other artists' organizations, she has also curated over 50 exhibitions, done performances, comics, guerrilla theater, and edited several independent publications the latest of which is the decidedly local La Puente de Galisteo in her home community in Galisteo, New Mexico
. She has infused aesthetics
with politics, and disdained disinterestedness for ethical activism.
(1968), the Frank Jewett Mather
Award for Criticism from the College Art Association
(1975), and two National Endowment for the Arts
grants in criticism. She has written art criticism for Art in America
, The Village Voice
, In These Times
, and Z Magazine. In 2007 Lippard was awarded an honorary degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University), Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa.
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Lippard was among the first writers to recognize the de-materialization at work in conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
and was an early champion of feminist art. She is the author of 21 books on contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
and has received numerous awards and accolades from literary critics and art associations.
Life and work
Lucy Lippard was born in New York City and lived in New OrleansNew Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
and Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
, before enrolling at Abbot Academy in 1952. After earning a B.A. degree from Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
, she worked with the American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
in a Mexican village —- her first experience of a foreign nation. Later, she earned an M.A. degree in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Since 1966, Lippard has published 20 books on feminism, art, politics and place and has received numerous awards and accolades from literary critics and art associations.
Co-founder of Printed Matter (an art bookstore in New York City centered around artist's books), the Heresies Collective, Political Art Documentation/Distribution, Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America, and other artists' organizations, she has also curated over 50 exhibitions, done performances, comics, guerrilla theater, and edited several independent publications the latest of which is the decidedly local La Puente de Galisteo in her home community in Galisteo, New Mexico
Galisteo, New Mexico
Galisteo is a census-designated place in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States. It is part of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 265 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
. She has infused aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
with politics, and disdained disinterestedness for ethical activism.
Awards
She was awarded a Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
(1968), the Frank Jewett Mather
Frank Jewett Mather
Frank Jewett Mather was an American art critic and professor.He was born at Deep River, Conn., and graduated from Williams College in 1889 and from Johns Hopkins in 1892: he studied also at Berlin and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris...
Award for Criticism from the College Art Association
College Art Association
The College Art Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for practitioners and scholars of art, art history, and art criticism...
(1975), and two National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
grants in criticism. She has written art criticism for Art in America
Art in America
Art in America is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It is designed for collectors, artists, dealers, art professionals and other...
, The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, In These Times
In These Times
In These Times is a politically progressive monthly magazine of news and opinion published by the Institute for Public Affairs in Chicago...
, and Z Magazine. In 2007 Lippard was awarded an honorary degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University), Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa.
Selected publications
- Ranch Gates of the Southwest (2009) San Antonio: Trinity University Press. (Introduction done by Lucy R. Lippard)
- On the Beaten Track: Tourism, Art and Place (1999)
- The Lure of the Local: Sense of Place in a Multicentered SocietyThe Lure of the Local: Sense of Place in a Multicentered SocietyThe Lure of the Local: Sense of Place in a Multicentered Society is a 1997 study of the sense of place, by American author and 1968 Guggenheim Fellowship winner Lucy Lippard. The phrase, coined by Lippard, in this study refers to a sense of place that an individual can have about where he lives, or...
(1997) - Defining Eye: Women Photographers of the 20th Century (1997)
- Michael Lucero: Sculpture (1996)
- Contact Lenses, Corrected Vision, Nueva Luz photographic journal(En Foco, IncEn FocoEn Foco is a non-profit organization that nurtures contemporary fine art and documentary photographers of diverse cultures, primarily U.S. residents of Latino, African and Asian heritage, and native peoples of the Americas and the Pacific....
, 1995) - The Pink Glass Swan: Selected Essays on Feminist art (1995)
- Partial Recall: Photographs of Native North Americans (ed.) (1992)
- A Different War: Vietnam in Art (1990)
- Secrets, Dialogues, Revelations: The Art of BetyeBetye SaarBetye Irene Saar is an American artist, known for her work in the field of assemblage. Her education included a time at the University of California, Los Angeles, from where she received a degree in design in 1949, and graduate studies in printmaking and education at Pasadena City College,...
and Alison SaarAlison SaarAlison Saar is an American artist who was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in Laurel Canyon, California. Her parents were Betye Saar, a well-known African American artist, and Richard Saar, an art conservationist. Both parents encouraged their three daughters, all artists, to look at...
(1990) - Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America (1990, 2000)
- Jerry Kearns (1987)
- Get the Message: A Decade of Art for Social Change (1984)
- Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory (1983) New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-71145-9
- Collected Visions: Work by Women Artists Living in Rural New York State (1982)
- Ad ReinhardtAd ReinhardtAdolph Frederick Reinhardt was an Abstract painter active in New York beginning in the 1930s and continuing through the 1960s. He was a member of the American Abstract Artists and was a part of the movement centered around the Betty Parsons Gallery that became known as Abstract Expressionism...
(1981) - Intricate Structure (1980)
- Issue: Social Strategies by Women Artists (1980)
- Sol LeWittSol LeWittSolomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism....
(1978) - From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women's Art (1976)
- Eva HesseEva HesseEva Hesse , was a German-born American sculptor, known for her pioneering work in materials such as latex, fiberglass, and plastics. -Early life:Hesse was born into a family of observant Jews in Hamburg, Germany...
(1976) - Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object (1973)
- Tony SmithTony Smith (sculptor)Tony Smith was an American sculptor, visual artist, architectural designer, and a noted theorist on art. He is often cited as a pioneering figure in American Minimalist sculpture.-Education:...
(1972) - I See/You Mean (novel)
- Changing: Essays in Art criticismArt criticismArt criticism is the discussion or evaluation of visual art.Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty...
(1971) - DadaDadaDada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
s on Art (ed.) (1971) - Surrealists on Art (ed.) (1970)
- Pop ArtPop artPop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
(1966) - Graphic Work of Philip EvergoodPhilip EvergoodPhilip Howard Francis Dixon Evergood was an American painter, etcher, lithographer, sculptor, illustrator and writer. He was particularly active during the Depression and World War II era.-Life:...
(1966)
External links
- "Finding Her Place" Author, Author, by Kennan Daniel, Phillips Academy Bulletin, Winter 2001
- Lucy R. Lippard Papers, circa 1940-1995, Smithsonian Archives of American Art
- Lucy R. Lippard papers: Images, Smithsonian Archives of American Art
- Lucy Lippard 1974: An Interview
- Guggenheim Fellows for 1968
- Frank Jewett Mather Award for Criticism from the College Art Association