THEORIES AND DOCUMENTS OF CONTEMPORARY ART: A SOURCEBOOK OF ARTISTS'

WRITINGS (California Studies in the History of Art, XXXV) by Kristine Stiles; Peter Selz
Review by: Kari E. Horowicz
Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, Vol. 15, No. 2
(Fall 1996), p. 55
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of North
America
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To alter the text of a previous search, the user must
and
paste.
In the display mode, full records or titles are listed. Printing
options are straightforwardand include selecting a range of records
or
downloading.
The three databases have many similarities but also have im
portant differences. RAA, which covers themost years, is clearly
the largestwith over 200,000 records compared toRILA's 134,000
and BHA's 100,600. RAA's abstracts are only in French, but the
French subject headings are supplemented with English headings
as needed. RAA also seems to be the best edited, with no major
omissions in any fields. RAA's indexing is limited to 18 fields, as
compared with BHA's 24 and RiLA's 30. The relationships be
tween RILA's fields are byzantine, but theirhigh level of specific
itycould be useful for specialized searching; suffice it to say that
most subject fields can be searched simultaneously in keyword
searches.Over 30 percent of RILA's language fields are empty since
language data was not collected early on, especially before 1979.
A gap of this size should be taken into account when searches are
limited by language. BHA is a balance between RILA's top-heavy
and RAA's sparse subject headings. While BHA also has some
omissions, they appear to be limited to some analytics.
The monumental task of taking two disparate indexes pro
duced in two different languages by two different cultures and
blending them into a coherent whole cannot be overstated. In
spite of some problems, the staffat the BHA should be congratu
lated forcreating a significant research tool thatwill be useful for
both basic and specialized research.My many conversations with
the Getty and the staffat BHA revealed again and again how
much careful thought and planning went into the creation of this
complex, rich tool. Art, architecture, and design researcherswill
benefit from their effortsformany years to come.
Barbara Q. Frior
Cornell University
THEORIES AND DOCUMENTS OF CONTEMPORARY
ART: A SOURCEBOOK OF ARTISTS' WRITINGS /Edited
Studies in theHis
byKristine Stiles and Peter Selz.?(California
tory of Art, XXXV)?Berkeley, Calif.: University of California
Press, April 1996.-1,032 p.: ill.?ISBN 0-520-20251-1 (cl.,alk.
paper), ISBN 0-520-20253-8 (pa., alk.paper); LC 94-46530: $60.00
(cl.), $29.95 (pa.).
Theories and Documents ofContemporary Art: A Sourcebook of
Artists7Writings is a sequel to Theories ofModern Art: A Source
Book byArtists and Critics compiled byHerschel B. Chipp (Berke
ley,Calif.: University of California Press, 1968), and similar to
Nineteenth-CenturyTheories ofArt edited by JoshuaC. Taylor (Ber
keley,Calif.: University of California Press, 1987). In their pref
ace, Stiles, associate professor of art history,Duke University, and
Selz, professor emeritus of art history,University of California,
Berkeley, write:
While no book, includingthepresentvolume, can be all
thingsto all readers,severalcriteriahelped shape thechoice of
selections. We sought to include texts that had
in the fieldand thatcontributedto the initiationor dissolution
of an artistic movement; texts addressed to aesthetic
historical canons; discussions of new media
considerations of gender, race, class,
sexuality,
sity issues; and methodological strategies ranging
to postmodernist.
ist to feminist and modernist
This content downloaded from 195.78.109.54 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:29:33 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
retype or copy The editors furthernote, "What Chipp experienced as a prob
lem of information access is now a question of information man
agement, owing to the profusion of texts available through low
cost printing and sophisticated computer databases." Faced with a
glut of information, the editors have managed to ferretout the
significantwritings thatwill enlighten readers to the richly com
plex and diverse theories of contemporary art. Jackson Pollock's
1947 Solomon R. Guggenheim Fellowship application, Group
Material's 1985 "Mission Statement of Intention," Marcel
Duchamp's "The Richard Mutt Case" (1917), and Maya Lin's
"Untitled Statement" (1995) represent the tiniest sampling of the
300 essays, interviews,manifestos, and statements that the editors
have selected for inclusion. The book's featured artists are princi
pallyAmerican and European. "Why?" the editors explain, "Quite
simply, art history changed in the course of assembling the book
[more than a decade], which was already too large to accommo
date a global media explosion that gave unparalleled access to the
theories of artists around theworld."
The format follows Chipp's arrangement. The chapters are
arranged chronologically, and chapter introductions include brief
historical and cultural overviews, as well as biographical highlights
for those artistswhose statements are included. The nine chapters
are entitled: Gestural Abstraction; Geometric Abstraction; Figu
ration;Material Culture and Everyday Life; Art and Technology;
Installations, Environments, and Sites; Process; Performance Art;
and Language and Concepts. Bibliographic references are exten
sive and provide the reader with a multitude of avenues for fur
ther research. The index is equally impressive, covering both text
and footnoted information.More than a hundred black-and-white
photographs complement the writings.
This book is a window into theminds and souls of leading
contemporary artists.Readers will rejoice in themass of informa
tion and the range of artists represented. They will certainly ap
preciate the convenience of this handy, one-volume title,which
brings together somany texts fromdiverse sources. This publica
tionwill be a significant addition tomost art libraries, and librar
ians should consider purchasing multiple copies, as the book will
be heavily used.
Kari E. Horowicz
Albright-KnoxArt Gallery
Confusing
Castings
CLASSICAL BRONZES: THE ART AND CRAFT OF
GREEK AND ROMAN STATUARY /Carol C. Mattusch.?
Ithaca,N.Y.: Cornell University Press,March 1996.?280 p.: ill
ISBN 0-8014-3182-4(cl.,alk.paper); LC 95-36843: $45.00.
Carol Mattusch iswell-known forher knowledge of ancient
bronze technology. Continuing the chronological treatment of
bronze statuary begun inGreek Bronze Statuary: From theBegin
nings throughtheFifthCentury B.C. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univer
sity Press, 1988), Mattusch now focuses on a selection of works
from later periods.
Greek bronzes are among themost controversial of ancient art
a wide impact works.Although many ancient sculptors are described asworking in
bronze, few bronze originals remain.No extant bronzes can confi
dently be attributed to a known artist,nor can much useful informa
and art
and technology; tion be gathered from an excavated context. Not to be deterred by
and other diver
this seemingly hopeless situation, nineteenth- and twentieth-cen
from formal
turyscholarshave wanted towrite somethingmeaningful about these
works.Much modern scholarship has been devoted to thefrustrat
ing taskof attempting tomatch Roman marble statuarywith literary
descriptions of bronzeworks or the elusive goal of attributingpopu
lar sculpture types to a single original artist.
1996? Volume 2 ? Art
15,Number 55
Documentotion