Phaidon’s Themes and Movements series is one of the really great series of art books in the publishing world. This book continues that and does a great job of covering the minimal art movement.
Minimalism
Edited by James Meyer
Phaidon Themes and Movements Series, 2000
ISBN 0 7148 3460 2
Phaidon’s Themes and Movements series is one of the really great series of art books in the publishing world. They combine great editorial insights, great art and great articles and papers written by the movers and shakers of the area covered.
Minimalism follows this tradition and looks at one of the more challenging areas of contemporary art for people to come to terms with. The book surveys minimalism from 1959 through to the end of the 20th Century. The 35-page survey starts the book with a sound and interesting examination of minimalism from its roots to almost the current state. The next 150 pages look at the work and are divided into four sections:
* 1959-63 First Encounters
* 1964-67 High Minimalism
* 1967-79 Canonization/Critique
* 1980-present Recent Work
Then there are 100 pages of documents and the book concludes with biographies of the artists and authors and a rich bibliography.
What is so great about these books is that the combination of survey written by the editor, body of works and the documents combine to make a great resource for anyone wanting to learn about the area and you are guaranteed to learn a lot.
This book belongs on the bookshelf of any artist working in minimalism or indeed any form of contemporary art, since minimalist concepts have influenced many other forms of practice. Very highly recommended.