The Contingent Object of Contemporary Art

318 Pages·2005·8.692 MB·English

by  Martha Buskirk

The Contingent Object of Contemporary Art
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The Contingent Object of Contemporary Art
martha buskirk
THEMITPRESS cambridge,massachusetts london,england
©2003 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical
means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in
writing from the publisher.
This book was set in Minion, Syntax, and Scala Sans by Graphic Composition, Inc., Athens, Georgia, and
was printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Buskirk, Martha.
The contingent object of contemporary art / Martha Buskirk.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-02539-6 (hc. : alk. paper)
1. Art—Reproduction. 2. Art—Attribution. 3. Art, Modern—20th century. 4. Aesthetics, Modern—
20th century. I. Title.
N8580 .B87 2003
709'.04'5—dc21
2002038061
Contents
acknowledgments vii
introduction 1
1 authorship and authority 19
2 original copies 59
3 medium and materiality 107
4 context as subject 161
5 contingent objects 211
notes 261
selected bibliography 287
index 297
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acknowledgments
This book would not have happened without the time afforded by a Bunting Fellowship at
the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study during 2000–2001. My first thanks therefore go
to the people whose advice and assistance were crucial as I was pursuing this fellowship,
specifically Carol Armstrong, Laura Hoptman, Rosalind Krauss, Kathy O’Dell, and Laura
Tonelli. I also benefited from a sabbatical leave from my teaching duties, which was sup-
ported by Kate Bodin, John Raimo, and the many colleagues at Montserrat College of Art
who took over my responsibilities while I was away. Rita Nakashima Brock, Director of the
Bunting Fellowship Program, provided important support for the research that I under-
took during the Bunting year. Nor would this book be possible without a publisher, which
it found with the encouragement and support of Roger Conover at the MIT Press.
It is difficult to imagine researching a contemporary topic without the excellent re-
sources and knowledgeable librarians at the Museum of Modern Art Library. The Research
Library of the Getty Research Institute, particularly the Special Collections staff, provided
access to important firsthand documents in the collection. The Fine Arts Library at Har-
vard University has been indispensable on an ongoing basis, and Abby Smith in particular
has helped with many urgent requests. I would also like to thank the artists whose work I
discuss, particularly those who have taken the time to talk about aspects of their work with
me over the years that I have been considering these issues. In addition, the images for this
book came from many places, and the book in its present form would not have been pos-
sible without the help of many artists, artists’ assistants, galleries, museums, and others
who provided images or helped direct me to their source.
Three people in particular, Linda Norden, Kim Sichel, and Ronnie Wright, volun-
teered to read the entire manuscript, which has benefited enormously from their generos-
ity. The early stages of the writing process took place in the context of a works-in-progress
group at the Bunting. Denise Buell, Alison Crocetta, Colleen Kiely, Sue Miller, Angelica
Nuzzo, and Daryl Tress all helped shape the initial formulation of these ideas. At the MIT
Press, Matthew Abbate’s thoughtful attention to the text and Erin Hasley’s elegant design
gave the book its final form. Many others have read sections of this project at different
stages or have provided other important support during the research and writing: Bill
Arning, Barbara Bosworth, Judy Brown, Michelle Brown, Alan Colby, Susan Edwards,
Jane Farver, Ana Guerra, Blyth Hazen, Patricia Johnston, Caroline Jones, Masako Kamiya,
Therese Lichtenstein, Sarah Lowe, Joanne Lukitsh, Roxana Marcoci, Siobhan McDonald-
Stowell, Terry and Sam Moriber, Christopher Phillips, Lisa Reeve, Robin Reisenfeld, Vir-
ginia Rutledge, Sandy Schleinz, Vernon Shetley, Elisabeth Smith, Beatrice St. Laurent,
Liselot van der Heyden, and Lawrence Waung. I also thank my parents, Mary and Fred
Buskirk, and my sister, Janet Buskirk, for all their encouragement. Finally, and most of all,
I would like to thank Scott Hadfield, who read every word, often more than once, and pro-
vided his enthusiastic support along every step of the way.
The Contingent Object of Contemporary Art