Illusion and Disillusionment in the Works of Jeff Wall and Gerhard Richter: Picturing (Post)Modern Life

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dc.contributor.advisorMansbach, Steven A.en_US
dc.contributor.authorAdams, Virginiaen_US
dc.contributor.departmentArt History and Archaeologyen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2008-04-22T16:03:19Z
dc.date.available2008-04-22T16:03:19Z
dc.date.issued2007-11-19en_US
dc.description.abstractThis study is a meta-critique of the discourse surrounding the emergence of large-scale, color photography around 1980 and the concurrent "return to painting" through an examination of the art praxes of Jeff Wall and Gerhard Richter. As Western avant-garde art shifted from conceptual practices toward large-scale, figurative painting and photography during the late 1970s and early 1980s there developed a vociferous discourse that, to a large degree, was highly critical of the changes that were taking place. The most strident aspect of the discourse emanated from fundamentally Marxist critics and academicians who viewed the turn to more aesthetically-based art forms as an undesirable capitulation to the political hegemony of the conservative administration in the United States, and to a burgeoning and increasingly international art market fueled by improving economic conditions. This criticism looked less than carefully at the art and the stated positions of the artists. This study mines the critical writings about both Wall and Richter in order to illuminate the discourse and elucidate the limits of art-historical writing that arises from rigid theoretical positions. It focuses particularly on the writings of Benjamin Buchloh, Douglas Crimp, Rosalind Krauss and Jean-Francois Chevrier. The writings of Wall and Richter are also given considerable weight and their voices are invoked as full participants. The works of Wall and Richter involve inextricable combinations of photography and painting in very different ways, and the role of medium within the discourse is examined. In addition, the artists' references in their works to art forms of earlier periods in the history of Modernism are also considered. Although this study focuses on the period 1976 to 1990, it pays considerable attention to connections between early twentieth century German and Russian theories of montage and the art of Jeff Wall, and Wall's illuminated transparencies are emphasized. The geographic scope of the study includes North America and West Germany, where much of the controversy about the "return to painting" was generated, and where exhibitions of the work of both Wall and Richter occurred frequently during the study period.en_US
dc.format.extent1002829 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/7647
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledArt Historyen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledArt Historyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledJeff Wallen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledGerhard Richteren_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledMediumen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledPhotographyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledContemporary Photographyen_US
dc.titleIllusion and Disillusionment in the Works of Jeff Wall and Gerhard Richter: Picturing (Post)Modern Lifeen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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