On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century

by Cornelia Butler

On Drawing Through the Twentieth Century explores the radical evolution of drawing that took place during the last century and through to the present day, as numerous artists subjected the traditional concepts of the medium to a critical examination. In a revolutionary departure from the institutional definition of drawing, and from reliance on paper as the fundamental support material, artists instead pushed the line across the plane and into real space, expanding the medium in relation to gesture and form and connecting it with painting, sculpture, photography, film and dance. Published to accompany an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, On Line presents a discursive history of mark-making through nearly 250 works by 100 artists, including Aleksandr Rodchenko, Alexander Calder, Karel Malich, Eva Hesse, Anna Maria Maiolino, Richard Tuttle, Mona Hatoum and Monika Grzymala among many others. Essays by the curators illuminate individual practices and offer focused examinations of broader themes, such as the exploration of line by the avant-garde, and the relationship between drawing and dance.

Genres: Art, Drawing

216 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2010

About the author

Cornelia H. "Connie" Butler is Chief Curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. From 2006-2013, she served as the Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, New York City). Prior to that, she was a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) from 1996-2005. Butler also held curatorial positions at the Neuberger Museum of Art (Purchase, New York), Artists Space (New York City), and the Des Moines Arts Center (Iowa). Her multimedia exhibition WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution dealt with international feminist art of the 1970s. Butler is a 1980 graduate of Marlborough School, and a 1984 graduate of Scripps College.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book traces line and it's changing role in modern art through great examples with insightful writing. Have a look at it. It includes a lot of great work and helped me find a way into some work with which I have had difficulty.

[Gala · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to return this to the library before reading it cover to cover, but I loved especially the section on dance + drawing. So many percolating thoughts have stuck with me in understanding the body as the locus of drawn movement, understanding line as a corporeal experience.

[Mills College Library]

741.0904 B9853 2010