Dirty art: Reconsidering the work of Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, and Edward Kienholz.
Item
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Title
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Dirty art: Reconsidering the work of Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, and Edward Kienholz.
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Identifier
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AAI3288950
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identifier
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3288950
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Creator
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Poor, Natasha.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Anna Chave
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Date
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2007
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Art History
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Abstract
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During the 1950s and into the early 1960s, a number of artists in the United States began to construct works that were preoccupied with dirt. Beyond incorporating various forms of dirt into their works, these artists also addressed 'dirty' subjects---taboo or morally fraught issues of the day such as abortion, pornography, presumably deviant sexual behavior, or capital punishment. This dissertation focuses on the works of four artists, Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, and Edward Kienholz, who all created works that dealt with comparable themes and that were aesthetically similar in certain respects, including in their, at once metaphorical and literal, dirtiness. Works by each of these artists are examined in relation to the 1950s' fascination with dirt and cleanliness; a time during which Americans were bombarded with images and advice that encouraged them to clean up their homes, bodies, and behavior (whether social or political). Rauschenberg, Conner, DeFeo, and Kienholz created works that specifically dealt with issues concerning domesticity and the body, two areas where social preoccupations with cleanliness converged. Through this project's examination of dirt-related theories, economics, popular culture, and sociological and gender studies, specific commonalities emerge in the works of these artists, particularly when contextualized in relation to the political and social environment of the 1950s. By creating aesthetically dirty works with subject matter that deeply challenged cultural attitudes concerning cleanliness and containment, Rauschenberg, Conner, DeFeo, and Conner, in their own ways, drew attention to the existence of dirt and disorder beneath the surface of an ostensibly orderly and clean society.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
