Machine art, 1934 /Jennifer Jane Marshall.
- Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, (c)2012.
- 1 online resource (xxiii, 212 pages) : illustrations.
Includes bibliographies and index.
Preface: A particular brand of modernism -- Introduction: Material formalism -- Objectification: Machine art's photographic operations -- In form we trust: Machine art's neoplatonism at the end of the American gold standard -- The art of parts: Machine art's alienated objects and their rationalized reassembly -- Empiricism: The object of machine art's experience -- Epilogue: Opening the circle.
In 1934, New York's Museum of Modern Art staged a major exhibition of ball bearings, airplane propellers, pots and pans, cocktail tumblers, petri dishes, protractors, and other machine parts and products. The exhibition, titled Machine Art, explored these ordinary objects as works of modern art, teaching museumgoers about the nature of beauty and value in the era of mass production. Telling the story of this extraordinarily popular but controversial show, Jennifer Jane Marshall examines its history and the relationship between the museum's director, Alfred H. Barr Jr., and its curator, Philip Johnson, who oversaw it. She situates the show within the tumultuous climate of the interwar period and the Great Depression, considering how these unadorned objects served as a response to timely debates over photography, abstract art, the end of the American gold standard, and John Dewey's insight that how a person experiences things depends on the context in which they are encountered. An engaging investigation of interwar American modernism, "Machine Art, 1934" reveals how even simple things can serve as a defense against uncertainty.
9780226507170
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)--History.
Machinery in art--Exhibitions. Modernism (Art)--New York (State)--New York--Exhibitions. Art and industry--History--New York (State)--New York--20th century.