The Land Art is a tendency of the Contemporary art, using the framework and materials of nature (wood, ground, stones, sand, rock, etc). Generally, works outside, are exposed to the elements, and are subjected to natural erosion; thus, some disappeared and there remains only their photographic memory. The first works were carried out in the desert Paysage S of the Western American at the end of the years 1960. The most imposing works, carried out with equipment of construction, bear the name of Earthworks (literally earthworks ).

Overall picture

With the artists of the Land Art, the Nature is not simply any more represented but it is with heart of itself ( in situ ) that the creators work. They want to leave the museums and galleries with their days and opening hours, their tickets of entry and truly “to leave the beaten paths”. Work must be either a commercial value dedicated to an elite but a true experiment related to the real-world. Works are often gigantic, like Negative Double of Michael Heizer, where 240 tons of ground are moved in the desert of Nevada, or Spiral Jetty of Robert Smithson, long pier of almost 500 m length at the edge of the Big lake Salted. In addition to the productions of the American artists, who form the heart of the movement, it is advisable to quote the painting of the mountains of the Tibesti by Jean Verame.

The artists use materials of nature (wood, ground, stones, sand, rock, etc) and dig, move, transport, accumulate, scratch, trace, plant… They introduce also manufactured goods: 400 steel posts attracting the lightning in the desert of the New Mexico (Walter Of Maria, Lightning Field ), 2  700 yellow or blue parasols simultaneously on the Californian coast and with Japan (Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Umbrellas ), or of gigantic pink fabric water lilies around the islands of Florida (Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Surrounded Islands ).

The artists often work in distant places and at this point in time the photograph finds a crucial role to show, illustrate, remind and finance these projects. Sketches, reports and vidéos are presented to the public and make it possible the artist to live and carry out other works. Thus in the years 1970, certain works reinstate the museums and exposures, initially by the image then by installations in interior spaces, like Ligne of slates of Long Richard with the Center of contemporary visual arts of Bordeaux (CAPC). Thus this adventure renews it the long tradition of the landscape.

If the Earthworks are durable deteriorations of the landscape, the majority of works of the Land Art rather raise of the transitory Art, dedicated in the more or less long term with disappearance under the effect of the natural elements.

History

The movement is launched in October 1968 by a group of artists during an exposure entitled Earthwork S , with the Dwan Gallery in New York. With the publication of its test The Sedimentation off the Mind: Earth Projects in 1968, Robert Smithson is essential like the theorist of the Land Art and becomes the emblematic figure of this movement, at the sides of Robert Morris, Nancy Holt, Dennis Oppenheim, Walter Of Maria, Christo and Michael Heizer. In February 1969, another exposure, Earth Art , organized by Willoughby Sharp with the Andrew Dickson White Museum off Art (Ithaca, New York), confirms the importance of this movement on the scene of Article.

The motivations first of the Land Art were to get rid of the art of rest and the great principles of the Modernism preached by the art critic Clement Greenberg. Like the majority of the movements born in the years 1960, the Land Art sought to bind art and the life, to stop producing works intended to be only admired in museums.

This tradition remained in several contemporary artists who work directly in nature. Works are often transitory and become durable only via photography: sheets, flowers, snow, ice by Andy Goldsworthy or the Nile Udo as well as the majority of works of Long Richard.

Artists of the Land Art

Contemporary artists who work in situ

Specific museums and places in the open air

  • Marie-Victorinhttp: /www.parcmarievictorin.com/01_nouv.html, Kingsey Falls, Quebec. Canada
  • the Path of Art of Broglie (Normandy, France) * The Park of Europe, International Museum of the Sculpture in the open air, Vilnius, Lithuania, *Le Wind of the Forests, Path of Art in landscape, Lahaymeix, France *Le Solar Mount *Center of Arts of Vassivière, France *OPAM Open Air Museum, Sculpture Park Drechtbanks - Holland *FOAM Open Finish Air Museum - Finland, *CDAN, Central of Arte there Naturaleza, Huesca, Spain.
  • Storm King Art Center close to New York, the United States.
  • Center of contemporary art, Castle of Kerguéhennec, Bignan (Morbihan, France) *Le Park of the Futuroscope (Vienna, France)
  • Spiral in a field of Sunflower or birth, life and died of a crop-circle.

External bonds

  • LAND Article the territory and the art of the years '60

See Too

Random links:Emmanuel-happiness of Durfort | Bruchsal | Symphony n° 7 of Mahler | Winnie Shaw | The Pooch