| dc.description.abstract | In 1977, art crtic Douglas Crimp (1944-) curated an exhibition named “Pictures,” establishing a new wave in contemporary art which is different from Modernism, and pioneering the tendency of Postmodernism. These artists have a whole new sense for pictures. They are not concerned with what pictures depict. All they care is what pictures are about. Sherrie Levine (1947-) is one of best-known artists among them. In the 1980s, she rephotographed a series of artists‟ works. She not only questioned Modernism‟s principle of “originality,” but also reflected on how the development of artisitic enviroment had changed. Her fellow artist Louise Lawler (1947-) used the camera to record the setting and context of art works. Besides institutional critique, Lawler‟s works also dealt with issues like artists‟ authorship, labor division in art production and questioned Modernism‟s concepts as Levine did.
We may see Levine‟s and Lawler‟s works have different goals at the first glance, but parts of their artistic concepts and interested issues are similar. Especially they seem to have adopted a questioning attitude toward Modernism. Furthormore, facing Neo-expressionism arising in the 1980s, Levine and Lawler had an oppositional stance to these artists. Based on these common aspects, this thesis focuses on Levine‟s and Lawler‟s photography produced in the 1980s. The first chapter seeks to understand the Pictures Generation artists‟ formative background, creative concepts and production means. In chapter two, I discuss Levine‟s photography including her production approaches, creative concepts, and how she reinterpreted Modernism‟s principle of “originality.” In chapter three, I discuss Lawler‟s photography in terms of methods, creative concepts, and how she reinterpreted the context and production of art works. This thesis not only examines their works‟ relationship with Modernism but also aims to describe the rising force of the Pictures Generation in the 1980s more clearly. Though at that time art critics considered that Pictures artists had broken away from Modernism, from today‟s view, we need to question this opinion, and see the Pictures artists expanding Modernism‟s boundaries. | en_US |