Richard Pousette-Dart: Beginnings. A Young Abstract Expressionist in New York
- Submitting institution
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University of Cambridge
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 8916
- Type
- M - Exhibition
- Venue(s)
- Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge
- Open access status
- -
- Month of first exhibition
- -
- Year of first exhibition
- 2018
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
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-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- "The exhibition Richard Pousette-Dart: Beginnings (Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, 2018-19) is lead output in a multi-component single item which includes the exhibition book alongside contextual information enabling the reviewer to visualise the exhibition. Powell curated the exhibition, edited the catalogue and contributed two essays that explore the artist’s early development and his sculptural practice.
The exhibition and book grew out of a five-year research period. During this, Powell brought together and interrogated two sides of a 48-year correspondence between Jim Ede (creator of Kettle’s Yard) and the artist for the first time. Previously unseen archives held by the Pousette-Dart Foundation and Estate, oral history interviews with family members, and investigation of other collections of the artist’s work also informed the research process.
This research programme directed the focus of the exhibition and catalogue which re-assessed Pousette-Dart’s contribution to the development of Abstract Expressionism in two ways: firstly, by examining his early artistic development and use of a wide range of media beyond his well-known painting practice (especially sculpture); and secondly, by considering what the artist’s extensive l correspondences could reveal about his artistic practice. These questions were explored further in the exhibition spaces through the juxtaposition of a variety of early sculptures (some not exhibited since the 1940s) and photographs, with works on paper and paintings. Letters were included physically in the exhibition and their content informed the second gallery space’s exploration of the circle, as both personal symbol and spiritual form.
This research was extended through the catalogue. Powell included an edited selection of the correspondence, published for the first time. The public programme that accompanied the exhibition disseminated Powell’s research further and included an international conference re-assessing Abstract Expressionist sculpture."
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -