Late April 2008, Organised by The Getty Museum and Getty Research
Institute, Los Angeles, with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and
the Henry Moore Institute

Histories of American and British sculpture are often told
separately, with artists and their work contextualised according to
nationality. This division, however, obscures a rich trans-Atlantic
exchange of ideas, individuals, and aesthetic influences. The post-
war art world saw lively interaction between British and American
sculptors such as Moore, Caro, Smith and Nauman, as well as critics
and curators including Greenberg, Fried, Selz, Read, Alloway, Banham,
Tuchman, Valentin and Valentiner. This conference brings attention
to the international movement of people, objects, and ideas, and
examines the particular importance of Anglo-American exchange to the
post-war history of sculpture.

The conference marks the Getty’s acquisition and installation of the
Stark Collection – twenty-eight works of modern sculpture by some of
the field’s most important artists. We aim to explore the broader
issues and contexts that surround such a collection, and encourage
scholarship that takes a critical look at aspects of this
transatlantic sculptural and cultural exchange in the post-war
period. We invite papers that examine the development of sculpture
in the United States and the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1975 as it
occurred in a variety of movements, including: ‘Geometry of Fear’
bronze sculpture, junk art, assemblage and welded sculpture, ‘New
Generation’ abstract sculpture, Pop Art, minimalism, land art,
happenings, performance art and conceptualism.

We welcome papers that address, for example:

- The political dimensions of transatlantic cultural exchange,
questions of cultural colonialism, and the role of international
competitions.

- The institutional and private interests that shaped Anglo-American
exchange, including art museums, exhibitions, curators, gallery
shows, and art dealers.

- The influence of trans-Atlantic teachers and pedagogical practices,
as well as particular art schools in the US and UK.

- The role of art critical interpretations and interpreters on both
sides of the Atlantic, and the role of magazines and journals within
this context.

Please submit 300 word abstracts to David Morritt
(DMorrittgetty.edu) with a copy to Jon Wood (jonwhenry-moore.ac.uk)
by 12 November 2007.
A publication of proceedings from this conference is planned.

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