New York: Between Art and Life

The Vernacular Turn: Alan Solomon, Language, and the New Art

Talk

Thursday, October 27, 2022
6:30 – 7:30 pm
YouTube Video Premiere

Salo W. Baron Program

When Alan Solomon became Director of the Jewish Museum in July 1962, he began organizing an ambitious series of exhibitions dedicated to what he called the “new art.” Solomon used the term to describe a generation of artists who shared “an intense passion for direct experience, for unqualified participation in the richness of our immediate world.”

In this talk, Sam Sackeroff, part of the curatorial team behind the museum’s current exhibition New York: 1962-1964, will consider one aspect of the new art: its relationship to language. Taking a cue from Solomon’s own writing and that of his peers, which was filled with linguistic metaphors, Sackeroff will examine how artists and critics of the period appealed to different ideas about language in an effort to become more conversant with their surroundings, developing new kinds of fluency that had radical and far-reaching implications for how they understood themselves, their work, and their place in American society.

The Salo W. Baron Program has been endowed by the Trustees of the Salo W. and Jeannette M. Baron Foundation

Free with RSVP
While this program is presented free with RSVP, the optional purchase of a ticket helps support the Museum’s virtual programming.
This program is presented with captions.

Installation view of New York: 1962-1964 at the Jewish Museum, NY, July 22, 2022-January 8, 2023. Photo © Frederick Charles, fcharles.com