Art of the sixties

This film documents the major directions in modern American art during the first seven years of the 1960’s. The keynote is that the artist has expanded the realm of art from the two-dimensional picture frame, climaxed by the artists of the 40’s and early 50’s, merged colour with sculpture, and sought out modern media to produce the characteristic wide spectrum of interests, ideas and products in the art of our time. The works of about 15 artists are represented, including George Segal’s life-size plaster representational figures, Klaus Oldenburg’s monumental Pop works, Donald Judd’s hard-edge two and three-dimensional paintings and Robert Rauschenberg’s three-dimensional objects in motion. The narrator discusses the collaboration between the artist and the modern industrial craftsman in certain complex works. The interesting focus on environmental art which has brought art beyond the third dimension is exemplified by several artists working together on “happenings”; by the sound and motion production models for the future by Len Lye, and by Les Levine’s work with Mylar, light and air. Narrated by Leonard Harris. Suitable for upper secondary level.