As a reaction to the dominance of abstract painting in the 1940s and ‘50s, many artists in the 1960s turned in new directions. A growing consideration for an object’s relationship to its surrounding space and an interest in supplanting the subjective, expressive gesture of the painter with a rational pre-determined method marked much of the new work. Modular building blocks were embraced as a solution, which earned the fledgling movement terms such as “primary structures” and “ABC” art. Since much of the work was structural, rather than expressive, and mostly devoid of bright color, Minimal art became the umbrella term for these phenomena.
Untitled, 1973, Richard Serra (American, born 1939), Lithograph, 9 5/8 x 9 1/8 in., Gift of Robert Rauschenberg, 76.87.25. © 2013 Richard Serra / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.