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Description: Conversations about Sculpture
BOOKConversations about Sculpture
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19772
Drawn from talks between celebrated artist Richard Serra and acclaimed art historian Hal Foster held over a fifteen-year period, this volume offers revelations into Serra’s prolific six-decade career and the ideas that have informed his working practice. Conversations about Sculpture is both an intimate look at Serra’s life and work, with candid reflections on personal moments of discovery, and a provocative examination of sculptural form from antiquity to today. Serra and Foster explore such subjects as the artist’s work in steel mills as a young man; the impact of music, dance, and architecture on his art; the importance of materiality and site specificity to his aesthetic; the controversies and contradictions his work has faced; and his belief in sculpture as experience. They also discuss sources of inspiration—from Donatello and Brancusi to Japanese gardens and Machu Picchu—revealing a history of sculpture across time and culture through the eyes of one of the medium’s most brilliant figures.

Introduced with an insightful preface by Foster, this probing dialogue is beautifully illustrated with duotone images that bring to life both Serra's work and his key commitments.
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Print publication date November 2018 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780300235968
EISBN 9780300256352
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Illustrations 117
Print Status in print
Publisher (in print)
WorldCat
Google Books

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List of illustrations

  • View of His Studio
  • Live Animal Habitat
  • Belts
  • Mural
  • Floor Burger
  • Untitled
  • Verb List
  • Installation view of Dan Flavin exhibition
  • Lever
  • Leaning Duets
  • Installation view of seven prop pieces
  • Installation view of seven prop pieces
  • Performance view of Yvonne Rainer's "Trio A" in The Mind is a Muscle
  • One Ton Prop (House of Cards)
  • Hand Catching Lead
  • Doors
  • Trough Pieces
  • Slow Roll: For Philip Glass
  • Richard Serra and Philip Glass
  • Chunk
  • Plinths
  • Template
  • Splashing
  • Casting
  • Richard Serra and Jasper Johns with Splash Piece: Casting
  • Strike: To Roberta and Rudy
  • Cutting Device: Base Plate Measure
  • Shift
  • Circuit
  • Spin Out (For Bob Smithson)
  • Robert Smithson and Richard Serra at Spiral Jetty, Great Salt Lake, Utah
  • St. John's Rotary Arc
  • Sight Point
  • The Hedgehog and the Fox
  • Stacks
  • Clara-Clara
  • Frame
  • Railroad Turnbridge
  • To Encircle Base Plate Hexagram, Right Angles Inverted
  • Bramme für das Ruhrgebiet
  • Snake Eyes and Boxcars
  • Te Tuhirangi Contour
  • East-West/West-East
  • To Lift
  • Torqued Ellipse V
  • Installing "Promenade" at the Grand Palais, Paris
  • Pulitzer Piece: Stepped Elevation, detail
  • Base Plate Deflection: In It, On It
  • Diagram of Base Plate Deflection: In It, On It
  • Tilted Arc
  • Berlin Block (For Charlie Chaplin)
  • Forging of Berlin Block (For Charlie Chaplin)
  • Four Rounds: Equal Weight, Unequal Measure
  • Into and Across
  • Double Torqued Ellipse
  • Bending diagram for Double Torqued Ellipse
  • Bellamy
  • Delineator
  • The Matter of Time
  • Union of the Torus and the Sphere
  • Interior of cupola
  • Inside Out
  • Sequence
  • Band
  • Open Ended
  • 7
  • Promenade
  • Vortex
  • Ramble
  • NJ-1
  • Through
  • Above Below Betwixt Between
  • Every Which Way
  • Silence (For John Cage)
  • Grief and Reason (For Walter)
  • Equal
  • Gravity
  • The Drowned and the Saved
  • Tot
  • Wall of the Six Monoliths, Ollantaytambo ruins
  • Notebook drawing of Machu Picchu
  • Berlin Junction
  • Notre Dame du Haut
  • Santa Maria del Melque, detail of window
  • 2000
  • Wake
  • Sydney Opera House
  • Salk Institute courtyard
  • Sequence, with a viewer inside
  • Statuette of striding warrior
  • Idol
  • The Serpentine
  • Zeus or Poseidon
  • Grande Arabesque, Third Time (First Arabesque Penchée)
  • The Prophet Habakkuk
  • Bronze equestrian statue commemorating Gattamelata
  • Laurentian Library
  • Piazza d'Italia
  • Guitar
  • Corner Counter Relief
  • The Palace at 4 A.M.
  • Project for a Passageway
  • Woman with Her Throat Cut
  • Cube
  • Death's Head
  • Princess X
  • Richard Serra and Donald Judd at Judd's Studio
  • Dismantling of Tilted Arc, Federal Plaza, New York
  • Reading Cones
  • Installing "Through" at the Gagosian Gallery, New York
  • Terminal
  • Richard Serra installing "Measurements of Time/Seeing is Believing"
  • Steel Mill/Stahlwerk
  • T.W.U.
  • Fulcrum
  • Intersection
  • Joe
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Contents
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
Contents
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.001
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19773
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Preface
Hal Foster
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~Richard Serra and I met at the Odeon in Lower Manhattan in the early 1980s, back when that restaurant was still a hangout for artists and writers who lived in the neighborhood. I was in my late twenties, Serra only in his mid-forties, but he was well known, and I was intimidated. His reputation as a forceful debater also put me on guard. At the same time, I was...
Author
Hal Foster
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.002
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19774
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Sand Dunes and Steel Mills
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: Let’s begin at the beginning. Tell me about your formation.
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.7-18
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.003
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19775
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centuryAlbers, Josef. Interaction of colorAbstract expressionism--United StatesBrancusi, Constantin, 1876-1957Velázquez, Diego, 1599-1660Artists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-

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Down and Dirty Minimalism
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: When did you return to New York from Europe?
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.19-38
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.004
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19776
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centuryPollock, Jackson, 1912-1956Minimal artConceptual artPerformance art--United States--20th centuryArtists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-

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To Lift, To Splash, To Prop...
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: Let’s bear down on some key early works.
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.39-60
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.005
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19777
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centuryGlass, PhilipMinimal artJohn, Jasper, 1839-Artists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-

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Specific Sites
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: Was there an internal necessity, once you pulled your sculpture up in the prop pieces, to pull it apart as well?
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.62-90
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.006
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19778
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centurySmithson, Robert. Spiral JettyEarthworks (Art)--United States--20th centuryArtists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-Pop art--United States

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Prime Objects
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: Let’s talk about the prime objects in your work.
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.91-111
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.007
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19779
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centuryKubler, George, 1912-1996. Shape of timeArtists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-

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Torqued Shapes
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: How did the Torqued Ellipses come about?
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.112-125
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.008
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19780
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centuryMuseo Guggenheim BilbaoDeleuze, Gilles, 1925-1995Artists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-

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Passages and Intervals
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: The Bilbao installation is an overview of a specific language you developed in the torqued pieces, but it’s also a proposition about different relations between objects and passages you’ve elaborated since.
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.127-150
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.009
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19781
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centuryArtists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-

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Symbolic Forms
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: There’s a symbolic dimension in some of your work that’s essential to its effect. Yet, in your resistance to narrative and image, you tend to resist those associations.
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.151-170
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.010
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19782
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centuryMachu Picchu Site (Peru)Lin, Maya, 1959-Serra, Richard, 1939-Artists--Interviews--20th century

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Structure, Surface, Speed
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: Here’s a paradox: you’ve made sculpture more specific, more powerful, in large part through a critical engagement with other mediums. Apart from your commitment to contemporaneous forms of dance and music, your work has questioned painting (to the extent that it’s pictorial, bound up with the image) on the one hand, and contested...
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.171-183
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.011
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19783
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centuryRonchamp (France)Hagia Sophia (Church : İznik, Turkey)Architecture, Modern--20th centuryArtists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-

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History Doesn’t Go Away
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: Where did you start, historically, with sculpture? How did you get your bearings with this art?
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.184-199
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.012
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19784
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centurySculpture, EtruscanSculpture, GreekDonatello, 1386?-1466De Chirico, Giorgio, 1888-1978Artists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-Sculpture, Classical--AppreciationSculpture, Renaissance--Appreciation

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Sculpture Hadn’t Dealt with Steel
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: Can you say more about your resistance to image and narrative? Those aspects of art already came under great pressure a century ago with readymades, assemblages, and constructions. Yet you dismissed readymades from the start and you abandoned assemblages early on.
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.200-216
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.013
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19785
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centuryCubismTatlin, Vladimir Evgrafovich, 1885-1953Giacometti, Alberto, 1901-1966Artists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-

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Controversies
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: Let’s talk about the controversies in your career, as you experienced them at the time and as you see them now. Where do you want to begin?
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.217-234
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.014
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19786
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centuryArtists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-Art criticism--United States--History--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1938- Tilted arcWeyergraf-Serra, Clara

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Contradictions
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~HF: We’ve talked about some contradictions in your work, but let’s bear down on the subject now. I suppose it’s difficult for any of us to see our own clearly.
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
Related print edition pages: pp.235-255
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.015
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19787
Chapter subject tags:Sculpture, American--20th centuryArtists--Interviews--20th centurySerra, Richard, 1939-Weyergraf-Serra, Clara

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Acknowledgments
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~~The authors thank, at Yale University Press, Patricia Fidler, for her enthusiastic response to our proposal, Amy Canonico, for her astute guidance of the manuscript, and Heidi Downey for her benevolent copyediting; in the Serra studio, Trina McKeever, for her expert assistance; and at Princeton, Lee Colón, for her careful...
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.016
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19788
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Index
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
Index
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.017
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19789
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Illustration Credits
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
Description: Conversations about Sculpture
Conversations about Sculpture
~The photographers and the sources of visual material other than the owners indicated in the captions are as follows. Every effort has been made to supply complete and correct credits; if there are errors or omissions, please contact Yale University Press so that corrections can be made in any subsequent edition.
Author
Richard Serra (Editor), Hal Foster (Editor)
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2018 by Richard Serra and Hal Foster
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00033.018
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19790
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Conversations about Sculpture
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