Drawing Then: Innovation and Influence in American Drawings of the Sixties

Inspired by the 1976 exhibition Drawing Now at The Museum of Modern Art, Drawing Then investigates revolutionary developments in the practice of drawing that emerged in the United States during a decade of radical social and political upheaval.

With more than 70 works by 39 artists--almost half of whom were not represented in the 1976 exhibition--Drawing Then includes works by Josef Albers, Mel Bochner, Chuck Close, Dan Flavin, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Barnett Newman, Robert Rauschenberg and Ed Ruscha, among other greats.

The volume also includes newly commissioned work by poet Mei-mei Berssenbrugge in addition to rare archival material, artists’ biographies and a comprehensive chronology linking developments in the art world with the larger social and political events of the decade.

Mei-mei Berssenbrugge was born in Beijing, China, grew up in Massachusetts, and lives in rural New Mexico and New York City. She is the author of nine volumes of poetry, including I Love Artists: New and Selected Poems (University of California Press, 2006), CONCORDANCE (Kelsey Street Press, 2006), NEST (Kelsey Street Press, 2003), Empathy (Barrytown/Station Hill Press, 1989), and The Four Year Old Girl (Kelsey Street Press, 1998). Kiki Smith was born in Nuremberg, Germany, and grew up in New Jersey. She has exhibited her work since the 1980s, when she was a member of COLAB, an influential artists' collective in New York City. Her work is represented in museums throughout Europe and the United States. A major retrospective of her prints, "Prints, Books and Things," took place at the Museum of Modern Art, 2003. The Walker Art Museum last year organized a major survey retrospective of her oeuvre, which is on view at the Walker until May 14, when it moves to Houston and, finally, to the Whitney Museum in New York. Smith lives and works in New York City.

Richard Shiff is Effie Marie Cain Regents Chair in Art at The University of Texas at Austin, where he directs the Center for the Study of Modernism.

Ecrivain, artiste et critique d art, Robert Storr est le directeur de la Yale University School of Art depuis 2006. Conservateur en chef du departement des peintures et sculptures du MOMA (New York) de 1990 a 2002, il a ete le premier directeur americain de la Biennale de Venise en 2007. Il ecrit pour de nombreux journaux et revues, parmi lesquels Art in America, Artforum, Art Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Village Voice, Interview, Parkett, Art Press, Frieze magazine.

Suzanne Hudson has taught college English for 15 years, including courses in theatre, playwriting, literature, and composition. She has written three college composition textbooks: WRITING ABOUT THEATRE AND DRAMA, THE ART OF WRITING ABOUT ART, and THINKING AND WRITING IN THE HUMANITIES.