Lucy Lippard's Numbers Shows: Feminist Conceptual Art
Cornelia Butler's essay, published by Afterall in 2012, traces Lucy R. Lippard's transformation from art critic to curator through her 'numbers shows' between 1969 and 1973. Lippard organized four exhibitions titled after the populations of their host cities: '557,087' in Seattle (1969), '955,000' in Vancouver (1970), '2,972,453' in Buenos Aires (1970), and 'c.7,500' at CalArts (1973). These shows rejected connoisseurship and Greenbergian formalism, embracing Conceptual art, land art, and ephemeral works. Lippard used index-card catalogues, encouraged site-specific outdoor pieces, and prioritized anti-exclusive, anti-taste aesthetics. The final exhibition, 'c.7,500', was the first all-women Conceptual art show, featuring 25 artists including Adrian Piper, Eleanor Antin, and Hanne Darboven. Butler argues that Lippard's curatorial practice was deeply feminist, emerging from her activism with the Art Workers' Coalition and the Ad Hoc Women Artists Committee. The essay situates Lippard's work within the broader cultural rupture of 1968, her collaboration with Seth Siegelaub, and her influence on exhibitions like MoMA's 'Information' (1970).
Key facts
- Lucy R. Lippard organized four numbers shows between 1969 and 1973.
- The shows were titled after city populations: '557,087' (Seattle), '955,000' (Vancouver), '2,972,453' (Buenos Aires), 'c.7,500' (CalArts).
- The exhibitions rejected connoisseurship and Greenbergian formalism.
- Catalogues were sets of index cards, mimicking Conceptual art's aesthetic of administration.
- 'c.7,500' was the first all-women Conceptual art exhibition.
- Artists included Adrian Piper, Eleanor Antin, Hanne Darboven, and Nancy Holt.
- Lippard was a member of the Art Workers' Coalition and co-founded the Ad Hoc Women Artists Committee.
- The essay was written by Cornelia Butler and published by Afterall in 2012.
Entities
Artists
- Lucy R. Lippard
- Cornelia Butler
- Eva Hesse
- Ad Reinhardt
- Adrian Piper
- Eleanor Antin
- Hanne Darboven
- Nancy Holt
- Robert Smithson
- Michael Asher
- John Baldessari
- Seth Siegelaub
- Kynaston McShine
- Judy Chicago
- Miriam Shapiro
- Faith Ringgold
- Poppy Johnson
- Brenda Miller
- Mierle Laderman Ukeles
- Martha Wilson
- Christine Kozlov
- Bernadette Mayer
- Christiane Möbus
- Renate Altenrath
- Laurie Anderson
- Jacki Apple
- Alice Aycock
- Jennifer Bartlett
- Agnes Denes
- Doree Dunlap
- Nancy Kitchel
- Suzanne Kuffler
- Pat Lasch
- Rita Myers
- Renee Nahum
- Ulrike Nolden
- Judith Stein
- Athena Tacha
- N.E. Thing Co.
- Ingrid Baxter
- Iain Baxter
- Carl Andre
- Vito Acconci
- Richard Artschwager
- Jan Dibbets
- Rafael Ferrer
- Sol LeWitt
- Robert Rohm
- Ed Ruscha
- Fred Sandback
- Keith Sonnier
- Frank Lincoln Viner
- Alice Adams
- Louise Bourgeois
- Gary Kuehn
- Bruce Nauman
- Don Potts
- Lee Bontecou
- Robert Breer
- Yayoi Kusama
- Claes Oldenburg
- Ken Price
- H.C. Westerman
- Robert Morris
- Rosemarie Castoro
- Lee Lozano
- Yvonne Rainer
- Zofia Kulik
- Yoko Ono
- Gina Pane
- Liliana Porter
- Jill Cement
- Hollis Frampton
- Gerry Schum
- Gene Youngblood
- Peter Plagens
- Linda Nochlin
- Julia Kristeva
- Craig Owens
- Rosalind Krauss
- Yve-Alain Bois
- George Bataille
- Harald Szeemann
- Wim Beeren
- Lea Vergine
- Annemarie Sauzeau Boetti
- VALIE EXPORT
- Simone de Beauvoir
- Robert Ryman
- Max Kozloff
- H.W. Janson
- Robert Goldwater
- Bernard Karpel
- Thomas Maytham
- Anne Focke
- Virginia Wright
- Bagley Wright
- Anne Gerber
- Morrie J. Alhadeff
- Alvin Balkind
- Doris Shadbolt
- Helene Winer
- Anthony Stokes
- RoseLee Goldberg
- Roszika Parker
- Faith Wilding
- Carroll Janis
- Douglas M. Davis
- Russell Lynes
- Sabeth Buchmann
- Alexandra Schwartz
- John Chandler
- Oscar Masotta
- David Lamelas
- Marcia Tucker
- Tony Smith
- Lygia Clark
- Elaine Sturtevant
- Sanja Iveković
- Kirsten Justesen
- Marta Minujín
- Martha Rosler
- Sylvia Sleigh
- Barbara T. Smith
- Jean Cocteau
Institutions
- Afterall
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
- Seattle Art Museum
- Seattle Art Museum Pavilion
- Vancouver Art Gallery
- University of British Columbia's Student Union Building Gallery
- Centro de Arte y Comunicación (CAYC)
- California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)
- Fischbach Gallery
- Paula Cooper Gallery
- The Jewish Museum
- Guggenheim Museum
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Art Workers' Coalition (AWC)
- Ad Hoc Women Artists Committee
- Feminist Art Program
- Woman's Building
- A.I.R. Gallery
- And/Or Gallery
- Garage gallery
- Royal College of Art
- Pomona College Museum of Art
- The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art
- Kenan Center
- Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
- Smith College
- Artforum
- Art International
- Art News
- Arts Magazine
- Studio International
- The Feminist Art Journal
- Ms. magazine
- Spare Rib
- The New Yorker
- Village Voice
- Evergreen Review
- The Hudson Review
- Sender Freies Berlin (SFB)
- Fernsehgalerie
- Simon Fraser University
- Cornell University
- Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art
- Kunsthalle Bern
- Stedelijk Museum
- Documenta 5
- Bienal de São Paulo
- Sidney Janis Gallery
- NYCATA Gallery
- Dwan Gallery
- Current Editions
- Contemporary Art Council of the Seattle Art Museum
- Guerrilla Art Action Group (GAAG)
- Black Emergency Cultural Coalition
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
- National Museum of Women in the Arts
- PS1 Contemporary Art Center
- California Institute of the Arts
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- Printed Matter
- New Museum of Contemporary Art
- MIT Press
- Hunter College
- International General
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Seattle
- Washington
- Vancouver
- Canada
- Buenos Aires
- Argentina
- Valencia
- California
- Los Angeles
- San Diego
- Oberlin
- Ohio
- Düsseldorf
- Germany
- Essen
- Hamburg
- Halifax
- Toronto
- London
- United Kingdom
- Paris
- Florence
- Italy
- Northampton
- Massachusetts
- Ithaca
- Ridgefield
- Connecticut
- Lockport
- Claremont
- Hartford
- Philadelphia
- Pennsylvania
- Minneapolis
- Minnesota
- Boston
- Poughkeepsie
- Bellevue
- Burnaby
- New Jersey
- Utah
- Texas
- Colorado
- Peru
- Lima
- Cuzco
- Machu Picchu
- Spain
- New Mexico
- Amsterdam
- Netherlands
- Bern
- Switzerland
- Zürich
- Vienna
- Austria
- Washington DC
- Budapest
- Hungary
- Stockholm
- Sweden