Minimal Art's Defining 1966 New York Exhibitions

Two landmark exhibitions in New York in 1966 united the artists who would define Minimalism: 'Primary Structures' at the Jewish Museum, featuring sculptures by Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, and Robert Morris, and 'Systemic Paintings' at the Guggenheim Museum, with works by Robert Mangold and Frank Stella. These artists, heirs to post-war American abstraction whose formal propositions they radicalized, were also attentive to the early 20th-century Russian avant-garde (Malevich), which had remained little known in the United States. While not adhering to strict geometry, they proposed simple, non-expressive, impersonal forms. Their very large-scale works invade space, compelling the exhibition visitor to physically traverse them. Some, like Robert Morris and Richard Serra, focused on highlighting the qualities and properties of their chosen materials, whether felt or steel. Donald Judd coined the term 'specific objects' to describe works that belonged neither to sculpture nor painting and claimed complete autonomy.