Front cover of Lucy R. Lippard’s, ‘Six Years: The dematerialization of the art object from 1966 to 1972′, originally published in 1973

Lucy R. Lippard’s career trajectory has run from academically trained art historian, to critic, curator, and feminist activist. Eschewing definition, Lippard has described her methodology as “simply one thing leading to another.” Initially a critic, she rejected conventional art criticism on the basis of its “so-called objectivity” and lack of contact with artists and their practice. During the 1960s, she became a key figure and commentator on Minimal and Conceptual art. Her book Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object (1973), was the subject of a survey exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, entitled Materializing Six years: Lucy R. Lippard and the emergence of Conceptual Art. Her pioneering Numbers Shows (1969-1973) are understood to have complicated the definition of curating. “Radicalized” by a trip to Argentina in 1968, Lippard joined the Art Workers Coalition (AWC) in January 1969, campaigning for artists’ rights, against discrimination, and in opposition to the Vietnam War. She went on to co-found a number of organizations including the Ad Hoc Women Artists’ Committee (1970), the Feminist art journal Heresies (1977), Printed Matter (1976) and Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention In Central America (1984).  Continue reading →