International survey exhibitions of contemporary painting.

It was not until the millennium that painting exhibitions became prevalent or of significant complexity. Exhibition reviews rely heavily on the availability of the exhibition catalogue, which according to Mary Kelly ‘gives particular permanence to temporary events, [and] an authenticity in the form of historical testimony’.[1] The survey catalogue provides a permanent record of the works selected along with the official and authoritve view and curatorial commentary, detailing which paintings were considered important at a given time and worthy of presentation to the public. The choice of survey exhibitions and their exhibition catalogues as a process legitimised of review and analysis is that they provide an extant  ‘proper’ record of painting; they have overtime become a legitimised ‘authoritve’ source of reference particularly when an established art institution commissions and/or produces it. The catalogue also provides a resource for historic reference as a document from which to trace omissions.  What exists and what doesn’t exist in these catalogues is important in equal measure.

The new millennium opened with exuberant displays of paintings, and for international exhibitions in the new millennia, it was the catalogue and the written word and not necessarily the wall that contextualized and ‘held’ the exhibitions together. In the 2000s ‘we did not want for paintings and survey exhibitions. There were plenty out there to choose from and argue over’ [2] I have reviewed catalogues from the last three decades (1980/90/2000) as part of my literature review towards my practice led PhD. However before I post my reviews I will attempt to post some relevant links that consider a broad range of current accessible debates. 

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[1] Mary Kelly, in Preface of Framing Feminism: Art and the Women’s Movement 1970-1985, R, Parker, G, Pollock, (eds), Pandora Press, London and New York, 1987. p.xv.

[2] Stated in the introduction to the article, J, Lasker, in, Thick and thin — painters and curators discuss the state of painting in the last two decades - Critical Essay ,R. Storr (ed) ArtForum, 2003.