Carl Andre

{{Infobox artist

| name = Carl Andre

| image = Carl Andre.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|9|16}}

| birth_place = Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|1|24|1935|9|16}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| field = Sculpture

| movement = Minimalism

| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Barbara Brown||end=divorce}}|{{marriage|Rosemarie Castoro||end=divorce}}|{{marriage|Ana Mendieta|January 1985|September 1985|reason=died}}|{{marriage|Melissa Kretschmer|1999}}}}

| works = {{hlist|Equivalent VIII|Lever}}

| patrons =

| influenced =

| awards =

| education = Phillips Academy

| alt = Carl Andre

}}

Carl Andre (September 16, 1935 – January 24, 2024) was an American minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear and grid format sculptures. His sculptures range from large public artworks (such as Stone Field Sculpture, 1977, in Hartford, Connecticut,Hartford Advocate November 13, 1997 "Twenty Years After Stone Field Sculpture shook the Insurance City, Carl Andre Returns" by Patricia Rosoff [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=1169FD71D17EA340&p_docnum=2&s_dlid=DL0108121605094521142&s_ecproduct=SUB-FREE&s_ecprodtype=INSTANT&s_trackval=&s_siteloc=&s_referrer=&s_subterm=Subscription%20until%3A%2012%2F14%2F2015%2011%3A59%20PM&s_subexpires=12%2F14%2F2015%2011%3A59%20PM&s_username=freeuser&s_accountid=AC0107071613141404004&s_upgradeable=no] and Lament for the Children, 1976,{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/carl-andre/lament-for-the-children-a-4S1eOQq9iEdKx-NjOtDN9w2|title=Lament for the Children by Carl Andre on artnet|website=artnet.com|access-date=2019-05-22}} in Long Island City, New York), to large interior works exhibited on the floor (such as {{Pslink|144 Magnesium Square}}, 1969{{cite web|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/andre-144-magnesium-square-t01767|title=144 Magnesium Square|website=Tate Etc.|access-date=Aug 23, 2020}}), to small intimate works (such as {{Pslink|Satier: Zinc on Steel}}, 1989, and 7 Alnico Pole, 2011{{cite web |url=https://galeriacayon.com/en/artistascayon/carl-andre-2/ |title=Carl Andre|website=galeriacayon.com |access-date=April 9, 2025}}).

In 1985 his third wife, contemporary artist Ana Mendieta, fell from their 34th-floor apartment window and died. Neighbors heard an argument and Mendieta shouting "no" immediately before the fall. He was acquitted of a second-degree murder charge in a 1988 bench trial, causing uproar among feminists in the art world; supporters of Mendieta have protested at his subsequent exhibitions.

Early life

Andre was born on September 16, 1935, in Quincy, Massachusetts, the youngest of the three children of George (a master designer of freshwater plumbing for ships{{Cite magazine|last=Tomkins|first=Calvin|date=2011-11-27|title=The Materialist|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/12/05/the-materialist|access-date=2024-02-07|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US|issn=0028-792X}}) and Margaret (Johnson) Andre.{{Cite news|last=Kennedy|first=Randy|date=2024-01-24|title=Carl Andre, 88, Austerely Minimalist Sculptor, Is Dead|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/24/arts/carl-andre-dead.html|access-date=2024-01-27|work=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} He completed primary and secondary schooling in the Quincy public school system and studied art at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, from 1951 to 1953.Naked by the Window, by Robert Katz published 1990 by The Atlantic Monthly Free Press {{ISBN|0-87113-354-7}} While at Phillips Academy, he became friends with Hollis Frampton, who would later influence Andre's radical approach to sculpture through their conversations about art12 Dialogues, Carl Andre and Hollis Frampton 1962–1963 published by Nova Scotia College of Art and Design Press and New York University Press, edited by Benjamin HD Buchloh {{ISBN|0-8147-0579-0}} and through introductions to other artists.Minimalism: Art and Polemics in the Sixties, edited by James Meyer, published 2004 by Yale University Press {{ISBN|0-300-10590-8}}, {{ISBN|978-0-300-10590-2}}

Andre served in the U.S. Army in North Carolina from 1955 to 1956, and moved to New York City in 1956. While in New York, Frampton introduced Andre to Constantin Brâncuși, through whom Andre became re-acquainted with a former classmate from Phillips Academy, Frank Stella, in 1958. Andre shared studio space with Stella from 1958 through 1960.

Work

= Early work =

Andre cited Brâncuși as an inspiration for his early wood sculptures,{{Cite web|url=https://brooklynrail.org/2014/07/artseen/the-nature-of-carl-andre|title=The Nature of Carl Andre|last=Rose|first=Barbara|date=2014-07-15|website=The Brooklyn Rail|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-26}} but his conversations with Stella about space and form led him in a different direction. While sharing a studio with Stella, Andre developed a series of wooden "cut" sculptures (such as Radial Arm Saw cut sculpture, 1959 and Maple Spindle Exercise, 1959). Stella is noted as having said to Andre (regarding hunks of wood removed from Andre's sculpture), "Carl, that's sculpture, too."

From 1960 to 1964, Andre worked as a freight brakeman and conductor in New Jersey for the Pennsylvania Railroad. His experience with blue collar labor and the ordered nature of conducting freight trains would later influence Andre's sculpture and artistic personality. For example, it was not uncommon for Andre to dress in overalls and a blue work shirt, even to the most formal occasions."

During this period, Andre focused mainly on writing, and there is little notable sculpture of his on record between 1960 and 1965. His poetry resurfaced later, most notably in a book published in 1980 by NYU Press called 12 Dialogues, in which Andre and Hollis Frampton took turns responding to one another at a typewriter using mainly poetry and free-form essay-like texts. Andre's concrete poetry has been exhibited in the United States and Europe, a comprehensive collection of which is in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stedelijk.nl/en/collectie/maker/380-carl-andre|title=Carl Andre|website=Stedelijk Museum|language=en|access-date=2019-05-22}}

= Mature work =

{{multiple image|perrow = 1/2|total_width=320

| image1 = Carl Andre 144 Magnesium Square 144 thin magnesium plates measuring 144 by 144 inches.jpg

| caption1 = Carl Andre, {{vanchor|144 Magnesium Square}}, 1969, 144 thin magnesium plates, each measuring {{convert|12|by|12|inches}}, {{cvt|144|x|144|inches}}

| image2 = KMM Andre.JPG

| caption2 = Sculpture 43 Roaring forty by Carl Andre at Kröller-Müller Museum, 1968, Netherlands

| image3 = Carl Andre Satier Zinc on Steel 1989 Zinc and steel in two parts 0.44 x 6 x 11.44 inches.jpg

| caption3 = Carl Andre,

{{vanchor|Satier: Zinc on Steel}}, 1989, zinc and steel, in two parts, {{cvt|0.44|x|6|x|11.44|in}}

}}

In 1965, Andre had his first public exhibition of his work in the Shape and Structure show curated by Henry Geldzahler at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery.{{cite web | year=2011 | title=Oral history interview with Carl Andre, 1972 Sept | work=Research collections | publisher=Archives of American Art | url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-carl-andre-13302 | access-date=June 17, 2011}}

In the late 1960s, entrepreneur Karl Ströher from Darmstadt, Germany, acquired three major works from Andre to give them on loan to the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt.{{Cite book|title=Lauter, Rolf (ed.): Das Museum für Moderne Kunst und die Sammlung Ströher: zur Geschichte einer Privatsammlung; [eine Ausstellung des Museums für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt vom 5.12.1994-8.1.1995 in der Galerie Jahrhunderthalle Hoechst]|publisher=Societaetsverlag Frankfurt|year=1994|isbn=3-7973-0585-0|location=Frankfurt}} Peter Iden then acquired these works for the Museum für Moderne Kunst FrankfurtIden, Peter; Lauter, Rolf (ed.): Bilder für Frankfurt. Bestandskatalog des Museums für Moderne Kunst. München 1985. {{ISBN|978-3-7913-0702-2}} in 1981.{{Cite web|url=https://collection.mmk.art/de/sammlung-stroeher/|title=MMK Sammlung|website=MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt}} The works have since been shown in various "Change of Scene"Bee, Andreas: Zehn Jahre Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Köln 2003, {{ISBN|3832156291}} exhibitions (1992–2002) at the museum in FrankfurtLauter, Rolf : Carl Andre : extraneous roots, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt at Monastery of the Carmelites, Frankfurt 1991, {{ISBN|3882704616}} and internationally.Iden, Peter, Lauter, Rolf: Dalla pop art americana alla nuova figurazione : opere del Museo d'arte moderna di Francoforte, Padiglione d'arte contemporanea, Milan, 1987 {{ISBN|9788820207632}}

In 1969, Andre helped organize the Art Workers Coalition.{{Cite web |title=Art Workers' Coalition |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095427234 |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=Oxford Reference: A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art |language=en-UK }}

In 1970, he had a solo exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

= ''Equivalent VIII'' =

{{Main|Equivalent VIII{{!}}Equivalent VIII}}

In 1972, Britain's Tate Gallery acquired Andre's Equivalent VIII, an arrangement of 120 firebricks.

The piece was exhibited several times without incident, but became the center of controversy in 1976 after being featured in an article in The Sunday Times and later being defaced with blue food dye. The "Bricks controversy" became one of the most famous public debates in Britain about contemporary art.John Walker. (1999). [http://www.artdesigncafe.com/Carl-Andre-bricks-Tate-Gallery-1976 "Carl Andre's 'pile of bricks'- Tate Gallery acquisition controversy – 1976"]. Art & outrage/artdesigncafe. Retrieved December 23, 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/archivejourneys/historyhtml/people_public.htm |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130802144417/http://www.tate.org.uk/archivejourneys/historyhtml/people_public.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-08-02 |title=[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Archive Journeys: Tate History – People, The Public – Tate }}{{Cite serial |title=Bricks! |date=17 August 2017 |network=BBC Four |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07w6hdm}}

= ''Lever'' =

{{Main|Lever (1966){{!}}Lever (1966)}}

Andre's Lever consists of a single line of 137 firebricks.{{Cite web|title= My work doesn't mean a damn thing |url= https://www.ft.com/content/0b6db36e-6486-11e2-934b-00144feab49a |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/0b6db36e-6486-11e2-934b-00144feab49a |archive-date=December 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |last=Belcove|first= Julie |work=Financial Times |date=25 Jan 2013|language=en-US|access-date=23 Aug 2020}} The work concisely divides a space as the bricks hug the floor.{{Cite web|title= Carl Andre – Lever|url= https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/carl-andre |website= gallery.ca |publisher=The National Gallery of Canada |language=en-US|access-date=23 Aug 2020}} The exhibition of Lever at the 1966 exhibition Primary Structures at the Jewish Museum in New York brought considerable recognition to Carl Andre.{{Cite magazine|title= The Materialist – Carl Andre's eminent obscurity |url= https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/12/05/the-materialist |url-access=limited |last=Tompkins|first= Calvin |magazine=The New Yorker |date=28 Nov 2011|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115182942/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/12/05/the-materialist |archive-date=2022-11-15 |url-status=live |access-date=23 Aug 2020}}

Criticism

The gradual evolution of consensus about the meaning of Andre's art was compiled in the book About Carl Andre: Critical Texts Since 1965, published by Ridinghouse in 2008. The most significant essays and exhibition reviews were collated into this volume, including texts written by some of the most influential art historians and critics: Clement Greenberg, Donald Kuspit, Lucy R. Lippard, Robert C. Morgan, Barbara Rose and Roberta Smith.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

Personal life

Andre's first two marriages ended in divorce, and the third in the alleged murder of his wife, for which he was acquitted under controversial and contested circumstances {{See below|below}}.{{Cite news|last=Smith|first=Harrison|date=2024-02-10|title=Carl Andre, austere sculptor and minimalist pioneer, dies at 88|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/01/25/carl-andre-dead/|access-date=2024-03-07|newspaper=The Washington Post|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}} In 1999 he married artist Melissa Kretschmer.

Andre died in Manhattan on January 24, 2024, at the age of 88.

= Death of Ana Mendieta =

In 1979 he met his third wife, artist Ana Mendieta, through a mutual friendship with artists Leon Golub and Nancy Spero at AIR Gallery in New York City.{{Cite news|last=McNay|first=Michael|date=2024-01-25|title=Carl Andre obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/jan/25/carl-andre-obituary|access-date=2024-03-07|work=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} Andre and Mendieta married in January 1985.{{Cite news|last=O'Hagan|first=Sean|date=2013-09-21|title=Ana Mendieta: death of an artist foretold in blood|language=en-GB|work=The Observer|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/sep/22/ana-mendieta-artist-work-foretold-death|access-date=2019-05-22|issn=0029-7712}} Mendieta fell to her death from Andre's 34th-story apartment window in September 1985, after an argument with Andre. Their neighbors, a couple next door, are reported to have heard Mendieta scream "No" the same night, and Andre was also seen with multiple scratches on his face after that night.{{Cite web |title=Ana Mendieta Art, Bio, Ideas |url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/mendieta-ana/ |access-date=2023-03-04 |website=The Art Story}} Andre was quoted from a 9-1-1 call after her death to have said, "What happened was we had … my wife is an artist and I am an artist and we had a quarrel about the fact that I was more, eh, exposed to the public than she was and she went to the bedroom and I went after her and she went out of the window".{{Cite web |last=Hoffman |first=Jan |date=2020-08-07 |title=Rear Window: The Mystery of the Carl Andre Case |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2020/08/07/rear-window-the-mystery-of-the-carl-andre-case/ |access-date=2023-03-04 |website=The Village Voice}} The same night Andre was charged with second-degree murder. He elected to be tried before a judge with no jury. In 1988, he was acquitted of all charges related to Mendieta's death.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/12/nyregion/greenwich-village-sculptor-acquitted-of-pushing-wife-to-her-death.html?scp=8&sq=Carl+Andre+acquitted&st=nyt | work=The New York Times | title=Greenwich Village Sculptor Acquitted of Pushing Wife to Her Death | first=Ronald | last=Sullivan | date=February 12, 1988 | access-date=April 28, 2010}}{{Cite web|url=http://nymag.com/news/features/scandals/carl-andre-2012-4/|title=The History of New York Scandals – Carl Andre's Murder Trial|website=New York|date=March 30, 2012 |language=en-us|access-date=2020-01-22}}

Museums that exhibit Andre's work have been met with outrage from Mendieta's supporters. The 2022 podcast Death of an Artist detailed a culture of secrecy around Mendieta's death and Andre's potential involvement.{{Cite web |title=Death of an Artist Podcast – Ana Mendieta Podcast |url=https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/death-of-an-artist |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=Pushkin Industries |language=en}} In 2017, protestors attended the opening of his exhibition at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Los Angeles, distributing postcards that read, "Carl Andre is at MOCA Geffen. {{lang|es|¿Dónde está Ana Mendieta?}}{{-"}} ({{gloss|Where is Ana Mendieta?}}).{{Cite web|url=https://hyperallergic.com/538535/actress-ellen-barkin-reveals-she-was-assaulted-by-carl-andre-in-the-late-70s/|title=Actress Ellen Barkin Reveals She Was Assaulted by Carl Andre in the Late '70s|date=2020-01-21|website=Hyperallergic|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-22}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-ana-mendieta-carl-andre-moca-protest-20170406-htmlstory.html|title=Why protesters at MOCA's Carl Andre show won't let the art world forget about Ana Mendieta|date=2017-04-06|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-26}}

Artist books

Quincy Book. Andover: Addison Gallery of American Art, 1973. Artist book by Carl Andre which features commissioned photographs of landscapes and monuments in his hometown of Quincy, Massachusetts. Quincy was originally printed in conjunction with Andre's 1973 solo show at Addison Gallery, and reprinted by Primary Information in 2014.{{Cite web |title=Carl Andre: Quincy |url=https://www.printedmatter.org/catalog/36841/ |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=Printed Matter, Inc. |language=en-US}}
America Drill: Red Cut, White Cut, Blue Cut. Brussels: Maîtres de Forme Contemporains/Michèle Didier, and Paula Cooper Gallery, 2003. Limited edition of 100 numbered, signed and stamped copies, 400 numbered copies and 100 artist's proofs.{{Cite web|url=https://www.micheledidier.com/en/oeuvre/details/7/america-drill-1963-2003|title=America Drill (numbered)|website=micheledidier.com |access-date=2019-05-22}}{{Better source needed|reason=Citation is a site that sells the work discussed.|date=February 2023}}

References

External links

[http://www.carlandre.net/ Official website]
[http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/tateshots-carl-andre Filmed interview with Carl Andre – TateShots] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316113124/http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/tateshots-carl-andre |date=March 16, 2017 }}
[https://collection.mmk.art/de/nc/werkuebersicht/?kuenstler=000010&all=1 Carl Andre collection MMK Frankfurt]
[http://www.paulacoopergallery.com/exhibitions/568 Carl Andre exhibition at Paula Cooper Gallery, NYC 2014] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216175209/http://www.paulacoopergallery.com/exhibitions/568 |date=December 16, 2014 }}
[http://www.paulacoopergallery.com/artists/1/newsMinimalist Retrospective Gets a Master's Touch Carl Andre Emerges to Guide Installation at Dia:Beacon NEW YORK TIMES by Randy Kennedy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924065212/http://www.paulacoopergallery.com/artists/1/newsMinimalist |date=September 24, 2015 }}
[http://www.paulacoopergallery.com/artists/1/news Carl Andre Dia Retrospective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511215734/http://www.paulacoopergallery.com/artists/1/news |date=May 11, 2015 }}
[http://www.theartstory.org/artist-andre-carl.htm Carl Andre – Biography and Analysis] from the Art Story Foundation website
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060903141249/http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_3.html Short biography] from the Guggenheim Museum
[http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2008/05/ca_pcva.html Carl Andre interviewed on PORT]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090106212424/http://www.sadiecoles.com/carl_andre/biog_more.html Carl Andre Work & Extended Biography] Timeline of Exhibitions 1964–present
[https://archive.today/20121225112652/http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=507&searchid=12133&currow=1&maxrows=10 Carl Andre] at the Tate Modern
[http://brooklynrail.org/2012/02/art/carl-andre-with-michle-gerber-klein-and-phong-bui Brooklyn Rail] In Conversation: Carl Andre with Michèle Gerber Klein and Phong Bui