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Beat Culture and the New America:
1950-1965 June 2-September 15, 1997 | Press Release In the aftermath of World War II, at the dawn of the Cold War, a new aesthetic emerged in America among a generation of young poets and visual artists. Calling themselves the Beats, these artists formed a potent underground that offered an alternative to the complacent conformity of the Eisenhower years. But many of them also shared a powerful vision of their country's future and viewed with great sadness the vast chasm between the promise of the American dream and its uneven fulfillment. Seeking to bridge this gap through their art, they produced gritty and vibrant work that, like the Beats themselves, made a virtue of breaking the rules. Beat Culture and the New America: 1950-1965, organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and on view at Walker Art Center from June 2 through September 15, looks at the Beat movement in all its complexity, illuminating the many cross-currents, rich exchanges, and collaborations among poets, artists, musicians, and filmmakers during this era of creative ferment. Painting, sculpture, film, music, and the spoken word will be combined with books, magazines, illustrated notebooks, and original manuscripts to provide a fresh perspective on American culture at mid-century. It will include works by over 70 artists and writers, including Wallace Berman, William Burroughs, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Dennis Hopper, Jack Kerouac, Ed Kienholz, Michael McClure, and Robert Rauschenberg. |