Looking at MoMA’s “In & Out of Amsterdam”

GervanElkPaulKlee
I posted some observations and thoughts about the Museum of Modern Art’s “In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960-1976” on Art21 today.
In general, it is a fascinating exhibition full of objects and works that I had never seen in person and it fills in gaps of art history that helped me to understand the global nature of the Conceptual Art movement.
The only thing which really perturbed me about the show, and I didn’t get a chance to mention in my post, is that Stanley Brouwn has a very odd requirement that his art never be reproduced without his personal permission–I find that incredibly obnoxious. The curator told me that Brouwn has enforced that reproduction rule since 1973 or 1974 and, with only a few exceptions, his work is never reproduced. Even MoMA’s In & Out of Amsterdam catalogue didn’t include images of his work and during the press preview we were informed that his work was off limits for our cameras.
The follow note for Brouwn is included in the catalogue’s “Checklist of Art & Project/Depot VBVR Gift”:

At the artist’s request, his birth date is excluded here, and the works are not reproduced.

My whole post on Art21 is here.
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Photo caption: Ger van Elk’s Paul Klee-Um Den Fisch, 1926 (Around the Fish) (1970)

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