
P&D artists practiced a postmodernist art of appropriation born of love for its sources rather than the cynical detachment that became de rigueur in the international art world of the 1980s. Though little studied today, the Pattern and Decoration movement was institutionally recognized, critically received, and commercially successful from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. The overwhelming preponderance of craft-based practices and unabashedly decorative sensibilities in art of the present-day point to an influential legacy that is ripe for consideration.
About the Catalogue: The 328-page exhibition catalogue, With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972–1985, is edited by Anna Katz, and features seven newly commissioned essays by Katz, Elissa Auther, Alex Kitnick, Rebecca Skafsgaard Lowery, Kayleigh Perkov, Sarah-Neel Smith, and Hamza Walker, as well as artist biographies, a bibliography, an exhibition history, and reprints of historically significant writings. It marks the first publication in three or more decades for many of the artworks in the exhibition, and presents new photography of the vast majority of the artworks. Designed by Green Dragon Office, the catalogue is published by MOCA, in association with Yale University Press.
Artist List: Neda Alhilali (b. 1938, Cheb, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic); lives in Los Angeles)
Emma Amos (b. 1938, Atlanta; d. 2020, Bedford, New Hampshire)
Ralph Bacerra (b. 1938, Garden Grove, California; d. 2008, Los Angeles)
Tony Bechara (b. 1942, San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives in New York)
Lynda Benglis (b. 1941, Lake Charles, Louisiana; lives in New York; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Ahmedabad, India)
Billy Al Bengston (b. 1934, Dodge City, Kansas; lives in Venice, California, and Honolulu)
Cynthia Carlson (b. 1942, Chicago; lives in New York)
Lia Cook (b. 1942, Ventura, California; lives in Berkeley, California)
Brad Davis (b. 1942, Duluth, Minnesota; lives in New York)
Merion Estes (b. 1938, Salt Lake City; lives in Los Angeles)
Sam Gilliam (b. 1933, Tupelo, Mississippi; lives in Washington, DC)
Tina Girouard (b. 1946, DeQuincy, Louisiana; d. 2020, Cecilia, Louisiana)
Nancy Graves (b. 1939, Pittsfield, Massachusetts; d. 1995, New York)
Mary Grigoriadis (b. 1942, Jersey City, New Jersey; lives in New York)
Diane Itter (b. 1946, Summit, New Jersey; d. 1989, Bloomington, Indiana)
Valerie Jaudon (b. 1945, Greenville, Mississippi; lives in New York and East Hampton, New York)
Jane Kaufman (b. 1938, New York; d. 2021, Andes, New York)
Joyce Kozloff (b. 1942, Somerville, New Jersey; lives in New York)
Robert Kushner (b. 1949, Pasadena, California; lives in New York)
Pat Lasch (b. 1944, New York; lives in New York and Palm Desert, California)
Al Loving (b. 1935, Detroit; d. 2005, New York)
Kim MacConnel (b. 1946, Oklahoma City; lives in Encinitas, California)
Constance Mallinson (b. 1948, Washington, DC; lives in Los Angeles)
Susan Michod (b. 1945, Toledo, Ohio; lives in Chicago)
Ree Morton (b. 1936, Ossining, New York; d. 1977, Chicago)
Judy Pfaff (b. 1946, London; lives in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York)
Howardena Pindell (b. 1943, Philadelphia; lives in New York)
Faith Ringgold (b. 1930, New York; lives in Englewood, New Jersey)
Tony Robbin (b. 1943, Washington, DC; lives in New York and Gilboa, New York)
Sandra Sallin (b. 1940, Los Angeles; lives in Los Angeles)
Lucas Samaras (b. 1936, Kastoria, Greece; lives in New York)
Miriam Schapiro (b. 1923, Toronto; d. 2015, Hampton Bays, New York)
Dee Shapiro (b. 1936, New York; lives in Great Neck, New York)
Kendall Shaw (b. 1924, New Orleans; d. 2019, Brooklyn, New York)
Alan Shields (b. 1944, Herrington, Kansas; d. 2005, Shelter Island, New York)
Arlene Slavin (b. 1942, New York; lives in New York)
Sylvia Sleigh (b. 1916, Llandudno, Wales; d. 2010, New York)
Ned Smyth (b. 1948, New York; lives in Shelter Island, New York)
Frank Stella (b. 1936, Malden, Massachusetts; lives in New York)
Franklin Williams (b. 1940, Ogden, Utah;
lives in Petaluma, California)
William T. Williams (b. 1942, Cross Creek, North Carolina; lives in New York and Woodbridge, Connecticut)
Betty Woodman (b. 1930, Norwalk, Connecticut; d. 2018, New York)
Takako Yamaguchi (b. 1952, Okayama, Japan; lives in Santa Monica, California)
Robert Zakanitch (b. 1935, Elizabeth, New Jersey; lives in Yonkers, New York)
Barbara Zucker (b. 1940, Philadelphia; lives in New York and Burlington, Vermont)
With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972–1985 is organized by Anna Katz, Curator, with Rebecca Lowery, Assistant Curator, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Lead support is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Henry Luce Foundation.
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