Allan Kaprow facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Allan Kaprow
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Allan Kaprow, February, 1973
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| Born | August 23, 1927 Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
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| Died | April 5, 2006 (aged 78) Encinitas, California, United States
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | Columbia University New York University |
| Known for | Installation art, Painting |
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Notable work
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Happenings |
| Movement | Fluxus |
Allan Kaprow (born August 23, 1927 – died April 5, 2006) was an American artist. He was a painter and also created art by putting different objects together, which is called assemblage. He was a leader in developing performance art.
Kaprow helped create two important art forms in the late 1950s and 1960s: the "Environment" and the "Happening". He also wrote about these ideas. He made about 200 Happenings. Over time, his Happenings changed into what he called "Activities." These were smaller, more personal art pieces for one or a few people. They focused on everyday human actions, making art feel more like real life. His work influenced other art movements like Fluxus, performance art, and installation art.
Contents
Allan Kaprow's Education and Teaching
Early Studies
Allan Kaprow started his schooling in Tucson, Arizona. Later, he went to the The High School of Music and Art in New York. There, he studied with other artists like Wolf Kahn.
At New York University, Kaprow was inspired by John Dewey's book Art as Experience. He studied art and philosophy. He earned his master's degree in art history from Columbia University. In 1947, he began studying at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts. Here, he learned a style called action painting. This style greatly influenced his later Happenings. He also studied with famous composer John Cage and art historian Meyer Schapiro.
Kaprow first worked as a painter. He helped start the Hansa and Reuben Galleries in New York. With John Cage's help, he became less focused on creating a finished painting. Instead, he cared more about the actions involved in making art.
Teaching Career
Kaprow started teaching at Rutgers University in 1953. While there, he helped form the Fluxus group. This group included other professors and artists like Roy Lichtenstein and George Segal.
He taught for many years at different universities. He taught at Rutgers until 1961, then at Pratt Institute, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the California Institute of the Arts. From 1974 to 1993, he was a full-time professor at the University of California, San Diego.
What Were Happenings?
In 1958, Kaprow wrote an essay called "The Legacy of Jackson Pollock". In it, he said art should be made from everyday things. He suggested using "paint, chairs, food, electric and neon lights, smoke, water, old socks, a dog, movies." In this essay, he first used the word "happening". He believed that art should not last forever. Instead, it should use materials that can be thrown away.
Happenings began as carefully planned events. The audience and performers followed instructions to experience the art. Kaprow described a Happening as "A game, an adventure, a number of activities engaged in by participants for the sake of playing." He also said Happenings were "events that, put simply, happen." They didn't have a clear beginning, middle, or end. There was no difference between the artist and the people watching. The audience's reactions made each Happening unique. It could not be done the exact same way twice. Happenings were about joining in and interacting. The goal was to break down the "fourth wall" between artists and observers. This meant observers were not just watching. They were part of the art itself.
One famous Happening was called Eighteen Happenings in Six Parts. In this work, the audience moved together. They experienced things like a band playing toy instruments, a woman squeezing an orange, and painters working. Kaprow's art changed over time. It became less planned and used more everyday actions. Another Happening involved people entering a room full of ice cubes. They had to touch the ice, which then melted. This completed the art piece.
Kaprow's most well-known Happenings started around 1961. He would take students or friends to a specific place to do a small action. In September 1962, his Words performance at the Smolin Gallery got a lot of attention.
A great example of his ritual-like Happenings is Eat (1964). This took place in a cave with uneven floors and small streams. People entered through an old door and walked down a dark path. They went up steps to a lit platform. Girls offered wine. Apples and bananas hung from the ceiling. A girl fried banana fritters. In a small cave, a performer gave out boiled potatoes. In a log hut, bread and jam were served. People could eat and drink for an hour. There was no talking, except when people interacted with the performers.
Eat used all the senses. Metronomes ticked like a heartbeat, sounding like drums. People had to walk, eat, and drink. They had to follow directions. The dark and strange cave made them feel different emotions. Kaprow wanted the audience to be creative. He wanted them to connect ideas and events on their own. He rarely recorded his Happenings, so each one was a unique, one-time event.
At the 1971 International Design Conference at Aspen, Kaprow created a Happening called "Tag." It happened on a ski lift. He used video cameras to record people riding the lift. Then, they watched themselves on monitors.
Kaprow's art tried to mix art and life. Through Happenings, the lines between life, art, artist, and audience became blurry. Happenings allowed artists to use body movements, sounds, words, and even smells. One of his first writings about Happenings was "Happenings in the New York Scene" in 1961. He called them unusual theater pieces. They used cheap, disposable items like cardboard or cans. This made it easy for Kaprow to change his art piece each time. When these items broke, he could get new ones and create another unique piece. He showed that presenting art in lofts or basements changed what theater could be. It removed the barrier between the audience and the play. It also showed how art and its surroundings are connected.
Some of his pieces have been recreated. For example, "Overflow" was a tribute to his 1967 "FLUIDS" Happening. In 2014, "This Is Not A Theatre Company" restaged two of Kaprow's Happenings in New York City. These were Toothbrushing Piece and Pose.
Kaprow wrote many books and essays. He was a professor at the University of California, San Diego. He is also known for his idea of "un-art." This idea is found in his essays "Art Which Can't Be Art" and "The Education of the Un-Artist." Many famous artists, like Claes Oldenburg, say he influenced their work.
Published Works
Kaprow's book Assemblage, Environments and Happenings (1966) showed the work of similar artists. It included photos and essays. It is an important book in the field of performance art. His book Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life (1993) collected his writings from over forty years. This book helped new artists and critics understand his ideas about art today.
Recognition
In 2013, Dale Eisinger from Complex magazine ranked Kaprow's Yard (1951) as one of the greatest performance art works. He wrote that Kaprow's early Happenings involved the audience in fun and exciting ways. Yard is seen as one of his most important early works.
See also
In Spanish: Allan Kaprow para niños
