Hardcover | 21.59 x 3.18 x 27.94 cm | 328 pp

Yale University Press | 2019 | 9780300239942

A timely and expansive survey of a groundbreaking American art movement that overturned aesthetic hierarchies in a riot of color and ornamentation

The Pattern and Decoration movement emerged in the 1970s as an embrace of long-dismissed art forms associated with the decorative. Pioneering artists such as Miriam Schapiro (1923–2015), Joyce Kozloff (b. 1942), Robert Kushner (b. 1949), and others appropriated patterns, frequently from non-Western decorative arts, to produce intricate, often dizzying or gaudy designs in media ranging from painting, sculpture, and collage to ceramics, installation art, and performance. This dazzling book showcases an astonishing array of works by more than 40 artists from across the United States, examining the movement’s defiant adoption of art forms traditionally viewed as feminine, craft-based, or otherwise inferior to fine art.
 
In addition to offering an overview of the Pattern and Decoration movement as it is commonly recognized, this volume considers artists of the period who are not typically associated with the movement. Rethinking the significance of patterns and the decorative in postwar American art, this panoramic view provides new insights into abstraction, feminism, and installation art. Essays explore the movement’s feminist methods and values, including Miriam Schapiro’s “femmage” practice; its impact on contemporary abstract painting; and its relationship to postmodern architecture and design. Artist biographies, an exhibition history, and reprints of historically significant writings further establish With Pleasure as the most expansive publication on the subject.

Featured Artists
Neda Alhilali
Emma Amos
Ralph Bacerra
Tony Bechara
Lynda Benglis
Billy Al Bengston
Cynthia Carlson
Lia Cook
Brad Davis
Merion Estes
Sam Gilliam
Tina Girouard
Nancy Graves
Mary Grigoriadis
Diane Itter
Valerie Jaudon
Jane Kafman
Joyce Kozloff
Robert Kushner
Pat Lasch
Al Loving
Kim Macconnel
Constance Mallinson
Susan Michod
Ree Morton
Judy Pfaff
Howardena Pindell
Faith Ringgold
Tony Robbin
Sandra Sallin
Lucas Samaras
Miriam Schapiro
Dee Shapiro
Kendall Shaw
Alan Shields
Arlene Slavin
Sylvia Sleigh
Ned Smyth
Frank Stella
Franklin Williams
William T. Williams
Betty Woodman
Takako Yamaguchi
Robert Zakanitch
Barbara Zucker