Radical British Art in The 1970s
Radical British Art in The 1970s
Radical British Art in The 1970s
(Cover image: Jordan in Derek Jarman’s film Jubilee (1978), reproduced courtesy
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Histories of visual culture in Britain during the 1960s abound but that of the 1970s –
despite several, nostalgic revivals of interest in the decade – is still neglected. The
neglect is unjust: in a list of the best British advertisements of the twentieth century,
complied by Campaign magazine in 1999, the top three dated from the 1970s. Such
has been the decade’s invisibility that it has been dubbed: ‘the undecade’, ‘the
decade that style or taste forgot’, and the critic Peter Fuller once wrote an essay that
After the decade ended, it was widely believed that no fine art of note had been
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produced, or that there had been no major movement/dominant style, simply a
or spirit of the age. However, in my view, what was new and significant about
contemporary art in Britain during the 1970s was its leftist repoliticisation
(including the impact of feminism and the gay movement), its attempt to reconnect
to society at large (even though this was not exclusive to Britain because similar
were evident by the middle of the decade after the rejection of minimal art and the
decline in influence of conceptual art. The latter had began in the mid-1960s and
reached its apogee in ‘The New Art’ exhibition held at the Hayward Gallery in 1972.
important decade for three losses of faith: in the modern movement, the benefits of
technology and the ‘grand narrative’ of progress. Most radical artists had
version associated with the American critic Clement Greenberg (see my essay on
Greenberg and his influence on the British), but they retained a belief in progress
because they thought a different kind of art could help build a better society. In this
Because of their desire to rediscover a social role, radical artists rejected the
purely formalist view of art and began to stress the importance of subject
matter/content and social relevance/function. (New kinds of art gave rise to new
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subjects; for instance, feminist artists made works about housework and
menstruation; homosexual artists made art about the struggle for gay rights.)
However, it was not simply a question of representing politics because radical artists
steeped in the history of avant-garde art also realised that they had to address the
representation and was, therefore, more complex and demanding. Thus, a conflict or
tension emerged between the demand for accessibility and political utility on the one
Cosey Fanni Tutti of Coum Transmissions, Press release leaflet for Prostitution
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The label ‘political art’ became current but it had certain disadvantages: some
theorists argued that its use to designate a subcategory of art was misleading
because ‘all art was (already) political’. The label also embarrassed left-wing artists
because they feared it was simply the name of the latest art movement, one that was
Radical political artists and groups of the period included: Rasheed Araeen (from
Pakistan), Conrad and Terry Atkinson, Derek Boshier, Stuart Brisley, Victor
Burgin, the performance group COUM Transmissions, Rita Donagh, the Greenwich
and Wandsworth Mural Workshops, Margaret Harrison, Mary Kelly and John
Dugger (two Americans), Peter Kennard, Jamie Reid, Derek Jarman, Dan Jones,
John Latham and the Artist Placement Group, David Medalla (from the
Public Art Workshop, Tony Rickaby, Michael Sandle, Jo Spence, John Stezaker,
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Monica Sjoo of the Womanpower group, God giving birth, (1972). Oil on hardboard,
183 x122 cm. Anna Nordlander Collection. Skelleftea, Swede. Photo courtesy of the
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Michael Sandle, A Twentieth century Memorial, (1971-78). Sculpture - bronze on
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John Dugger, Chile Vencera banner in Trafalgar Square, London 1974. Photo
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Margaret Harrison, Rape, (1978) mixed media, main canvas 70 x 90 inches. Photo
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Jo Spence and Terry Dennett, Spence in the nude, middle aged, (1979). Photo
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Three interconnected ambitions recurred: first, to change art; second, to use that
new art to transform society; and third, to challenge and alter their relations of
production and art world institutions. Conservative artists and critics, of course,
poured scorn on these ambitions and defended the status quo. However, critics such
as Guy Brett, Rosetta Brooks, Richard Cork, Paul Overy, John Tagg and Caroline
Tisdall supported the radicals in their columns and by curating exhibitions such as
John A. Walker, Capitalism Works, could you wish for anything more? Photomontage
(also issued as a poster) shown in the ‘Art for Society’ exhibition Whitechapel Art
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Many of the new developments in art responded to the events and issues –
economic, ideological, political and social – of the period. For instance, work was
produced in response to the civil strife in Northern Ireland, strikes and the
imprisonment of trade unionists, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, the 1977 battle of
Lewisham between anti-racists and the police, and the killing in 1979 of Blair Peach.
Art was open to external forces – it reflected society but it also reflected upon society
and influenced people’s ideas and behaviour; consequently, it was a minor social
Rita Donagh, Bystander (a painting about events in Northern Ireland), (1977), Oil
and collage on canvas. Photo © the artist and Jerry Hardman-Jones
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Within the art world itself, what occurred was an often-acrimonious struggle
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practitioners versus theorists and critics. These groups argued passionately about
the character, social function and future direction of art and its institutions. Even
those who shared a leftist political perspective indulged in factional disputes: there
and every shade in between. Within feminism too there were at least three strands:
The decade was particularly notable for its intellectual ferment and ideological
struggles, its many conferences and public meetings, and for significant
developments in theory and criticism. Many radical artists wrote papers as often as
they made images or objects. In some instances, theory was not simply a discourse
developed by artists in parallel to making art objects but was itself imbricated in the
(1974) and Riddles of the Sphinx (1978) by Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen, two
‘theoretical films’ because they were extensions of intellectual work the directors
Peter Wollen and Laura Mulvey, Still from Riddles of the Sphinx (1977).
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While American art and criticism continued to influence certain British painters
and sculptors (primarily those associated with St Martin’s School of Art), the
radicals focused on national issues, such as immigrant labour and the Grunwick
strike, or, in the case of community artists, the people and concerns of inner city
areas.
Poster Film Collective, London. Poster in support of the Grunwick strikers, 1976 or
77.
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However, they also turned to Europe for inspiration: German artists such as Joseph
Beuys, Hans Haacke, John Heartfield and Klaus Staeck became influential. The
particular), the Situationists and French thinkers such as Roland Barthes and
Jacques Lacan were also significant. Thus, developments in fine art echoed those in
the social realm, that is, Britain joined the EEC during the 1970s. Even so,
international events were not completely ignored: critical art was made about events
in Chile, the Philippines, South Africa and Vietnam, and support given to liberation
The decade was also a period of intense self-reflection regarding the concept and
institutions of art, and the condition of British art: critiques were undertaken of art
criticism, art magazines, art education, state funding and private patronage,
galleries and museums, and the art market. Demands were made for more artists to
be represented on the visual arts panels of the Arts Council and for more women to
dissatisfied with existing arts organisations, many artists founded their own.
Examples included: Camerawork, the Artists’ Liberation Front, the Artists’ Union,
Hackney Flashers and the League of Socialist Artists. (The proliferation of such
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Camerawork magazine No 8. Special Lewisham issue 1977. British police guard
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To hold meetings and exhibitions, artists found and occupied new spaces in London
such as the Artists Meeting Place, The Gallery and the Communard Gallery. They
also established new magazines such as Artery and Block. Even painters opposed to
so-called ‘social functionalism’ were forced to turn to writing and to start their own
magazine: Artscribe.
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John A. Walker reading a variety of 1970s art magazines. Picture spread imitated
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The 1970s was a period of expanded media and materials: instead of pigment and
clay, many artists began using banners, bodily waste, books, concepts/language,
video.
Stuart Brisley, And for today nothing, (1972) Performance/Body art, Gallery House
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As a result, traditional art forms such as painting and sculpture experienced identity
crises and were subject to critical analyses by both friends and enemies. Arguably,
the crises in the visual arts paralleled the ones afflicting Britain’s economy and
social order.
A recurrent challenge facing the radical artists was how to reach audiences beyond
the narrow confines of the art world, beyond the middle class, how to convince
Desmond Rochfort and David Binnington, The Public Art workshop. The
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Art that was partisan – that sided with the exploited or foregrounded the
experiences and needs of blacks, gays, the unemployed and women, for instance -
challenged the conventional wisdom that art transcends such divisions and is
universal in its appeal. Consequently, it was not simply a matter of increasing the
size of the audience for art, but of developing new forms of art appropriate to the
also made to enable ordinary people to represent themselves and to involve them in
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the creative process; hence the emergence of such tendencies as behavioural,
British art during the 1970s is worth recording because, while much of the new art
was crude or mediocre, there was a sustained and worthwhile attempt to renew its
social purpose. It was a period when idealistic artists and groups struggled to
Meeting of Artists' Placement Group led by John Latham (centre) and Joseph Beuys
(with hat) at Documenta VI, Kassel (1977). Courtesy Tate Archives © Edition
Staeck. Photo: Caroline Tisdall
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What occurred is fascinating in its own right and is still relevant today because so
many of its leading figures continue to practice, because so many younger artists
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have been influenced by what they achieved, and because the questions posed – ‘Art
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(This a summary of the contents of my book Left Shift: Radical Art in 1970s Britain
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