Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965–1975

By the late 1960s, the United States was in pitched conflict both in Vietnam, against a foreign power, and at home—between Americans for and against the war, for and against the status quo. Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965–1975 presents art created amid this turmoil, spanning the period from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s fateful decision to deploy U.S. ground troops to South Vietnam in 1965 to the fall of Saigon ten years later.

The first national museum exhibition to examine  the contemporary impact of the Vietnam War on American art, Artists Respond brings together nearly 100 works by 58 of the most visionary and provocative artists of the period. Galvanized by the moral urgency of the Vietnam War, these artists reimagined the goals and uses of art, affecting developments in multiple movements and media: painting, sculpture, printmaking, performance, installation, documentary art, and conceptualism. Iconic pieces are seen alongside works by artists of color and women, who have been historically excluded from surveys of the period. The exhibition makes vivid an era in which artists endeavored to respond to the turbulent times and openly questioned issues central to American civic life.

Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965–1975 is organized by Melissa Ho, curator of 20th-century art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Artists included in the exhibition are: Carl Andre, Benny Andrews, Art Workers’ Coalition, Asco, Judith Bernstein, Chris Burden, T.C. Cannon, Mel Casas, Rosemarie Castoro, Judy Chicago, William Copley, Emile de Antonio, Mark di Suvero, James Gong Fu Dong, Dan Flavin, Terry Fox, Rupert García, Leon Golub, Philip Jones Griffiths, Guerrilla Art Action Group, Philip Guston, Hans Haacke, David Hammons, Wally Hedrick, Douglas Huebler, Carlos Irizzary, Kim Jones, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Corita Kent, Edward Kienholz, Yayoi Kusama, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Fred Lonidier, Malaquias Montoya, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Barnett Newman, Jim Nutt, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono, Dennis Oppenheim, Liliana Porter, Yvonne Rainer, Ad Reinhardt, Faith Ringgold, Martha Rosler, Peter Saul, Carolee Schneemann, Robert Smithson, Nancy Spero, May Stevens, Carol Summers, Paul Thek, Jesse Treviño, Tomi Ungerer, Timothy Washington, and William Weege.

The exhibition is presented in conjunction with an installation by internationally acclaimed artist Tiffany Chung. Tiffany Chung: Vietnam, Past Is Prologue, probes the legacies of the Vietnam War and its aftermath through maps, paintings, and videos that share the stories of former Vietnamese refugees.

Symposium
On March 15, SAAM is presenting a day of discussions and lectures on topics related to the exhibition. A group of distinguished scholars will provide insights into how artists of the Vietnam War era sought to engage, and six artists whose work is in the exhibition will address their varied experiences of the war period. The program is free and open to the public.

Participants include:

Judith Bernstein, artist

Julia Bryan-Wilson, professor of modern and contemporary art, University of California, Berkeley

Thomas Crow, Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

Harry Gamboa, Jr., artist

Rupert García, artist

Hans Haacke, artist

Melissa Ho, curator of 20th-century art, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Katherine Markoski, independent scholar

Mignon Nixon, professor of modern and contemporary art, University College London

Chon Noriega, professor, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and director, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center

Fred Ritchin, dean emeritus, International Center of Photography

Martha Rosler, artist

Carolee Schneemann, artist

Book
The companion catalogue, published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in association with Princeton University Press, includes essays by Melissa Ho, Thomas Crow, Erica Levin, Katherine Markoski, Mignon Nixon, and Martha Rosler.

Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965–1975 is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum with generous support from Anonymous, Diane and Norman Bernstein Foundation, Sheri and Joe Boulos, the Gene Davis Memorial Fund, the Glenstone Foundation, Norbert Hornstein and Amy Weinberg, the Henry Luce Foundation, Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman, Cindy Miscikowski, Daniel C. and Teresa Moran Schwartz, the Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Grant Program, and the Terra Foundation for American Art.