From Abstraction to Minimalism: Art and Music in the 1960s

Date : Friday, July 15, 2011
Time : 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Performer : Dr. Polli Chambers-Salazar
Type : Musical Performance

The middle decades of the 20th century were experimental years in both the visual and musical arts. Color Field painters such as Helen Frankenthaler and Kenneth Noland emphasized consistency of form and process in their movement toward abstraction as an end in itself. During the same era, Frank Stella and Ellsworth Kelly created minimalist works with spare geometric lines and simple forms. In the musical world, minimalist composers such as John Adams emphasized simple melodies and harmonic progressions, and they stressed repetition and rhythmic patterns in their reaction against the intellectual complexity of serialism and other contemporary styles. Fascinating parallels may be found between the visual and musical arts of the 1960s. Pianist Polli Chambers-Salazar presents a program focusing on the art and piano works of this period. Held in the Theater.