American Art from the 1980s

The art world of the 1980s was a place of artistic diversity and aesthetic contention. Neo-expressionists jostled for theoretical (and commercial) position with abstract painters, installation, performance, and graffiti artists, appropriationists and others. And little, upon reflection, was as it seemed. American Art of the 1980s revisits those years by presenting some of most engaging and debated artworks produced in the United States at the time. The works selected represent artistic strategies that engaged with painting, sculpture, and figuration at the end of the 20th century. They provide an opportunity to explore examples of American art of the '80s that are largely unavailable in St. Louis public collections. From the large-scale expressive paintings of David Salle and Julian Schnabel, to the East Village-inspired graffiti art of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, to the abstracted images by Ross Bleckner mourning those lost to AIDS, the works of the '80s pushed the limits of representation, addressing such postmodern issues as the image saturation and simulated nature of the contemporary world and the role of art and the individual in consumer culture.

Eli and Edythe Broad are recognized internationally for their prescience in forming one of the most in-depth collections of the art of our time. In 1984 they formed the Broad Art Foundation, which today lends contemporary art to university galleries, museums, and public spaces worldwide. American Art of the 1980s is drawn from both the Broads’ personal and Foundation collections.

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American Art from the 1980s: Selections from the Broad Collections

mit David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Ross Bleckner