Lead in Modern and Contemporary Art

Lead in Modern and Contemporary Art is the first edited volume to critically examine uses of lead as both material and cultural signifier in modern and contemporary art. The book analyzes the work of a diverse group of artists working in Europe, the Middle East, and North America, and takes into account the ways in which gender, race, and class can affect the cultural perception of lead.
Bringing together contributions from a distinguished group of international contributors across various fields, this volume explores lead's relevance from a number of perspectives, including art history, technical art history, art criticism, and curatorial studies. Drawing on current art historical concerns with materiality, this volume builds on recent exhibitions and scholarship that reconsider the role of materials in shaping artistic meaning, thus giving a central relevance to the object and its physicality.

Sharon Hecker is an art historian and curator specializing in modern and contemporary Italian art. A leading authority on Medardo Rosso, her books include A Moment's Monument: Medardo Rosso and the International Origins of Modern Sculpture (2017), Postwar Italian Art History Today: Untying 'The Knot' (co-editor, 2018), and Finding Lost Wax: The Disappearance and Recovery of an Ancient Casting Technique and the Experiments of Medardo Rosso (2020).
Silvia Bottinelli is Senior Lecturer in the Visual and Material Studies Department of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, USA. She is a widely published scholar of modern and contemporary art. Her recent books include Double-edged Comforts: Domestic Life in Modern Italian Art and Visual Culture (2021) and The Taste of Art: Cooking, Food, and Counterculture in Contemporary Practices (co-editor, 2017).

List of Figures
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: To Be Continued... Silvia Bottinelli (Tufts University, USA) and Sharon Hecker (independent scholar)
1. A Most Insidious Poison Taking Advantage of our Necessities: A Brief Historical Introduction to Lead and Lead Poisoning, Christian Warren (Brooklyn College - The City University of New York, USA)
2. Lead's Historic Transformations, Spike Bucklow (University of Cambridge, UK)
3. In the Backyard at Burcroft: Henry Moore's Experiments in Lead, Rowan Bailey (University of Huddersfield, UK)
4. The Weakness of Lead: Materiality and Modern American Sculpture, Marin R. Sullivan (Harry Bertoia Foundation & Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, USA)
5. Due Process: Richard Serra's Early Splash/Cast Works, Jeffrey Weiss (The Institute of Fine Arts, USA)
6. Exorbitant Matter: Materiality According to Lynda Benglis, Luke Naessens (Princeton University, USA)
7. Lead in the Lexicon of Gilberto Zorio's Sculpture, Elizabeth Mangini (California College of the Arts, USA)
8. The Stopping Power of Lead: Luciano Fabro, Giuseppe Penone, and Marisa Merz, Sharon Hecker (independent scholar)
9. "Mankind needs some lead so as to be somewhat heavier": Beuys, Alchemy, and Duchamp, Claudia Mesch (Arizona State University, USA)
10. A Conversation with Remo Salvadori, Sharon Hecker (independent scholar) and Silvia Bottinellii (Tufts University, USA)
Critical Introduction by Rosalind McKever (Victoria and Albert Museum, UK)
11. Two Views of Anselm Kiefer: In the Studio and In the Museum
Kiefer Speaks About Lead with Karl Ove Knausgaard
Loaded Lead: Anselm Kiefer in the Collection of the Israel Museum, Sharon Tager and Adina Kamien (The Israel Museum, Jerusalem)
12. Anthony Caro: Lead and Wood Sculptures. 1980-1989, Karen Wilkin (independent scholar)
13. The New British Sculpture and the Poetics and Pragmatics of Lead, Jon Wood (independent scholar)
14. Organizing Against an Invisible Threat. Lead According to Futurefarmers and Mel Chin, Silvia Bottinelli (Tufts University, USA)
15. An Interview with Daniela Rivera: The weight of lead and painting beyond the surface, Silvia Bottinelli (Tufts University, USA) and Sharon Hecker (independent scholar)
Bibliography
Index