Reading Response for “Sculpture in the Expanded Field” by Rosalind Krauss

In this article, Krauss summarized the development of the American sculpture in 60s and 70s as two major trends: one trend is between architecture and not-architecture; the other one is between landscape and not-landscape. The former refers to the blending of sculpture and architecture, which ultimately leads to the development of the installation. The latter embraces a broader nature - humanity space.

The traditional sculpture has been lost between not-architecture and not-landscape. Krauss divided this development into three stages. Firstly, the representative works, such as Rodin's Gates of Hell and the statue of Balzac, broke the practice of traditional monument sculpture, which released the traditional sculpture from the function of architecture, religion, ethics, and literature and obtained the independence of the sculpture itself. Sculpture turned into the form of personal expression by artists themselves.

In the second stage is the modernist period and sculpture entered the space of sitelessness or homelessness. The base became a part of the sculpture. The pedestal is designed as an abstract form and integrated with the sculpture work. For example, in the work of Brancusi's Beginning of the World, the base tended toward radical abstractness which testifies to a loss of site.

In the third stage, sculpture turned into the form between architecture and landscape, which means that sculpture can't live without the environment and the background. Works of both Mary Miss and Robert Morris embodied the importance of the unity of the work and the environment. The form of the work depended on the form of the background. The intention of the work was not to express the form of the work but the environment. Only when the environment was fully expressed, then one can understand the form of the work.

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