This monograph devoted to Rosemarie Castoro (1939–2015) traces the full scope of the artist’s career, a key figure of the New York art scene of the 1960s and 1970s. Defining herself as a “paintersculptor,” Castoro developed a cross-disciplinary practice that critically engages with the narratives of Minimalism and Conceptual art, bringing together painting, sculpture, drawing, language, the body, and the exhibition space within a single field of experimentation.

Rosemarie Castoro’s work is marked by a sustained attention to the conditions of production and reception of art, as well as to the social and political dimensions of artistic practice. From abstract painting to sculptural experimentation and architectural and performative interventions, her work explores the relationships between form, body, and language, while actively displacing the formal frameworks inherited from modernism.

This publication represents the most comprehensive study of the artist to date and extends the exhibition of Rosemarie Castoro presented at MAMCO in 2019–2020, curated by Julien Fronsacq, Chief Curator of the museum. It opens with a synthesizing essay by Fronsacq, offering a transversal reading of Castoro’s work through the notions of private and public space. The volume then brings together several major contributions that deepen key aspects of her practice: the relationship between drawing and sculpture, analyzed by art historian and drawing specialist Laurence Schmidlin; the use of language, writing, and Concrete poetry, examined by writer and art critic Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer; and an essay by art historian Rachel Stella, which situates the early years of Castoro’s career within their historical, cultural, and political context.

By bringing together formal analysis, historical perspectives, and thematic studies, this monograph offers a renewed and in-depth understanding of Rosemarie Castoro’s work. Extensive archival documentation, complemented by exhibition views and numerous reproductions of works, makes this volume an essential reference for understanding the complexity, coherence, and critical significance of her practice.

 

A publication co-published with JRP | Editions, available in bookshops and on the JRP | Editions website.