Art Conservator publishes rare interview with German artist Mary Bauermeister  

The Spring 2009 issue of Art Conservator, the twice-yearly publication of the Williamstown Art Conservation Center, leads off with a cover story about the work of Pop-era artist Mary Bauermeister. The article features a rare, full-length English-language interview with the German painter, sculptor and assemblage pioneer.
    The article, “The Great Society: An exuberant assemblage from the 1960s leads to an overlooked master,” was written by Art Conservator editor Timothy Cahill. It examines a Bauermeister “optical-box” sculpture from 1969 titled #175 The Great Society, a mélange of political caricature, social commentary, decorated elements and brightly colored designs, enhanced by a series of magnifying lenses that enlarge and distort the work’s multi-tiered effect. The piece, which takes its title from Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 poverty and social reform programs, is owned by the Mead Art Center, Amherst College, Massachusetts.
    In the course of the interview, Bauermeister discusses the origin of her lens boxes, as well as the course of her artistic career, which began in the destruction of post-World War II Germany, and eventually lead her to New York City, where she knew such luminaries as Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol. Bauermeister recounts her early years in Cologne, hosting art happenings for an eclectic range of international talents that included John Cage and Nam June Paik, as well as many of the artists who later formed the Fluxus art movement. She goes on to describe the direct influences of both Robert Rauschenberg and Bob Dylan.
    The complete transcript of the interview is also available on the WACC website.
    Art Conservator is published by WACC to educate the public on matters relating to art conservation and cultural heritage, and report on activities at the Williamstown, Massachusetts-based center. The new issue also includes features on Tim Rollins and K.O.S., analysis of a 19th-century tavern sign, and proper handling of Asian scrolls, as well as short reports about visiting conservators from Mongolia, and artists Florine Stettheimer, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, George Robert Lawton and Philip Morseberger.