Sixties Surreal | Art & Artists

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Show of Force

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In the 1960s television brought reports of political assassinations, the oppression of protests, and the escalation of the Vietnam War (1955–75) into the comfort of American living rooms. The works in this gallery illustrate the many ways in which the violence and oppression of the era were experienced, internalized, and expressed through art. Some artists drew on the visual and literary vocabulary of historic Surrealism, a movement that embraced and extolled revolutionary actions, to communicate the experience of racial or colonial oppression. Other artists manipulated the very material of mass media to excoriate the culture it portrayed—framing violence as a kind of rupture in the fabric of logic.

Painting of a head of man with red hair in a field of grass with grass coming out of his mouth.
A large tiger with an open mouth is behind women in crowns and the text “San Antonio Circus ‘69.”
A person’s lower face and mouth are visible, with the upper head missing against a plain blue background.
A person in traditional clothing stands beside a large rhinoceros, with the letters "BIA" in the background.
Ralph Arnold, Unfinished Collage, 1968
Nancy Spero, Female Bomb, 1966

Artists

On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Frank WANG Yefeng, The Levitating Perils #2

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.