The Eighties in America - Salem Press (2009)

cal themes—with highly gestural paint application.
Both of these characteristics were frequently “appro-
priated” from earlier works of art. Schnabel empha-
sized the material nature of his paintings with the
supports on which he painted and by gluing objects
to the surface. The “plate paintings” (in which he
painted over broken crockery attached to a wooden
base) became sensationalized in the popular press.
These works first appeared at the end of the 1970’s,
after Schnabel had seen the architectural works of
Antonio Gaudi in Spain in 1977, but they became
well known in the early 1980’s. His work is best com-
pared perhaps with such European artists as Anselm
Kiefer.
New York art critics dubbed Schnabel a neoex-
pressionist, and many credited him with a “rebirth”
of painting after the periods of minimalist and con-
ceptual art. In critical writing of the 1980’s, he was
the focus of concerns about key art issues of the de-

cade: the role of appropriation, the relation of high

art and mass culture, gallery business practices and

art market hype, the remasculinization of the art

scene, and the relation between artistic success and

authenticity. In the popular press, Schnabel became

the very image of the 1980’s artist and of the finan-

cial excess of the decade.

Impact Marketing of Schnabel’s paintings brought

him spectacular success and fueled a boom in the art

market. For many critics and much of the public,

such success called into question both Schnabel’s

sincerity as a creative artist and the basically mercan-

tile nature of the business of art. Full evaluation of

Schnabel’s work as a painter may fall to future gener-

ations. In later years, he became a successful screen-

writer and filmmaker as well.

Further Reading

Eccher, Danilo, curator.Julian Schnabel, 22 novembre

1996-30 gennaio 1997.Bologna, Italy: Galleria

d’Arte Moderna, 1996.

Hollein, Max, ed.Julian Schnabel: Malerei/Paintings

1978-2003, 29 Januar y-25 April 2004. Frankfort,

Germany: Schirn Kunsthalle, 2004.

Pearlman, Alison.Unpackaging Art of the 1980’s. Chi-

cago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Jean Owens Schaefer

See also Art movements; Business and the econ-

omy in the United States; Consumerism; Neoex-

pressionism in painting.

School vouchers debate

Definition Controversy over a proposal to use tax

dollars to subsidize private school tuition

A debate begun in earnest during the 1950’s found renewed

vigor during the 1980’s, as education reformers proposed

government-funded tuition payments that would divert

public funding to private or parochial schools. Those in fa-

vor of vouchers argued that they would provide parents

with the financial power to choose the best schools for their

children. Those opposed to them argued that they repre-

sented an abandonment of already troubled public schools,

which could ill afford to lose any federal funding. Although

the idea of school vouchers did not gain substantial ground

during the 1980’s, a confluence of political, social, and eco-

nomic factors kept the idea alive through the decade.

The Eighties in America School vouchers debate
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Julian Schnabel in 1987.(Hulton Archive/Getty Images)