Pictures as the Signifying Chain： Douglas Crimp's Postmodern Art Criticism and Interpretation of the Works of the “Pictures Generation”

Authors

Zhiliang Wang

Abstract

The identity between art criticism and art theory is not inherently selfevident. On the contrary， they are combined together thanks to postmodernism. Douglas Crimp is one of most influential postmodern critics， who uses Jacques Lacans theory to interpret the works of the “Pictures Generation” as a signifying chain. Such translation of theory into his work can be viewed distinctively as a postmodernist strategy. Crimp also applies the concept of the signifying chain to his study of the photograph. At the same time， based on Lacans theory， he rewrites Walter Benjamins conceptualization of aura and reproduction， and suggests that postmodernist photography should be a kind of photography that critiques photography per se. So Levines method of reproduction and Shermans fiction are regarded as two exemplars in postmodernist photography. Finally， through his critical interpretation of the “Pictures Generation，” Crimp incorporates Lacans and Benjamins theories into the discursive system of contemporary art and establishes his own postmodernist criticism.

Keywords

the signifying chain；Douglas Crimp；the Pictures Generation；postmodernism；reproduction

First Page

33

Last Page

43

Recommended Citation

Wang, Zhiliang. 2023. "Pictures as the Signifying Chain： Douglas Crimp's Postmodern Art Criticism and Interpretation of the Works of the “Pictures Generation”." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 43, (3): pp.33-43. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol43/iss3/4