The Social Fabric: Franz Erhard Walther’s Fabric Objects and the Sociological Turn of Art in Postwar Germany
Date of Award
Fall 2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
History of Art
First Advisor
Lee, Pamel
Abstract
Working in both traditional and unconventional media, German artist Franz Erhard Walther (*1939) built his oeuvre around his "other concept of the work. This unique approach challenged the view of the artwork as a static, whole, and transcendent entity. Instead, Walther posited that his "objects" only qualify as works of art when they are handled and "used" for an "action. In this dissertation, I propose to read Walther's work not only for its formal innovation, but also as a central contribution to what I call the "sociological turn" in 1960s art. Using primary research, formal analysis, and a rich corpus of German sociological theory, I present Walther's unique version of participatory art as uniquely related to the historical circumstances of postwar West Germany. Ultimately, I argue that Walther's work provides a rich vocabulary for describing the social and political meanings and effects of artworks without falling into the binaries that have long categorized the study of so-called "participatory art.”
Recommended Citation
Quack, Gregor, "The Social Fabric: Franz Erhard Walther’s Fabric Objects and the Sociological Turn of Art in Postwar Germany" (2023). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 1186.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/1186
