Life and career
Origins and training
Kosuth emerged as an American Conceptual artist in the 1960s, when artists were questioning whether art had to be a handmade, visually attractive object.
Places, turning points and artistic change
He put objects, photographs and definitions together, then expanded his use of printed language, exhibition formats and installation. A word could be investigated as carefully as a painted shape.
Beyond the studio
Writing and the presentation of ideas are integral to his practice. His influence lies partly in making the definition, context and interpretation of art visible as subjects of art itself.
Works across a career
Selected examples, not a complete catalogue. Read date ranges and attributions before inferring a career sequence.
Reading the selected works together
The chair installation, enlarged definition and location project shift attention from a finished image to how meaning is established.
- 01
1965
1965
One and Three Chairs
- Material / technique
- Wood folding chair, mounted photograph of a chair, and mounted photographic enlargement of the dictionary definition of "chair"
- Attribution / role
- Collection / source
- The Museum of Modern Art
Artist-wide context
He placed objects, photographs and definitions together to ask how each one gives us meaning.
- 02
1966–68
1966–68
Titled (Art as Idea as Idea): The Word “Definition”
- Material / technique
- Text-based work
- Attribution / role
- See the museum attribution
- Collection / source
- MoMA — Joseph Kosuth
A dictionary-style statement becomes the object of looking.
- 03
1969–70
1969–70
15 Locations
- Material / technique
- Conceptual project
- Attribution / role
- See the museum attribution
- Collection / source
- MoMA — Joseph Kosuth
The project’s format and distribution matter alongside what is printed.
Materials, marks and colour
Media and surface
Objects, photographic panels and printed text carry different kinds of evidence.
Marks and structure
Juxtaposition replaces a conventional painted composition.
Palette and light
Colour is often subordinate to legibility and the relationship between forms of description.