The Beat Generation and the “Rise of the Sixties” in the Visual Arts

This essay highlights innovative painters, filmmakers, and assemblage artists who shaped what art historians have only recently began to call “Beat Art.” Featuring a paired art history/American literature course, the essay considers the multi- and interdisciplinary nature of Beat art as a prime mover in the anti-Vietnam War, civil rights, and women’s movements. Artists discussed include Wallace Berman, Wally Hendrick, Robert Rauschenberg, Jay DeFeo, and Alice Neel.