ABSTRACT

The 1960s and 1970s saw dramatic changes not only in American social and political culture, but in the art world as well. As racial and gender relations were transfigured in the public sphere, increasing numbers of artists from communities that had historically been underrepresented in galleries and museums began to emerge. The heightened visibility of white women artists and artists of color during this period led to new strategies for reaching mass audiences, challenges to conventional distinctions between high and low art, and critiques of traditional exclusionary practices of exhibition.