“Induced Tension”: A Forgotten Chapter in the History of British Sculpture in the USA

Abstract

This essay looks at the reception of the sculptor Reg Butler in the USA and the role of Addison Franklin Page. This art historian, who was the first Curator of Contemporary Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts, has been overlooked in the history of modern sculpture although (or because) his work represents an alternative narrative to dominant art history in the aftermath of Clement Greenberg. Page was an important exponent of the American tradition of art education. His core ideas were that art had a meaning for society as a whole and that every individual can read a work of art symbolically. Within this framework Butler became important. The decline of these ideas and the rise of new elitist ideals of art may explain why Butler’s reputation has been omitted from prevailing narratives of the period. Between them, Butler and Page suggest alternatives to dominant art history.