This exhibit was a critical and media success as reported in
Time and
Newsweek, presenting the public with a show dedicated to a "New Art". Critical labels for the art included "ABC art," "
reductive art" and "
Minimalism," though these labels were all roundly rejected by the artists themselves, notably
Donald Judd. The Primary Structures art featured stripped-down forms and materials with smooth, shiny surfaces. One of the most unusual new ideas to come from the exhibit was the concept of an artist as a "designer", not necessarily as a "maker". During a forum conducted at the museum on the "New Sculpture", in which McShine, Judd,
Barbara Rose,
Robert Morris, and
Mark di Suvero participated, di Suvero famously remarked, "...my friend Donald Judd cannot qualify as an artist because he doesn't do the work", to which Judd replied, "...The point is not whether one makes the work or not... I don't see... why one technique is any more essentially art than another..." This show ushered in a radical new way of presenting ideas and space that did not rely on the artist's hand, but rather on the final result. McShine, in an effort to broaden appeal and show a wide variety of artists working in this form, included a West Coast contingent and most of the British artists from the "New Generation" show at the
Whitechapel Art Gallery from 1965. It appeared that Primary Structures was to be formulated around
Anthony Caro's former
St. Martin's students, and the American group led by a relatively established
Tony Smith. ==1993 renovation==