About
Critic of visual art with precise attention to language, written and spoken. Professor of the history of art with field of specialization since World War II, but have taught, lectured on, advised and written about the span of art history in Europe and the United States. Author of more than 350 feature articles, exhibition and book reviews and previews for readers ranging from scholarly theorists to the general public. Vivacious speaker with dynamic synchronicity between sharp phrasing and sparkling illustrative images.
Specialty: environmental, ecological and environmentalist art. Author, Earthworks: Art and the Landscape of the Sixties, a widely contextualized history of the earliest genre of Land Art and Nedko Solakov; 99 Fears. Engaged environmentalist; working on a book on contemporary artists' responses to environmental threats.
Featured Work
Earthworks: Art and the Landscape of the Sixties
“The full story of the rapid coalescence and far-reaching influence of earthworks. . .is fascinating, significant, and untold until now. Writing with unfailing clarity and momentum, Boettger sets earthworks firmly within the artistic, social, and political sensibilities of the times . . highlighting the rise in ecological awareness and protests against the Vietnam War.” Booklist, Dec 2002. © American Library Association
“Boettger has produced a major historical document. While the book is meticulously researched, the writing engages with the timbre of a joyful storyteller.” James Croak, Sculpture Magazine, September 2003
“. . .The result is a remarkable combination of insight and intellectual enthusiasm that, rare in a scholarly work, is easily accessible and a pleasure to read.” Library Journal, Dec 2002
Other Works
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Nedko Solakov: 99 Fears
2008
Awards and Recognition
- Julius Silberger Award for interdisciplinary work in psychoanalysis, 2020, for the essay "Brother's Keeper: Robert Smithson's Anti-Elegiac Pictures"
