The War of Art: A History of Artists' Protest In America

by Lauren O'Neill-Butler

Overview

How artists have changed America through direct action

Artists in America have long battled against injustices, believing that art can in fact “do more.” The War of Art tells this history of artist-led activism and the global political and aesthetic debates of the 1960s to the present. In contrast to the financialized art market and celebrity artists, the book explores the power of collective effort — from protesting to philanthropy, and from wheat pasting to planting a field of wheat.

Lauren O’Neill-Butler charts the post-war development of artists’ protest and connects these struggles to a long tradition of feminism and civil rights activism. The book offers portraits of the key individuals and groups of artists who have campaigned for solidarity, housing, LGBTQ+, HIV/AIDS awareness, and against Indigenous injustice and the exclusion of women in the art world. This includes: the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition (BECC), Women Artists in Revolution (WAR), David Wojnarowicz’s work with ACT UP, Top Value Television (TVTV), Agnes Denes, Edgar Heap of Birds, Dyke Action Machine! (DAM!), fierce pussy, Project Row Houses, and Nan Goldin’s Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (PAIN).

Based upon in-depth oral histories with the key figures in these movements, and illustrated throughout, The War of Art is an essential corrective to the idea that art history excludes politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781804296332
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	06/17/2025
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.81(w) x 8.56(h) x 0.76(d)

About the Author

Lauren O'Neill-Butler is a writer and editor. Her first book, Let’s Have a Talk: Conversations with Women on Art and Culture, (Karma, 2021) brings together nearly ninety interviews. A former Senior Editor of Artforum, she has also contributed to Aperture, Art Journal, and The New York Times. In 2020, she received an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers grant.

Editorial Reviews

"Allows us to see the historical moment we live in through the lens of past struggles. It is a much-needed inquiry into the tremendous possibilities of art then and now to engender powerful social transformation."
—Eva Díaz, Professor of the History of Art and Design, Pratt Institute.

"A wonderfully smart, readable and informative study of a topic that matters to almost everyone interested in art, which is more than enough to recommend it. But gems like the luminous chapter on Agnes Denes and the eye-opening revisionary discussion of her relation to Smithson make it something even better—essential reading."
—Walter Benn Michaels, author of The Shape of the Signifier

"In a deft and engaging account of artist-led activism in the us since the 1960s, Lauren O’Neill-Butler makes the case that artists bring something unique to struggles for social justice, alongside their passion and righteous anger: creativity. A necessary book as we find new ways to organize and resist."
—Julia Bryan-Wilson, professor of LGBTQ+ art history, Columbia university

"[The War of Art] explores the interplay of activism and art in these thought-provoking case studies…O’Neill-Butler succeeds in cataloging the broad array of strategies artists have used to agitate for change, and she offers measured critiques of their works, which often reflected positions of privilege. Art historians will find much to chew on here."
—Publishers Weekly

"Invoking Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, O’Neill-Butler explores the subversive, surprising, and often brilliant tactics of artists fighting for social change…A rare behind-the-scenes look at artist/activists who took on the AIDS crisis, police brutality, and art-world elitism."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Walk through New York’s gleaming gallery neighborhoods and the notion that art (or artists) could be considered edgy, provocative or dangerously political seems like a fantasy. But in the not-so-distant past, dedicated artists used their work to fight for everything from housing rights to AIDS awareness. Butler, a former editor at Artforum, has structured the book around oral histories from several key figures, charting their work from the 1960s to the present."
—Bloomberg

"This timely tome by Lauren O’Neill-Butler charts the history of artistic-activist debate going back to the 1960s, drawing on oral history work related to the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition, Women Artists in Revolution, ACT UP, and other organizations, as well as art by Agnes Denes, Edgar Heap of Birds, fierce pussy, and Nan Goldin, among others."
—Art in America

"A book with backbone ... I hope that readers take The War of Art’s generous insights to heart."
—Cassie Packard, Frieze Best Summer Reads

"The War of Art: A History of Artists’ Protest in America comes at a moment when many of us are considering what tools we have to create the world we want to live in. Artists have long grappled with this question, O’Neill-Butler reminds us, as many have even fused their aesthetic inclinations with their desires for justice.""
—Grace Ebert, Colossal

"The book honors the passion and integrity of artists who identify a problem and conceive of creative ways to protest. It demonstrates that activist artists, when determined, can use their work to influence our thinking in positive ways, and effect change."
—Lauren Kaufmann, Arts Fuse

"Prescient, daring."
—Jemima Skala, AnOther Magazine

"O’Neill-Butler offers an essential corrective to the idea that art history excludes politics, arguing instead that they are intricately linked. At a time in which many artists are understandably feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and unproductive, The War of Art is an essential call to action and a reminder that our work has the power to create lasting change."
—Chicago Review of Books

From the Publisher

2025-04-16
Fighting for justice with paintbrush and pizzazz.

Invoking Sun Tzu’sThe Art of War, O’Neill-Butler explores the subversive, surprising, and often brilliant tactics of artists fighting for social change. Ten case studies spanning five decades illustrate the original ways artists have demonstrated against unjust practices, “from protesting to philanthropy, and from wheat pasting to planting a field of wheat.” O’Neill-Butler, a former editor ofArtforum, shares her intimate knowledge of these movements and draws on conversations with activists, including the painter Faith Ringgold, the art critic Lucy Lippard, and the photographer Nan Goldin. Their protests transformed museums: In the 1960s, the Art Workers Coalition forced the Museum of Modern Art to allow free admission, to include more artists of color, and to take a moral stance against the Vietnam War by juxtaposing photos of the My Lai massacre with Picasso’sGuernica. The Ad Hoc Women Artists’ Committee shamed the Whitney Museum to include more work by women by issuing a forged press release on museum letterhead announcing that half the artists in a touted exhibition would be women. Goldin, who had become addicted to OxyContin, organized PAIN to demand that museums end “artwashing” by the billionaire Sackler family, creators of the drug, by removing their name from galleries and rejecting their donations. These artists changed not only the art world but broader society. Benny Andrews of the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition brought drawing classes to men incarcerated in the so-called Tombs, a program that eventually spread to jails and prisons throughout the country. Edgar Heap of Birds, known for his innovative monoprints, endowed galleries to showcase Native American art. Painter Rick Lowe restored dilapidated shotgun shacks in Houston to create low-income housing and community cultural spaces. For a volume about art and artists, the book contains too few visuals, but O’Neill-Butler’s vivid writing makes up for that shortcoming.

A rare behind-the-scenes look at artist/activists who took on the AIDS crisis, police brutality, and art-world elitism.

Kirkus Reviews