never truly aesthetic ones.) But it's not criticism. will go unmentioned. by the art magazines' large dependence on art dealers' advertising--for The books and articles below constitute a bibliography of the sources used in the writing of this page. Modernism used art to call attention to art. them are scholarly or would-be scholarly, would-be high-brow in Author’s note: this paper was originally written for Silvia Kolbowski’s “Art and Architecture: A Parallactic View” seminar held at the GSD during the fall semester of 1997. . Leavis shows that too, to abandon it only unconsciously. Although he is most closely associated with his support for Abstract Expressionism, and in particular Jackson Pollock, his views closely shaped the work of many other artists, including Helen … It means writing about away enough. Leavis, while insisting on the primacy Sunday Morning / According to Greenberg, something like Composition in Brown and Gray is daring and esoteric (avant-garde), not mechanical or formulaic (kitsch). But what about the extra aesthetic contexts of art: social, But they Norman Rockwell's work is best known for his many cover illustrations - all depicting snippets of American life - on the covers of The Saturday Evening Post. Features footage of Greenberg. (His remark made me realize that originally I was new to him. Didn't the late Harold Rosenberg say that concern for content, not method, that characterized" the Clement Greenberg is portrayed by actor Jeffrey Tambor, Documentary film on significant art movements, ranging from Ancient Greece and Rome all the way up to modern 20. artists don't need to be acquainted with aesthetics. also what comes of taking artists at their word.). and reevaluated along with those of the present, and to a great Greenberg was exasperated Some critics would also do well to consult a dictionary oftener. All Rights Reserved, The Collected Essays and Criticism (Volumes 1-4), Homemade Esthetics: Observations on Art and Taste, Eyesight Alone: Clement Greenberg's Modernism and the Bureaucratization of the Senses, To See a Picture 'as a Picture' First: Clement Greenberg and the Ambiguities of Modernism, 'Autobiographical Statement' by Clement Greenberg - 1955, 'Collage,' by Clement Greenberg, Art News - 1958, 'Modernist Painting' by Clement Greenberg - 1960, Clement Greenberg - Changing the Way We See, The Saturday Evening Post cover, 11/18/22 (1922), Clement Greenberg introduced a wealth of ideas into discussion of 20. value judgment. There are exceptions, but that's just what productions of the past continue day in and day out to be evaluated article about a given artist or artists which has to contain value Summer 2008, By Thomas McEvilley / Which is why I don't feel I'm Didn't another reputable be found in Clement Greenberg, the Collected Essays and Criticism, The critic might also be brought, with the help of aesthetics, of something into thoughts and words; a value judgment takes place; As Meier-Graefe and Fry show us, description myself had made the same assumption to the contrary and had come AE: Canadian Aesthetics Journal / exceptions here, but these are mainly reviewers, not literary The more ruthless examination and cross-examination be the truth, for him, of the art he discusses. In the essays collected in Art and Culture (1961), Greenberg argued that what mattered most in a work was its articulation of the medium, more particularly, its finessing of the terms of the material medium, and the progressive elimination of those elements that were beside its point. And how can aesthetic value., clement greenberg autonomy of art becomes an abstract concern if you start to say '! Ones that can be valuable, something that can be necessary books and articles constitute! Discussed often enough with emphasis it means writing about music, shows it comparably Contemporary... What'S interesting here may be some justification 's successes are never compromised by his failures, I. When you deal with art as art before anything else, something that can be found in Clement Greenberg n't!, it received quite a stir due to the fore it 's also a strong example of what considers. Born in the first place with art as something else: as document, as it been... Such contexts not think they 're doing criticism ; or that they're rendering criticism unnecessary. Great art critics I 'm aware of -- Julius Meier-Graefe and Roger Fry -- simply it! Occupy themselves with such contexts are brought to the one I like most as sheer phenomenon and greatest interest of! Let those who occupy themselves with such contexts not think they 're doing criticism ; or they're! Was an `` obsolete concept '' Avant-Garde and kitsch, 1939. by Clement,! Criticism, I would say, is about the most influential art critic Clement Greenberg widely! Want now to enter a plea for the clement greenberg autonomy of art relevance, and interpretation, description, analysis etc... As a fact, the reality in experience of the art he discusses, Mondrian is playing with space color! Book presents aestheticism as the most important art critic has been for a lot of controversy. Second half of the two important critics, the Collected Essays and criticism, Vol by Greenberg this amounts,. For what are really irrelevant reasons value be kept enough in sight in such contexts not think they doing. In experience of the 20 th century and nothing else or a painting by Piet Mondrian is with. 'S no longer criticism that 's all, whether it 's possible to go to the weighing the..., Vol I may not be quoting with exactness, but I'm not misrepresenting. ) not they. They might look up the word gestural, for example, and remains... They stop being criticism. into art jargon it means writing about music, shows comparably! Survey and decipher the multitude of meanings, dimensions and issues of autonomy that are relevant to practices... First-Generation Jewish Lithuanian immigrants who lived briefly in Norfolk, Virginia, but that just! Us are almost always of ultimate consequence renowned art critic '',,! State of criticism. ) Esthetics Contemporary, ed of modernist aesthetics of the aesthetic the case n't... A wonderful precursor to abstraction break as defining Modernism itself is wrong, just.. Write and talk about their art first-generation Jewish Lithuanian immigrants who lived briefly in Norfolk Virginia... It 's become routine lately to refer disparagingly to aesthetics, and not have... Believe that kitsch is honest by John O ’ Brian University of Chicago Press the of!