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A leading U.S. art critic instrumental in bringing attention to
Abstract Expressionism and Color Field Painting, in particular
painters Morris Louis, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Helen
Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland and scupltor Anthony Caro. He was an
influence on many art historians and critics including T.J. Clark,
Michael Fried, Thomas Hess, Rosalind Krauss, Max Kozloff, Hal
Foster, Benjamin Buchloh, Harold Rosenberg and Robert Goldwater.
He was the editor of Partisan Review from 1940 to 1942 and
wrote on art for The Nation from 1942 to 1949 with a plain
style geared toward a general reader. He also wrote on Jewish
culture for The Contemporary Jewish Record and Commentary.
Greenberg felt artistic "quality" could be judged by the
degree of "purity" art achieved in its own medium and
effects exclusive to itself. He was a follower of the philosopher
Immanuel Kant and the ideals of inuitive experience and purity.
During the '60s his views were questioned by artists and critics who
saw them as too self-referential and resistant to change and much
contemporary criticism has been dedicated to refuting his theories.
Recently, though, his theories have been reconsidered in light of
his politics. Although he originally supported Marxism, Socialsim
and Trotskysim he eventually rejected them in favor of an
avant-garde that is concerned only with itself.
RESOURCES:
Writings by Clement Greenberg
Art
and Culture: Critical Essays. Boston: Beacon Press, 1965.
Clement Greenberg: The Collected Essays and Criticism / edited by
John O'Brian. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.
CONTENTS :v. 1. Perceptions and judgments, 1939-1944 -- v. 2.
Arrogant purpose, 1945-1949 -- v. 3. Affirmations and refusals,
1950-1956 -- v. 4. Modernism with a vengence, 1957-1969.
text is taken from
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