Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Clement greenberg'

O crítico de arte americano Clement Greenberg dedica especial atençãoà teoria estética em seus textos dos anos 1970, sobretudo ao juízo de gosto. Esta pesquisa busca evidenciar um aspecto importante na discussão estética em Greenberg, qual seja, a possibilidade de aprimoramento do gosto. Para tal, também se faz necessária uma compreensão de seu sistema crítico, articulando os Seminários por ele ministrados nos anos 70 e seus textos críticos desde os anos 30. Dentro da teoria estética moderna formulada por Greenberg, os textos reunidos em Estética Domésticaservem de base para a investigação do ponto central da pesquisa. Apesar disso, não se pode perder de vista o grande espectro coberto pela obra do crítico, uma vez que seus textos dialogam entre si, retomando e alinhavando os diversos temas abordados.
The american art critic Clement Greenberg pays special attention to the aesthetics in his texts of the 1970s, and to the taste judgement most of all. This study try to put light over an important aspect of Greenberg theory: the taste improvement possibility. To do so, it\'s imperative to comprehend Greenberg\'s critical system, considering his Seminars and also his critics since the 30s. The essays presented on Homemade Estheticswill base the investigations about the central point of interest in this study, having in mind the modern theory formulated by Greenberg. But it\'s necessary, beside this, to consider the great diversity of his work, once his texts can have a dialogue.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1994.
Advisors: Mathew Herban and Stephan Melville, Dept. of Art History. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-84). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Licenciado en artes con mención en historia y teoría del arte
El presente texto tiene por finalidad poner en contexto un episodio en la relación entre arte y cultura popular, específicamente, entre arte de vanguardia y cultura popular industrial en el escenario estadounidense. El título de éste hace relación directa a ésta problemática convivencia, y propone que la diferenciación entre ambas tiene su fuente directa en la historia y la teoría del arte.

L'elaborato prevede l'analisi della produzione critica di Clement Greenberg,il cui ruolo di precursore dell'Espressionismo Astratto americano è ormai diffusamente accettato. Trattandosi, tuttavia, di un critico dalle posizioni piuttosto radicali, la risposta alla sua considerevole influenza suscita reazioni contrastanti, dal riconoscimento, quasi ammirato, alla confutazione o addirittura all'aperta opposizione. L'elaborato intende illustrare e ordinare le posizioni teoriche greenberghiane, in modo da evidenziarne l'efficacia, ma anche, a volte, le contraddizioni. In particolare si studia il caso di Jackson Pollock e del suo successo, nel tentativo di stabilire il peso di Greenberg nel suo percorso artistico. Si propongono infine delle considerazioni sulle conseguenze che le teorie del critico hanno determinato a livello estetico-formale, ma anche nel sistema dell'arte contemporanea internazionale. Il presupposto è la considerazione della figura di Greenberg in relazione alla complessità dell'età in cui vive e in cui cerca di trovare dei principi di orientamento coerenti nel loro insieme. L'obiettivo non vuole essere quello di esaurire le possibili letture dell'argomento, ma piuttosto di problematizzarlo, tramite la proposta di una serie di spunti da sviluppare in sede di ulteriori confronti.

This thesis investigates the reasons for Greenberg???s aesthetic intransigence ??? that is, his adherence to a formalist/purist stance, and his refusal to countenance non-purist twentiethcentury avant-garde trends evident in the art he ignored or denigrated, and in the art he promoted. The most substantial body of work challenged is Cold War revisionism (exemplified by the scholarship of Francis Frascina, Serge Guilbaut, and John O???Brian) which casts Greenberg as a politically expedient party to the imperialist agendas of various CIA-funded organisations. The major conclusions reached are that: Greenberg???s aesthetic intransigence was driven by a similarly intransigent ethico-political position, and that his critical method reflected patterns of argumentation set up in ???Avant-Garde and Kitsch??? (1939). This essay, and Greenberg???s ethico-political position, derived, not least, from his direct encounter with American Nazism and anti-Semitism which led him to realise that America (with what he saw as its decadence, cultural apathy, and low-level mass taste) was as vulnerable to the threat of totalitarianism as Europe and Russia. Reflecting this fear, ???Avant-Garde and Kitsch??? had juxtaposed a stagnant, impure culture with a vigorous avantgarde culture of impeccable vintage ??? in the process infusing politics into a formalist, historical conception of modernism Greenberg first devised in the early 1930s and then augmented, during 1938-9, with Hans Hofmann???s theories and others. Thus established, this rudimentary paradigm for Greenberg???s art writing was elaborated upon and made canonical in ???Towards a Newer Laocoon??? (1940), and entrenched after the war concurrent with the entrenchment of his ethico-political position. In the face of a Stalinist/capitalist war of wills, continuing anti-Semitism, and what Greenberg perceived as increasing decadence, he continued to argue for a serious, professionally-skilled (predominantly abstract) art, which would be resistant to the ersatz, yet not dehumanized by excluding the natural. By promoting this as the only genuine avant-garde art (while ignoring or denigrating playful, humorous and anarchic avant-garde tendencies), and by reiterating in the 1950s his pre-war Marxist sympathies, Greenberg was effectively demonstrating his continued hope for a utopian culture (luxuriant, formal, informed and socialist) first visualised in the late 1930s.

This thesis investigates the work of Morris Louis (1912-1962) in relation to ‘opticality’, a theory developed by the prominent American art critic Clement Greenberg. Between the late 1930s and 1950s, Greenberg developed a comprehensive argument concerning the opticality, or the optical illusion, of abstract painting. This theory influenced common approaches towards Abstract Expressionist painting during the 1940s and 1950s, culminating in Greenberg’s writing on ‘Colourfield’ painting in major texts of the 1960s such as ‘Louis and Noland’ (1960). Through research into the development of Morris Louis’ technique, including several of his major series as well as lesser known works, this thesis argues that our understanding of Louis’ work has been constricted by a narrow perception of the opticality of his 'stain' paintings, and explores Louis' technique in light of alternative interpretations of his work.

Master of Philosophy
This thesis investigates the work of Morris Louis (1912-1962) in relation to ‘opticality’, a theory developed by the prominent American art critic Clement Greenberg. Between the late 1930s and 1950s, Greenberg developed a comprehensive argument concerning the opticality, or the optical illusion, of abstract painting. This theory influenced common approaches towards Abstract Expressionist painting during the 1940s and 1950s, culminating in Greenberg’s writing on ‘Colourfield’ painting in major texts of the 1960s such as ‘Louis and Noland’ (1960). Through research into the development of Morris Louis’ technique, including several of his major series as well as lesser known works, this thesis argues that our understanding of Louis’ work has been constricted by a narrow perception of the opticality of his 'stain' paintings, and explores Louis' technique in light of alternative interpretations of his work.

A la fin des années 1970, une profonde mutation historiographique est en jeu dans le monde de l'art occidental. La crise des avant-gardes apparaît comme le symptôme d'une crise idéologique générale. Une nouvelle ère est annoncée: elle serait postmoderne. Dans ce contexte de perte de repères, l'histoire de l'art du XXe siècle devient l'objet de multiples réévaluations. Critiques, historiens, commissaires d'expositions et artistes remettent en cause les récits qui avaient jusqu'alors prévalu. Au modèle linéaire et téléologique imposé par les avant-gardes veut être substitué un discours plus inclusif. Le modernisme de Clément Greenberg, qui voyait dans l' art abstrait la quintessence de la modernité, est pris pour cible. L'histoire de l'art abstrait est alors profondément remaniée, en France et aux Etats-Unis. Toutefois, comme par le passé, les nouvelles pistes esquissées sont conditionnées par les enjeux propres à la décennie - d'ordre théorique, mais également économique et politique

The decorative and the textual have a complex and uneasy entanglement within the history and practice of modernist art. Sometimes celebrated as critical modernist strategies, sometimes denigrated or repressed as the opposite of Art, the decorative and the textual were understood as "foreign" forms that variously endangered, or, in turn, invigorated the power of art. My creative practice, which includes installation, painting, photography, text and an exhibition catalogue, exploits and explores this decorative and textual instability within modernist art practice. In my work, (visual) codes conventionally associated with the fields of writing and pattern, are re-examined and problematised by placing them within the context of visual art. When writing and pattern become the subject of painting there is an intriguing oscillation, complication and dialogue between the spaces and codes of reading and seeing, writing and pattern, the decorative and the abstract. The thesis also explores the decorative and textual instability within modernism by analysing some key contradictory moments in aesthetic thought and arts practice. In the writings of Clement Greenberg, a "decorative" painting is deemed the highest achievement of modernist abstract painting but to arrive at this goal, the decorative must be used against itself. In Frank Stella's early abstract paintings, decorative patterns structure the work, and yet the artist and his commentators only see the work as a kind of pure, abstract painting. In Lawrence Weiner's statement-sculptures, the terse, laconic text, that nominates materials and processes, is thought to be a "direct" form of art information that would remain unchanged even in reproduction. But as Weiner's work is reproduced in journals and magazines, this "direct" form of art is complicated through a variety of reproductive forms - documentary photographs, transcription errors and differences in the visual format and typography of the text. In these key moments of contradiction, concepts such as the decorative and the textual, that have often been regarded as peripheral to visual art, will be shown to have central significance in analysing its specific qualities.

The decorative and the textual have a complex and uneasy entanglement within the history and practice of modernist art. Sometimes celebrated as critical modernist strategies, sometimes denigrated or repressed as the opposite of Art, the decorative and the textual were understood as "foreign" forms that variously endangered, or, in turn, invigorated the power of art. My creative practice, which includes installation, painting, photography, text and an exhibition catalogue, exploits and explores this decorative and textual instability within modernist art practice. In my work, (visual) codes conventionally associated with the fields of writing and pattern, are re-examined and problematised by placing them within the context of visual art. When writing and pattern become the subject of painting there is an intriguing oscillation, complication and dialogue between the spaces and codes of reading and seeing, writing and pattern, the decorative and the abstract. The thesis also explores the decorative and textual instability within modernism by analysing some key contradictory moments in aesthetic thought and arts practice. In the writings of Clement Greenberg, a "decorative" painting is deemed the highest achievement of modernist abstract painting but to arrive at this goal, the decorative must be used against itself. In Frank Stella's early abstract paintings, decorative patterns structure the work, and yet the artist and his commentators only see the work as a kind of pure, abstract painting. In Lawrence Weiner's statement-sculptures, the terse, laconic text, that nominates materials and processes, is thought to be a "direct" form of art information that would remain unchanged even in reproduction. But as Weiner's work is reproduced in journals and magazines, this "direct" form of art is complicated through a variety of reproductive forms - documentary photographs, transcription errors and differences in the visual format and typography of the text. In these key moments of contradiction, concepts such as the decorative and the textual, that have often been regarded as peripheral to visual art, will be shown to have central significance in analysing its specific qualities.

This submission comes in two parts; the written dissertation, Contemporary art: the key issues, and the exhibition Melbourne - Moderne. When taken together they present a discourse on the conditions facing contemporary art practice and one artist’s response to these conditions in the context of Melbourne 2003-2007. (For complete abstract open document)

This work is an investigation into the analytical debate on pictorial representation and the theory of pictorial art. My main concern are a critical exposition of the questions raised by the idea that it is resemblance to depicted objects that explains pictorial representation and the investigation of the phenomenon of abstract painting from an analytical point of view in relation to the debate on depiction. The first part is dedicated to a survey of the analytical debate on depiction, with special attention to the fortunes and misfortunes of the resemblance theory of depiction. In the first chapter I give an outline of the main contemporary theories on offer, contextualised within an historical background that stretches from Plato to Descartes. I have decided to focus on the theory of resemblance more than on other approaches on depiction, because much of my research is dedicated to an analysis and implementation of one of the theories that have recently sought to re-discover the resemblance paradigm, although with certain important modifications. Namely, the second chapter is dedicated to the exposition of John Hyman’s basic resemblance theory of depiction, to the elucidation of its presuppositions and to the discussion of some criticisms and objections that the theory has raised. The third and the fourth chapter are dedicated to the implementation of Hyman’s theory in relation to the phenomenon of abstract painting. There are two peculiarities about Hyman’s theory: first, it is in counter-tendency in comparison with all the other accounts of depiction on offer, in that it does not need to conceive of pictorial representation as of representation of particulars or kinds of objects that we can easily identify. Second, it is a theory that gives art a prominent role: Hyman illustrates his claims with many examples taken from the history of figurative art. The second part of my work is inspired by the idea that the basic resemblance theory can be applied to abstract paintings as well. Developing an analysis of abstract painting from an analytical point of view is a task that very few authors have tried to accomplish so far – as far as I am aware. However, it is evident that the task abstract painters have set themselves is interestingly akin to the task philosophers try to accomplish when arguing about depiction. It is widely agreed that one of the main topics of contemporary art is art itself and that one of the main topics of abstract painting is the art of painting itself, the art of producing pictures, the exploration of its limits and its conventions. With these considerations in mind, I have sought to sketch my proposal for a basic resemblance theory of abstract painting, critically engaging with philosophers such as Richard Wollheim, Kendall Walton, Lambert Wiesing and with art-critics and historians such as Clement Greenberg and Ernst Gombrich.
Il mio lavoro si inserisce nell’ambito del dibattito sul concetto di rappresentazione pittorica (RP) e sulla teoria dell’arte pittorica recentemente portato avanti in area analitica. I miei obiettivi principali sono un’esposizione critica dei problemi sollevati dalla tesi secondo cui è la somiglianza agli oggetti dipinti che spiega RP e un’analisi del fenomeno della pittura astratta da un punto di vista analitico. La prima parte è dedicata ad una ricognizione del dibattito analitico su RP, con particolare attenzione ai destini della “teoria della somiglianza”. Nel primo capitolo traccio i contorni delle principali teorie attualmente discusse, nel contesto di un’analisi della letteratura tradizionale sull’argomento, da Platone a Cartesio. La decisione di dare maggiore rilevanza alla teoria della somiglianza rispetto che ad altre teorie su RP è motivata dal fatto che il resto della mia ricerca è dedicato all’analisi e a una proposta di arricchimento di una delle proposte che recentemente hanno riproposto la teoria della somiglianza, benché con alcune importanti modifiche. Si tratta della teoria difesa da John Hyman, che espongo nel secondo capitolo, avendo cura di mostrarne i presupposti e di discutere alcune critiche e obiezioni che le sono state mosse. Il terzo e quarto capitolo sono dedicati all’arricchimento della teoria di Hyman in relazione al fenomeno della pittura astratta. Due sono le peculiarità della teoria di Hyman: primo, è in controtendenza rispetto a tutte le altre attuali proposte sulla RP, perché non ha bisogno di concepire RP come rappresentazione di particolari o di tipi di oggetti che possiamo facilmente identificare; secondo, è una teoria che porta l’arte al centro della discussione filosofica su RP. Hyman, infatti, illustra la sua proposta con numerosi riferimenti alla storia delle arti figurative. La seconda parte di questo lavoro è ispirata dall’idea che la teoria della somiglianza di base di Hyman si possa applicare anche ai dipinti astratti. Lo sviluppo di un’analisi della pittura astratta da un punto di vista analitico è un compito con cui finora si sono misurati pochissimi autori – per quanto ho potuto appurare. Tuttavia, è evidente che gli obiettivi che i pittori di immagini astratte si pongono sono vicini a quelli che si pongono i filosofi quando discutono sulla RP. È opinione diffusa che uno dei temi principali dell’arte contemporanea sia l’arte stessa, e che uno dei temi principali della pittura astratta sia l’arte stessa di dipingere, l’arte di produrre immagini, con i suoi limiti e le sue convenzioni. Motivata da queste considerazioni, ho cercato di dare una prima formulazione alla proposta di una teoria della somiglianza di base della RP applicata ai dipinti astratti. I miei principali riferenti critici sono filosofi come Richard Wollheim, Kendall Walton e Lambert Wiesing, e critici e storici dell’arte come Clement Greenberg ed Ernst Gombrich.

Traces the impact of Greenberg's promotion of "modernism" (i.e. post-painterly abstraction) on American, and especially Canadian art. Explores his relations with the Painters Eleven in Toronto, and with the art of Western Canada.

Passados vinte e três anos da sua morte, Clement Greenberg continua a ser um nome a ter em conta na crítica de arte contemporânea, nomeadamente quando falamos de Modernismo. Não se pode escamotear a importância da sua teoria, geralmente apelidada de formalista, nem a influência que a mesma teve em gerações de artistas, desde os anos 30 do século XX até aos nossos dias. Também é um facto que, se por um lado, encontramos múltiplos defensores e até discípulos, por outro gerou fortes críticas e tentativas várias de desconstrução dos seus princípios artísticos. Partindo da leitura de um corpus de textos de Greenberg escritos desde o final da década de 30 até à década de 80 do século XX, procura-se, ao longo desta dissertação, analisar as implicações da teoria de Greenberg no percurso da arte moderna, essencialmente na pintura mas também na escultura, explicitando as dissensões entre Greenberg e outros críticos de arte. Mostrar-se-á, assim, o percurso da arte modernista desde o Impressionismo até Jasper Johns e Robert Rauschenberg, polemizando as referências que nomes maiores da crítica de arte, como sejam Michael Fried, Leo Steinberg e Rosalind Krauss, fazem à obra de Greenberg. No final, pretende-se que o percurso feito ao longo de cerca de 80 anos de pintura e escultura demonstre como a visão de um só homem se revelou tão importante e fundamental quanto a dos artistas.
Twenty-three years after his death, Clement Greenberg is still someone to be taken into account in the world of contemporary art criticism, especially when we speak of Modernism. One cannot minimize the importance of his theory, usually referred to as formalist, or the influence it has had on the generations of artists from the 1930s to the present day. It is also a fact that, on one hand, there are multiple defenders and followers of his theory, but on the other hand, he also generates strong criticism and meets several attempts to challenge his aesthetic principles. The goal of this dissertation is to analyze the implications of Greenberg’s theory in the course of modern art, basi-cally in painting but also in sculpture, using a corpus of texts written by Greenberg since the end of the 1930s to the 1980s, explaining the dissensions between Greenberg and the other art critics. This will encompass the course of Modernist art from Impressionism to Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg, and then polemizing the commentary that major names in art criticism, such as Michael Fried, Leo Steinberg, and Rosalind Krauss made to the work of Greenberg. Consequently, it is argued that the journey made across 80 years of painting and sculpture by Greenberg demonstrates how the vision of one man became as important and critical as that of the artists themselves.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
The aim of this thesis is to consider a concept of trauma which may offer support for the contemporary interest in and practice of painting. Jacques Lacan’s (1959-1960) structural and abstract articulations of trauma as das Ding is the central framework for the trajectory and form of the research and writing in this thesis. Lacan’s seminar on das Ding develops the notion that philosophical and social functions of art are aimed at structuring the traumatic and tragic sphere of experience. Das Ding is a hypothetical construct that resonates with Kant’s epistemological, moral and aesthetic philosophy. Primarily, I see the historical framework of das Ding as foregrounding a certain ‘ethics’ in my approach to painting and its interpretation. Kant’s own emphasis on the communicability art may offer is key to this thesis. His focus is not on interpretation as an act eliciting direct meaning from representations in art, but frames the potential for humane interaction: for how a consideration of the perception of beauty and the form of the cognitions that arise in private and public spheres may lay the groundwork for thinking about communicability in general. Through the lens of das Ding, I suggest that an emphasis on aspects of non objective, non-communicable elements of making and experiencing painting is a viable way of contemplating both its pleasures and, often, its more painful effects. I contend that the displacement of meaning enabled by conceptualising the structural implications of trauma, in theory and in the practice of painting, may sustain a quiet yet significant social position in the wider sphere of intellectual activity and pursuits.
GR2018

Il saggio del critico d'arte Clement Greenberg, Verso un più nuovo Laocoonte, pubblicato nell'estate 1940, rappresenta un significativo caso di riattualizzazione del celebre trattato di estetica Laocoonte, ovvero dei confini della pittura e della poesia di Gotthold Ephraim Lessing edito nel 1766. L'intenzione di Greenberg di riproporre il Laocoonte lessinghiano non è senza precedenti nella storia letteraria statunitense: il precendente più immediato è lo scritto di Irving Babbitt The New Laokoon: an Essay on the Confusion of the Arts, pubblicato a Boston nel 1910. Fin dal titolo del saggio, Greenberg rende esplicito il proprio riferimento a questa seconda lettura del classico di Lessing e propone un confronto con l'intepretazione offerta da Babbitt. Quest'ultimo, massimo esponente della corrente neo umanista americana, riconosce in Lessing il simbolo di una rettitudine etica che si riflette anche nelle sue scelte artistiche: secondo Babbitt, infatti, la separazione tra arti visive e arti verbali non è altro che espressione dello spessore morale della persona del Lessing. L'interpretazione offerta da Irving Babbitt non rappresenta un unicum bensì è da considerarsi come erede di una lunga tradizione precedente di studi americani dedicati alla figura e all'opera del filosofo tedesco. A partire dalla metà del XIX secolo, infatti, la cultura americana, attraverso saggi e articoli, scopre e poi rilegge il Laokoon in chiave morale, come appello rivolto contro la confusione tra le arti visive e verbali. Questa lunga tradizione di studi lessinghiani, passando attraverso il manifesto di Babbitt, giunge fino a Clement Greenberg, autore di una innovativa rilettura del trattato in chiave avanguardista e marxista. Per Greenberg, l'originaria distinzione lessinghiana tra arti dello spazio e arti del tempo si presta a una interpretazione moderna che permette di ricodificare il linguaggio dell'arte astratta.

The Emma Lake Artists’ Workshops from the 1950s to the 1970s were a series of professional workshops held in northern Saskatchewan, under the auspices of the University of Saskatchewan and Regina College, for the creation and advancement of a dynamic arts culture in the province and as a way for the individual artists there to overcome feelings of isolation from the Canadian cultural hubs. Throughout the course of the Workshops provincial and federal attitudes, and cultural policies and perspectives on cultural nation building exerted an overarching influence in the shaping of the Workshops. The Workshops drew the attention and support of many established celebrity U.S. artists and it is due to their presence and influence at the Workshops that it is possible to examine the provincial and national response to perceived U.S. cultural imperialism. The founding and maturity of the Workshops is a case study of the ways in which the politics of Canadian nationalism and the effects of U.S. cultural imperialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries interacted to impact the growth and development of art communities across Canada. The Workshops serve as an example of the effects, on a regional art movement, of Canada’s relationship with the United States, and Canadian response to the perceived threat of cultural imperialism from the U.S. Because the Workshops were a microcosm of cultural production, involving artists who, aside from their participation at Emma Lake, were often fairly isolated from the ebb and flow of art currents inherent to larger cultural centers, the Workshops are also an important case study of the effects of national and provincial policy on the regional arts. The Workshops’ history reveals that ideas of nationalism, regionalism and continentalism can come together to have a profound and unique effect on the development of an art community.
Thesis (Master, Art History) -- Queen's University, 2011-12-20 17:29:24.88