TERM 1
Clement Greenberg
DEFINITION 1
American art critic in 1960 who applied modernism to visual
art (as opposed to decorative art) first. He defined what he
saw as characteristic of the evolution of art from the 1860s
through the 1950s.
TERM 2
Clement Greenberg's philosophy of art
DEFINITION 2
Modernism art is self critical (new art must be criticism of
older art). By being self-critical, art "moves culture forward"
(a universalist notion; art progress should transcend cultural
differences)
TERM 3
modernism
DEFINITION 3
A term applied to visual fine art (as opposed to decorative
art) first by American art critic Clement Greenberg in 1960 to
define what he saw as characteristic of the evolution of art
from the 1860s through the 1950s.
TERM 4
formalism
DEFINITION 4
Greenberg's concept of visual art= formalist. Like formalists
of the early 20th century-- British art writers Clive Bell =
ROger Fry-- Greenberg believed that the only significant
feature of art= its compositional structure (not subject
matter, process, or artistic intent).
TERM 5
formalism (Greenberg's variant of
it)
DEFINITION 5
Believed that to be modernist (self-cr itical), art must keep going
further than past art to reveal that a rt's "medium specificity". Each
medium had essential properties. Art should solely address the
nature of its chosen medium to reve al the medium's unique truth.
For painting, that meant revealing th e picture plane's flatness and
using painting's (allegedly) unique tools for advancing and
receding visual space.
