HAROLD BLOOM AND THE MODERNIST TRADITION Literary Criticism and Close Reading Although Harold Bloom (1930-), from the perspective of the 21st century seems like a historical figure, he was a liminal figure caught between Modernism and Postmodernism. It is one of the...
THE MODERNISM OF MODERNIST PAINTING, 1960/1 Clement Greenberg’s “Modernist Painting,” originally given as a radio broadcast in 1961 for the Voice of America’s “Forum Lectures,” was printed in 1961 in the Arts Yearbook 4 of the same year, reprinted in 1965, ’66,...
WHISTLER AND ART FOR ART’S SAKE Part Three Whistler was unusual among artists of his time in that he answered back to critics and took pains to establish his own discourse on his own art. His unique way of painting, without the meticulous detail of the...
CONSTRUCTING AN IDEA Art for Art’s Sake What was the purpose of art in the modern period? In the minds of late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century philosophers, the role of art could be nothing less that to create beauty. The beautiful, for Emmanuel...
THE QUARREL OVER CONTENT The End of Classicism The Romantic era was Janus-faced, facing the present and commenting upon it while turning away for current events in order to yield to the lure of fantasy, legend, myth, and exoticism. On one hand, Antoine-Jean Gros...
