Greenberg's self-negation
During the 1940s, Clement Greenberg, one of the first champions of American Abstract Expressionism, developed a critical position based on three sets of binary oppositions: high and low; abstract and literary; surface and illusion. In his 1939 essay “Avant-Garde and Kitsch”, he described how moderni...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal article |
| Published: |
Taylor and Francis
2017
|
| _version_ | 1797077251610640384 |
|---|---|
| author | Bull, M |
| author_facet | Bull, M |
| author_sort | Bull, M |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | During the 1940s, Clement Greenberg, one of the first champions of American Abstract Expressionism, developed a critical position based on three sets of binary oppositions: high and low; abstract and literary; surface and illusion. In his 1939 essay “Avant-Garde and Kitsch”, he described how modernity had simultaneously given rise to an avant-garde, characterised by its critical treatment of artistic traditions, and a rearguard, parasitic rather than critical, that exploited existing cultural traditions for commercial or political gain. Convinced that the former was under threat from the latter (whether in the form of totalitarian propaganda in Europe, or the ubiquitous imagery of popular culture in the United States) Greenberg dismissed the rearguard as “kitsch”, a form of low culture destined for those who are “insensible to the values of genuine culture”. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:15:15Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:7a9e7ba4-9104-4cc1-93a0-6f6418aa7035 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:15:15Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:7a9e7ba4-9104-4cc1-93a0-6f6418aa70352022-03-26T20:45:11ZGreenberg's self-negationJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:7a9e7ba4-9104-4cc1-93a0-6f6418aa7035Symplectic Elements at OxfordTaylor and Francis2017Bull, MDuring the 1940s, Clement Greenberg, one of the first champions of American Abstract Expressionism, developed a critical position based on three sets of binary oppositions: high and low; abstract and literary; surface and illusion. In his 1939 essay “Avant-Garde and Kitsch”, he described how modernity had simultaneously given rise to an avant-garde, characterised by its critical treatment of artistic traditions, and a rearguard, parasitic rather than critical, that exploited existing cultural traditions for commercial or political gain. Convinced that the former was under threat from the latter (whether in the form of totalitarian propaganda in Europe, or the ubiquitous imagery of popular culture in the United States) Greenberg dismissed the rearguard as “kitsch”, a form of low culture destined for those who are “insensible to the values of genuine culture”. |
| spellingShingle | Bull, M Greenberg's self-negation |
| title | Greenberg's self-negation |
| title_full | Greenberg's self-negation |
| title_fullStr | Greenberg's self-negation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Greenberg's self-negation |
| title_short | Greenberg's self-negation |
| title_sort | greenberg s self negation |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bullm greenbergsselfnegation |