The De-definition of Art

Harold Rosenberg

Published by Collier, 1972

About this Item

Paperback. Condition: NEAR FINE. 256 p., with photos, . -- An excited view, recently become prevalent in advanced artistic and academic circles, holds that all kinds of problems are waiting to be solved by the magical touch of art. So intense is this enthusiasm for what the artist might accomplish that mere painting and sculpture are presented as undeserving of the attention of the serious artist. -- "There are already enough objects," writes an artist, "and there is no need to add to those that already exist." -- "I choose not to make objects," writes another. "Instead, I have set out to create a quality of experience that locates itself in the world." -- And here is a clincher by the sculptor Robert Morris, who concludes in a recent article that "The static, portable indoor art object [a rather nice materialistic way to describe a painting or sculpture] can do no more than carry a decorative load that becomes increasingly uninteresting." -- In contrast to the meagerness of art, the artist is blown up gigantic proportions. He is described as a person of trained sensibility, a developed imagination, a capacity for expression -- and deep insight into the realities of contemporary life. -- The artist has become, as it were, too big for art. His proper - edium is working on the world: Ecology-Transforming the Landscape-Changing the Conditions of Life. Among the fol--_ wers of Buckminster Fuller this suThis aggrandizement, and self-aggrandizement, of the artist seems on the surface to represent an expanded confidence in the creative powers of artists today. Everything can be done through art, and whatever an artist does is a work of art. "Why is The Chelsea Girls art?" Andy Warhol reflected in an interview, and answered, "Well, first of all, it was made by an artist, and, second, that would come out as art." You have the choice of answering, Amen!-or, Oh, yeah? -- Actually, the artist who has left art behind or-what amounts to the same thing-who regards anything he makes or does as art, is an expression of the profound crisis that has overtaken the arts in our epoch. Painting, sculpture, drama, music, have been undergoing a process of de-definition. The nature of art has become uncertain. At least, it is ambiguous. No one can say with assurance what a work of art is-or, more important, what is not a work of art. Where an art object is still present, as in painting, it is what I have called an anxious object: it does not know whether it is a masterpiece or junk. It may, as in the case of a collage by Schwitters, be literally both. -- The uncertain nature of art is not without its advantages. It leads to experiment and to constant questioning. Much of the best art of this century belongs to a visual debate about what art is. Given the changing nature of twentieth century reality and the unbroken series of upheavals into which the world has been plunged since World War I, it was inevitable that the processes of creation should have become detached from fixed forms and be compelled to improvise new ones from whatever lies ready at hand. In countries where high art is maintained according to the old definitions-as in the Soviet Union-art is either dead or engaged in underground revolt. So art must undergo-and has been undergoing-a persistent self-searching. -- However, it is one thing to think about art in new ways-and another not to think about it at all, but to pass beyond art and become an artist in a pure state. The post-art artist carries the de-definition of art to the point where nothing is left of art but the fiction of the artist. He disdains to deal in anything but essences. Instead of painting, he deals in space; instead of dance, poetry, film, he deals in movement; instead of music, he deals inper- or beyond-art activity -s called, significantly, the World Game. -- This aggrandizement, and self-aggrandizement, of the artist seems to represent an expanded confidence in the creative powers of artists. Seller Inventory # SP769

Bibliographic Details

Title: The De-definition of Art

Publisher: Collier

Publication Date: 1972

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket