Review: The Painted Word
Redactionele recensie - Kirkus ReviewsNo question about it, Tom Wolfe is speaking for the yahoos in this little essay--it appeared in its entirety in Harper's Magazine, and though the Art World will no doubt assiduously ignore Wolfe's Bronx cheers, a lot of ordinary philistines will say ""Right on!"" Wolfe's premise is simple: since WW II modern art has been characterized by the primacy of Theory. ""As for the paintings--de gustibus non disputandum est. But the theories, I insist were beautiful."" The museum exhibits in the year 2000 will feature the works of the critics--Harold Rosenberg, Clement Greenberg, Hilton Kramer and Leo Steinberg. But Greenberg most of all, since it was he who supplied The Word without which Abstract Expressionism (the dominant postwar style) is incomprehensible. The essential principal which has informed contemporary art, says Wolfe, is flatness. Three-dimensional effects are pre-modern; in fact they've been around since the Renaissance. Ugh! How to preserve ""the integrity of the picture plane"" and the disputes it engendered among the culturati were worthy of the how-many-angels-can-dance-on-the-head-of-a-pin debates of medieval scholasticism. Tout le monde, that is to say, a handful of collectors, curators and critics, had a field day. The public (the public?) was left light years behind, gawking. The appeal of Wolfe's essay, for all its distortions and simplifications, and they are legion, comes from his very just observation that contemporary art has, by and sadly large, been smugly elitist, its market and its value defined by a small clique. Less easy to accept is Wolfe's claim that the pictures illustrate the texts; or, that an actual conspiracy exists between artist and critic. Wolfe understands the motives of a Rothko or a Stella or even a Pollock poorly. And yet, his Populist blast against the reductivism of contemporary art from Abstract Expressionism to Minimalism to Conceptual Art-a process of eliminating more and more elements from the painting--is a shaft well-aimed--especially if you think that what's lacking is visual reward and emotional impact.
Review: The Painted Word
Gebruikersrecensie - Nadine - GoodreadsI haven't read Tom Wolfe in quite awhile, and I forgot how razor sharp his prose could be. This particular book takes on the modern art world. Mr. Wolfe is not a fan of that world, but he describes ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The Painted Word
Gebruikersrecensie - John Orman - GoodreadsI am writing a much longer and more detailed review than usual because I plan to attend a local book club's upcoming meeting to discuss this nonfiction book. Tom Wolfe's small but potent book charts ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The Painted Word
Gebruikersrecensie - Carsten - Goodreadsa really great overview of the history of modern art and modern art theory, how the one drove the other ... how theory create the other. excellently written, tongue in cheek, definitely not taking itself and the subject matter too serious (or serious at all). Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The Painted Word
Gebruikersrecensie - Kevin Tole - GoodreadsTom Wolfe rips the pish out of art critics using their own chosen weapon - the word. This was probably about round 6 of a 12 rounder between painting and theory. Up to this pont Theory had been ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The Painted Word
Gebruikersrecensie - FX Altomare - GoodreadsA scathing critique of modernist/postmodernist art during its heyday, Wolfe presents an in-depth examination of both the artists and (more intensely) the critics during the mid-twentieth-century art ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The Painted Word
Gebruikersrecensie - Beverly - GoodreadsA clever and sarcastic tour de force eviscerating artists and art critics from 1945 to 1975. In Wolfe's tracing of the line of art criticism in this period, the art object disappears entirely to become replaced by the conception. Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The Painted Word
Gebruikersrecensie - Brian Cooper - GoodreadsGreat for a quick read, Wolfe is hard to disagree with in his assesment. Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The Painted Word
Gebruikersrecensie - Ferris - GoodreadsA well-written, witty, and still rather uninteresting essay about Modern Art. Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The Painted Word
Gebruikersrecensie - Michael Connolly - GoodreadsTom Wolfe has written a short and funny book about the role of art theory, art critics and art buyers in the New York scene after World War II. Marketing this art appeared to be more about being ... Volledige recensie lezen
