Clement Greenberg Promoted Action Art And Design

Arthur Danto’s idea of a Meta-Narrative in Art and the subsequent End of Art. He argues that Western Art (The art of most of your Art History courses) is a story of representation, idealism and subsequently abstraction. Review the material concerning Clement Greenberg for a a context for Danto’s writing.

Consider: Is our art educational curricula still dominated by these assumptions of artistic value? students should read excerpts of Danto’s writings, paying attention to the first few pages of “Art into Life” and the discussion of Pop Art starting with page 124 in “After the End of Art: Contemporary Art and the Pale of History.

Danto declared that “art had ended” with the display of Andy Warhol’s Brillo Boxes in the 60’s. He did not mean that artmaking had ended but that art had changed from representation to something else.

Review the material about Warhol’s Brillo Boxes displayed in NYC and in Sweden for more context. Is art from before Warhol different than art after? I have posted a variety of resources in this weeks Module

for you to consider as you answer.

In your response to this week’s material you may want to discuss your choice of the following questions:

Does Art History as you were taught it fall into a “Meta-Narrative?” Is current Art Education defined by it?

Clement Greenberg promoted Action Painting and then Color Field Abstraction as a true representation of artmaking. Do you agree? Did Danto agree?

Are there major divisions between the forms and purposes of art between medieval art, art from 1400-1980, and the current art world?

What does it mean to “present” vs “represent” an object or idea?

Does an object need to be “transformed” to be art?

Should James Harvey (the designer of the original Brillo Box) be as famous as Andy Warhol?

What are key ‘ take aways ” you have from the reading you chose? What do you want to understand further?

Is this discussion relevant to art today or should we be asking different questions all together ?