You like it, that's all, whether it's a landscape or abstract. You like it. It hits you. You don't have to read it. The work of art-sculpture or painting-forces your eye.
Clement GreenbergRead
The dissolution of the pictorial into sheer texture, into apparently sheer sensation, into an accumulation of repetitions, seems to speak for and answer something profound in contemporary sensibility.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the transition in art from traditional representation to an emphasis on texture and sensation, resonating with modern sensibilities.
Clement Greenberg's quote explores the evolution of visual art, suggesting that contemporary practices have moved away from representing objects and images towards a focus on the material qualities of the artwork itself. This shift highlights a deeper understanding and appreciation for the sensations and experiences that texture can evoke, indicating a response to the complexities of modern life and sensibility.
Themes
ArtTextureSensationContemporarySensibility
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on modern art, this quote can be used to illustrate the shift towards abstract expressionism.
More from Clement Greenberg
All quotes βSimilar quotes
Practically everybody in New York has half a mind to write a book, and does.
Groucho MarxRead
The important question has nothing to do with whether the talk in your story is sacred or profane; the only question is how it rings on the page and in your ear. If you expect it to ring true, then you must talk yourself. Even more important, you must shut up and listen to others talk.
Stephen KingRead
Clearly the hardest thing for the working artist is to create his own conception and follow it, unafraid of the strictures it imposes, however rigid these may be... I see it as the clearest evidence of genius when an artist follows his conception, his idea, his principle, so unswervingly that he has this truth of his constantly in his control, never letting go of it even for the sake of his own enjoyment of his work.
Andrei TarkovskyRead
A photographer must always work with the greatest respect for his subject and in terms of his own point of view.
Henri Cartier-BressonRead
My art springs from my desire to have things in the world which would otherwise never be there.
Carl AndreRead
I wanted to produce a book that would demonstrate not only the rich diversity of people who answered to Anders's command but also the extraordinary variety of their experiences and emotions: from death to despair, fear and longings and eventually to hope.
Norman DaviesRead