Whose formalism?

• Autores: Yve Alain Bois
• Localización: Art bulletin, ISSN 0004-3079, Vol. 78, Nº 1, 1996, págs. 10-12
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Part of a symposium on art history and its theories. The writer discusses the uses and abuses of formalism. Taking the work of Clement Greenberg as an example, in particular his readings of the work of Jackson Pollock, the writer asserts that, notwithstanding what Greenberg had to say on the matter, it is impossible to keep meaning at bay. He uses Greenberg's work to show that if “formalist criticism” currently has a bad name, it may be because it was not practiced well enough, and he responds to the charge that formalism equals a- or antihistory. He also defines the type of formalism that he envisages with regard to the practice of its most vociferous enemies.