's Best of 2001
For four decades after he wrote his first article in 1939, Clement Greenberg was a highly influential art critic whose support was decisive in the acceptance of abstract expressionism. In the early '80s, when most critics and academics had come to believe that art was a point of departure for theoretical constructs, Greenberg aroused deep hostility by continuing to focus on the formal elements of painting and sculpture. His close relationships to artists also made him a controversial figure. Clement Greenberg: A Critic's Collection celebrates the acquisition of his collection by the Portland Art Museum. He never bought a painting, and the 150 works are gifts from artists who appreciated his ideas and encouragement, including Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, and the Canadian landscapist Dorothy Knowles. Greenberg's personal collection emphasizes abstract expressionism, color-field painting, and what he called "post-painterly abstraction." It is a beautiful book, especially in the way the illustrations suggest tactile surfaces, and an honest presentation of the man who brought the art works together. --John Stevenson


Choice
An important publication, an important collector, and an important collection.


Review
An important publication, an important collector, and an important collection.


Book Description
Clement Greenberg (1909-1994) is the most renowned American art critic of the twentieth century and the first to treat New York modern artists as an independent school. In the work of Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and sculptor David Smith, Greenberg saw a vitality absent from the art of postwar Europe. His writings helped transform the bohemian colony huddled around Manhattan's grimy Eighth Street into the churning center of an international movement. Far less known is the fact that Greenberg was also a major collector; because of his insistence on anonymity when loaning pieces to museums, the scope of his private collection surprises many. Recently acquired by the Portland Art Museum, his incredible collection is now coming to the public in a multi-venue traveling exhibition. This extraordinary book illustrates, in color and for the first time, the collection's 155 works. Spanning five decades of American art, it features some of the twentieth century's finest artists. Works by Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Hans Hofmann, and Adolph Gottlieb represent Abstract Expressionism. Paintings by Jules Olitski, Kenneth Noland, and others represent the Color Field movement, in which artists used liquid pure color on raw canvas. One highlight is Noland's first ''target'' painting--a 1958 masterpiece exploring the flatness of paint. The collection also includes excellent examples of the movement Greenberg dubbed Post-Painterly Abstraction, including pieces by Walter Darby Bannard and Larry Poons. The works Greenberg collected reflect his ideas, passions, and personal associations. They reveal him as a reviewer and intellectual but also as a friend to the artists. Many of the more than two hundred color plates are accompanied by Greenberg's comments about the artists--painters and sculptors now being rediscovered by young contemporary artists exploring formalism, the nature of paint, and the evolution of modern art. The text includes discussions of Greenberg's significance to criticism, his famous studio visits, and the controversy attached to his work, as well as short biographies of each artist. PARTIAL EXHIBITION SCHEDULE Portland Art Museum, Portland, OregonJuly 14, 2001-September 16, 2001


About the Author
Karen Wilkin is the author of ten books on individual artists, including Giorgio Morandi, Paul Cezanne, Stuart Davis, and Anthony Caro. A contributor to numerous exhibition catalogues and art dictionaries, she is also a regular contributor to the New Criterion, Partisan Review and the Hudson Review. Bruce Guenther is Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Portland Art Museum. The organizer of numerous international exhibitions, he has contributed to seventy-five exhibition catalogues and is the author of Guy Anderson and 50 Northwest Artists.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Clement Greenberg (1909-1994) is the most renowned American art critic of the twentieth century and the first to treat New York modern artists as an independent school. In the work of Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and sculptor David Smith, Greenberg saw a vitality absent from the art of postwar Europe. His writings helped transform the bohemian colony huddled around Manhattan's grimy Eighth Street into the churning center of an international movement. Far less known is the fact that Greenberg was also a major collector; because of his insistence on anonymity when loaning pieces to museums, the scope of his private collection surprises many. Recently acquired by the Portland Art Museum, his incredible collection is now coming to the public in a multi-venue traveling exhibition. This extraordinary book illustrates, in color and for the first time, the collection's 155 works. Spanning five decades of American art, it features some of the twentieth century's finest artists.

Works by Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Hans Hofmann, and Adolph Gottlieb represent Abstract Expressionism. Paintings by Jules Olitski, Kenneth Noland, and others represent the Color Field movement, in which artists used liquid pure color on raw canvas. One highlight is Noland's first "target" painting--a 1958 masterpiece exploring the flatness of paint. The collection also includes excellent examples of the movement Greenberg dubbed Post-Painterly Abstraction, including pieces by Walter Darby Bannard and Larry Poons.

The works Greenberg collected reflect his ideas, passions, and personal associations. They reveal him as a reviewer and intellectual but also as a friend to the artists. Many of the more than two hundred color plates are accompanied by Greenberg's comments about the artists--painters and sculptors now being rediscovered by young contemporary artists exploring formalism, the nature of paint, and the evolution of modern art. The text includes discussions of Greenberg's significance to criticism, his famous studio visits, and the controversy attached to his work, as well as short biographies of each artist.

FROM THE CRITICS

Choice