Modernist Painting By Clement Greenberg - 1325 Words

In his essay, â€Å"Modernist Painting† (1960), Clement Greenberg seeks to lay principles for evaluating the progression of art to modern painting. Greenberg makes a lot of evaluations and assessments about modern paintings that are credible and can be held to a high standard. Despite his best efforts, some of his assertions are shrouded in generalizations and lack the necessary premises to be established as entirely objective and affirmative. Greenberg claims that the Old Masters created space one could imagine walking into and experience, but modern painters, on the other hand, create space only accessible to the visual senses, eye. His observations regarding these â€Å"Old Masters† is undeniable for the most part, but his assertions on modern paintings brings up a lot of controversy. To question Greenberg, one must first understand how the representation of depth of space evolved over time. The full range of this evolution cannot be mapped in this essay, thus only relevant and specific ones will be discussed. Dating back to the 16th century, the Renaissance painters saw a heightening of perspective painting. By imitating how distant and close objects appear to the eye, the optical illusion of space is created by a geometric representation of unfolding space. Rafael’s Marriage of the Virgin, 1504 (fig.1) is a prominent paragon to reflect on regarding this technique. With defined lines and patterns leading to the doorway of the background building, Rafael gives the audience a senseShow MoreRelatedClement Greenberg Modernist Painting1062 Words   |  5 PagesClement Greenberg, â€Å"Modernist Painting† In his text entitled â€Å"Modernist Painting†, Greenberg focuses on the development of painting between the 14th and 19th century and emphasizes on what distinguishes Modernist painting from previous forms of painting, particularly those of the Old Masters. 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