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| Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism (Vol. 2) |  | Authors: Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Category: Book
Buy New: $54.64
as of 3/11/2010 02:40 CST details
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Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  22 reviews
Media: Paperback
Pages: 424
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.7
Dimensions (in): 10.7 x 8.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0500285357
Dewey Decimal Number: 709
EAN: 9780500285350
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Product Description
With 364 illustrations, 236 in color.
Amazon.com Review
Here's an exceptional rarity: a large, sweeping art history text book so well-done it almost makes the reader wish she or he were back in school. It's rather amazing that it took so long for a book like Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, and Postmodernism to exist: a balanced, seven hundred page historical tome written with multiple perspectives in mind. As any undergrad knows, H.W. Janson's ubiquitous History of Art was written as if art history were some sort of race to colonize ideas and imagery; you'll likely not miss Janson's fetish for pointing out who did what first. Penned by a nimble crew who all teach at Ivy League universities, Art Since 1900, which mirrors the development of psychoanalysis and the creation of a huge international art scene, is on a smaller scale a history of contemporary theory and the art world almost as much as it is the art itself. Attention is paid throughout to important exhibits and texts, pointing out the rippling effect throughout the art community of these mirrors and portals. The book is arranged so that there are one or two essays per year. In such a novel format, often undervalued movements are given as much respect as Cubism and Minimalism. There are entire chapters here on Fluxus, feminist art, the Assemblage movement, Lettrism, the Independent Group, Gutai, Kineticism, the Harlem Renaissance, Aktionism, earthworks, video art, and the aesthetics of ACT UP. As with any history, there are personalities whose works are emphasized over that of others; the scant attention given to Jean-Michel Basquiat, for instance, is a rather large question mark. Quibbles aside, it's a very important, and nearly immaculate, work. --Mike McGonigal Images from Art Since 1900
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
 Read this book. It will improve your mind. July 8, 2005
Blue State Resident (North of the Bible Belt)
82 out of 94 found this review helpful
Although I have read only the first half of "Art Since 1900," I feel compelled by the negative comments offered by other readers to express my considerable admiration for this book. Because I am not an academic or other art world insider, I have no axe to grind regarding which artists or movements may be under or over-represented in the text. After reading a number of books on modern art, I have found this one to be, on the whole, head and shoulders above the rest. For example, "The Shock of the New" by Robert Hughes is a fine book, but it is very superficial by comparison with this one. What impresses me most about "Art Since 1900" is the incorporation of ideas from other disciplines dealing with modernity, including philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, and literary theory, which provides a broader context for the subject than is usually presented in art history texts. For the benefit of those who are not already familiar with the intellectual history of the twentieth century, the authors include four introductory chapters and a glossary that help to familiarize readers with concepts of marxism, critical theory, psychoanalysis, formalism, structuralism, post-structuralism, and postmodernism. While the introductory chapters are not a substitute for wider reading on those topics, the authors succeed very admirably in making "highbrow" ideas accessible to "middlebrow" readers. But it is not necessary to master the contents of the introductory chapters in order to obtain a great deal of benefit from the remainder of the book. Each of the nearly 100 short chapters is, by itself, a polished gem that offers much food for thought, so that it is possible to approach the book by reading one chapter at a time and meditating on the ideas presented there for a while before returning to the text. In fact, such an approach may serve to resist the unconscious desire to oversimplify the great multiplicity of works and ideas that constitute modern art. While fragmentation is consistent with the postmodern attitude of the authors toward the subject matter, comprehension by others is facilitated by supplementing the chronological ordering of chapters with an inter-textual system of cross-referencing by artist and movement. Unlike more conventional art history texts, this book can provide readers with a greater appreciation of the capacity of modern art to provoke the kind of critical thinking that liberates the mind. What could be more useful in a society that is so thoroughly dominated by conformity and anti-intellectualism? If all Americans would read this book, the White House might never again be occupied by an ignoramous.
beating their cannons into canon April 18, 2007
Baruch_Espinoza (Vienna)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I suspect that a number of these comments were inspired by a scathing review in the Wall Street Journal by Eric Gibson (the "culture war" ones at least). But maybe not...
I would have liked to write a more critical review of this book, although, or perhaps, because I liked it so much, but with all of these rather "blunt" opinions, it is hard to do anything but just praise it. Still, I'll throw out a couple of points of critique:
1. It is obvious that the authors are trying to create a kind of definitive history of 20th century art. This is in part based on their particular take, and indeed, sometimes this is more evident than others (esp. the closer you get to the present), but in general it is a very thorough book (presenting numerous positions). That they were among the founding editors of October should make it more interesting to read than otherwise. Needless to say, it should also be read in this way. There is definitely a certain direction to this work. But isn't that what writing and scholarship is all about? See also point 3.
2. I do wish that they would call into question some more of their own philosophical and political "foundations." For the most part, much like in October, their critique and development of Marxism, structuralism, psychoanalysis, "post-structuralism" etc. all seem to focus on a historical or art historical USE of these fields rather than going to the "heart of the matter" and maybe trying to address them on a philosophical or for that matter on a "real-political" level. It would be nice to be able to read the work from a philosophical or political vantage point too, not just an art historical one...they seem to SOMETIMES ironically mirror their "blunt" critic's weak position of lumping everything into one common trend of "continental philosophy" or "postmodernism" etc.
3. The tension between textbook and the "avant-garde" art critic: I find this to be sometimes a bit too much, end up asking myself, am I in some "contemporary art 101 class?" or am I directly "on the front"...but in the end I find this also to be interesting. Trying to make an institution, a textbook classic out of all of these disparate attempts to undermine such an idea... I hope the next version is less well-mannered and proper and a bit crazier (less a text book).
Great Survey August 29, 2009
Donald Daedalus
Forget Gardener, these four giants of art history compile an international picture. Each year is represented by an article. One can read the book chronologically, topically, or by author. If you have to read a survey of art history, this is it.
OCTOBER Crew Gets Its Due August 1, 2005
artlivre (Northeast Ohio)
16 out of 38 found this review helpful
Locating criticality as an ongoing extension of modernism has been a continuing subtext for many of the writings that inform the thinking contained in this volume. What at one time appeared radically transgressive in its disciplinary attacks has now been thoroughly institutionalized under the weight of a mainstream publisher. Nevertheless, there is merit to be had -- especially among the uninitiated and unsuspecting -- in masticating the morsels of tamed academicized theory. Prepare yourselves for what will prove to be an indispensible resource for understanding how our current cultural moment is inflected by changing conceptions of the past. This text is a much needed stimulus for hard thinking . . .
art since 1900: modernism, antimodernism, postmodernism July 2, 2006
Kathie N. Mccurdy
0 out of 15 found this review helpful
great book at a much better price than I could get elsewhere, even with coupons, etc.
thanks!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
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