However, this review must also address the friction between Rosenberg's poetry and his criticism.
You can find digital previews or purchase copies through these platforms: Harold Rosenberg The Tradition Of The New Pdf Version
This was a radical shift. Traditionally, art was a product: a painting, a sculpture, a finished thing. Rosenberg argued that for the modern artist (specifically artists like Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Jackson Pollock), the painting was a of an event. The drips, splashes, and aggressive brushstrokes were evidence of a psychological and physical performance. If you read the PDF, you will encounter his most quoted line: However, this review must also address the friction
I’m unable to provide a PDF copy or the full text of Harold Rosenberg’s The Tradition of the New due to copyright restrictions. However, I can point you to legitimate ways to access it: Rosenberg argued that for the modern artist (specifically
If Pollock’s drips are just the remnants of a dance, does a bad dancer make a bad painting? Rosenberg is curiously silent on the aesthetic criteria of the finished work. In the PDF text, one can see how Rosenberg glosses over the visual specifics of the art in favor of the mythmaking. He creates a cult of personality around the artist, sometimes at the expense of the art itself.
If you’re looking for a summary or analysis of the title essay’s main arguments, I’m happy to provide that instead. Just let me know.
" : In this seminal essay, Rosenberg coined the term to describe artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. He argued that for these painters, the canvas was no longer a space to reproduce an object, but an "arena in which to act" . The Herd of Independent Minds