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The dissolution of the pictorial into sheer texture, into apparently sheer sensation, into an accumulation of repetitions, seems to speak for and answer something profound in contemporary sensibility.
Clement Greenberg
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the transition in art from traditional representation to an emphasis on texture and sensation, resonating with modern sensibilities.

Clement Greenberg's quote explores the evolution of visual art, suggesting that contemporary practices have moved away from representing objects and images towards a focus on the material qualities of the artwork itself. This shift highlights a deeper understanding and appreciation for the sensations and experiences that texture can evoke, indicating a response to the complexities of modern life and sensibility.

Themes

ArtTextureSensationContemporarySensibility

In practice

Example use cases

In a lecture on modern art, this quote can be used to illustrate the shift towards abstract expressionism.

More from Clement Greenberg

You like it, that's all, whether it's a landscape or abstract. You like it. It hits you. You don't have to read it. The work of art-sculpture or painting-forces your eye.
Clement GreenbergRead

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