Abstract
Sticking to Marxism, art historian T.J. Clark analyzes modern art from perspectives of politics and society. Through comparative analysis, this article extracts his theory on modernist art. According to Clark, modernism arose, developed and declined in the historical coordinate system which consisted of the bourgeoisie, technological reason, the society of spectacle and socialist movement. As a response to modernity, modernist art was a structural model to examine the representation of modernity by visual form, which also explored and embodied the origin of the experience of modernity. Modernist art intended to signify the social reality in the crisis of representation, and to negate the capitalist society as a whole. Although aiming to create an “Artistic Utopia”, it regressed because of its sticking to subjectivity and resistance to identity. T.J. Clark's modernist theory has challenged the theories of Clement Greenberg and Michael Fried and produced far-reaching impact.
First Page
154
Last Page
161
Recommended Citation
Zhuge, Yi. 2020. "T. J. Clark's Modernist Art Theory." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 40, (3): pp.154-161. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol40/iss3/17
