The Triumph of Modernism

November 1, 2006
The former art critic at the " New York Times" and the " New York Observer " and editor of the" New Criterion" , Kramer writes bracing art criticism rooted in his belief in the gravitas of art. In the introduction to this substantial, even historic collection of strongly stated, sometimes molten, always handsomely formed essays spanning the last two decades, he celebrates the revelations of modern art, defining modernism as nothing less than "the discipline of truthfulness, the rigor of honesty." Kramer considers the spiritual roots of abstract painting in critiques of Kandinsky and Mondrian. On the other end of the spectrum, Kramer dubs Andy Warhol "the cheerful nihilist" and decries Warhol's wily blurring of the line between art and entertainment, as well as all that this diminishment has spawned. Kramer is equally staunch in his parsing of Gauguin, Philip Johnson, and Mapplethorpe, and then, with palpable pleasure, suggests that Matisse was "probably the greatest painter of the twentieth century." In his enlightening, stimulating, and uncompromising essays, Kramer accords art the serious and critical attention it deserves. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)