The Intangibilities of Form: Skill and Deskilling in Art after the Readymade

by John Roberts

In this intellectually wide-ranging book John Roberts develops a labor theory of culture as a model for explaining the dynamics of avant-garde art and the expansion of artistic authority in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

From Duchamp to Warhol, conceptual art, and the “post-visual” practices of the moment, Roberts explores the relationship between artistic labor and productive labor, and the limits and possibilities of authorship. In doing so, he confronts a recurring theme of both conservative and radical detractors of modern art in the twentieth and twenty-first how is skill, and the seeming absence of skill in modern art, to be theorized and evaluated? Drawing on cognitive psychology, labor process theory, social anthropology, and debates in contemporary political philosophy, Roberts‘ book establishes a new critical topography for examining the cultural form of art today.

Genres: Art, Art History

Paperback

First published November 17, 2007

About the author

John Roberts is a former Senior Research Fellow in Fine Art and now Professor of Art & Aethetics at the University of Wolverhampton. He is the author of The Art of Interruption: Realism, Photography and the Everyday (Manchester University Press, 1997) and The Philistine Controversy (Verso, with Dave Beech, 2002), plus other books and numerous articles, in Radical Philosophy and elsewhere.

Reviews

[Saelan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really staggering work of Marxist art history that roots 20th-century avant-gardism in a deep and somewhat unorthodox take on the readymade and its "rediscovery" by the post-war neo-avant-garde. Very few art writers take emancipatory social struggle this seriously, and Roberts' take on "artistic thinking" re: Italian autonomism and immaterial labour is particularly acute, as is his analysis of art's contemporary diffusion into digital networks and the rise of the discursive museum. At every turn, he asks what labour theory can contribute to our understanding of the political economy of art, and he shows how its usual elision leads to so much confusion. A massive contribution to the field that you can put on the shelf next to Benjamin and Adorno...and then take down again often to re-read.

[Kory Reeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fantastic inquiry into art and labor. As other have pointed out, it is incredibly dense and challenging, but would not say it’s inaccessible, especially if you take your time. Maybe take some notes in the margins, Google a thing or two along the way. Highlight/underline, etc. It certainly is not casual reading.

My biggest issue, and what I think will detract some readers, is the extremely long digressions into areas like evolutionary biology. I think these could have been trimmed down significantly, but I promise you, they do wrap around into something rather profound. I would say that the first half is certainly more interesting in general, and worth picking up for that alone.

[Justin Groth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and also the most challenging book I’ve ever read. Too me twice to get it.

[Dora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would maybe give this book four stars if it weren't for one issue - it is extremely difficult to read. Beyond a doubt, Roberts delves deep into issues regarding the readymade and general art theory, but his language (and generally the concepts he uses) is very difficult to grasp. So, if you're planning to read this book, brace yourself. I would say it's worth the time it takes to read it, but it still takes a lot of time.