The Tradition of the New

by Harold Rosenberg

Harold Rosenberg was undoubtedly the most important American art critic of the twentieth century. It was he who first coined the term ”Action Painters” to refer to the American Abstract Expressionists such as Pollock, Kline, and de Kooning. Rosenberg's seminal writings on this movement, as well as on other artists such as Newman and Rothko, appear in The Tradition of the New (1959), his first and most influential book; its effects on subsequent art criticism, and the practice of art itself, are still felt today.
The essays in this book are not limited to the art world, however: He also discusses poetry, political and cultural theory, and popular culture. As wide-ranging, independent, and deeply probing as the essays of Walter Benjamin, Harold Rosenberg's The Tradition of the New is a true classic of twentieth-century criticism.

Genres: Art, History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Cultural, Criticism

285 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1959

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Today, each artist must undertake to invent himself, a lifelong act of creation that constitutes the essential content of the artist's work. The meaning of art in our time flows from this function of self-creation.” -Harold Rosenberg

Since I enjoy the 1940's/1950's New York movement of Abstract Expressionism, I had to read the late Harold Rosenberg's “The Tradition of the New” because he was the “master critic” of this genre. He was very supportive and encouraging of the artists especially Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollack. He wrote about art for “The New Yorker” Magazine for years and educated the public on the new art scene and artists.

Rosenberg who said he was “educated on the steps of the New York Public Library” was a lifelong New Yorker through and through and he called the abstract movement “Action Painting.” What I really enjoyed was how well this witty author explained the artists of this movement and his understanding that they had to have a dramatic confrontation with their canvas. He beautifully writes of the creative process and he explains that Abstract Expression was “a major rupture” of Modern Art because “the canvas was an arena on which to act.” (What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event.) I learned so much about “radical art” and it made me understand what was going on in the artists minds in a clear way. (Also very good essays on the literature movement too at that time.)

I enjoyed the book immensely through I did wish there was more information on the abstract women painters of the time such as Louise Nevelson, Ruth Asawa; Louise Bourgeois and Lee Krasner. Any art historian/lover will enjoy. A bit dated but that's was okay with this reader. Four self-expressive stars.

[Nora Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy would HATE Anthropologie 💀