Homemade Esthetics: Observations on Art and Taste

One of this century's most important critics sets forth his thinking on the fundamental questions about the experience of art. Greenberg argues that the standards of quality in art, the artist's responsibility to seek out the hardest demands of a medium, and the critic's responsibility to discriminate are essential conditions for great art. He also discusses the interplay of expectation and surprise in aesthetic experience and the exalted consciousness produced by great art.