Discovering the Present: Three Decades in Art, Culture, and Politics

by Harold Rosenberg

Harold Rosenberg sees life in the twentieth century as involved in problems of creation, whether creating oneself, creating works of art or creating new human relations and institutions. Modern life is inflected toward the future not the past. He also says the present holds the key as to what is to come.

Genres: Art

343 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1985

Reviews

[Perrystroika · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of art criticism, social theory, and random musings on culture, politics and society. His work on action painting holds up well, I think. He captures the thrill of self discovery in the Abstract Expressionists. The Herd of Independent Mind is as vociferous a diatribe against mass culture as Dwight MacDonald or Clement Greenberg ever penned. The last piece in the book, The Politics of Illusion, is a fascinating analysis of Marx's 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte in terms of theater and stagecraft, and anticipates Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle in important respects.