Florence Rubenfeld Collection of Archival Material for Clement Greenberg: A Life

Clement Greenberg was one of the most influential and controversial figures in the twentieth century American art world. Born in the Bronx, New York, in 1909, he was instrumental in establishing Abstract Expressionism as a major artistic movement, defining a new brand of art criticism and a new role for the art critic.

Greenberg had an early facility for drawing, and an interest in art, but although he took classes at the Art Students League, he did not pursue a career as an artist. After graduating from Syracuse University, where he majored in literature, he worked a series of odd jobs, writing in his spare time. In New York City in the 1930s, Greenberg again took art classes, and met Greenwich Village artists including Hans Hofmann, Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock. At the same time, he associated with a group of writers connected with the magazine Partisan Review, who came to be called the "New York Intellectuals," including Saul Bellow, Irving Howe, Meyer Schapiro, and Lionel Trilling.

In 1939, Partisan Review published Greenberg's article "Avant-Garde and Kitsch," to great acclaim. This essay examined modem society through popular culture and painterly abstraction, and brought him great notoriety. Greenberg then joined the editorial staff of Partisan Review, working primarily as a literary reviewer. In 1941, he wrote his first art review for The Nation, and wrote regularly for the magazine from 1942 to 1949. He also served as associate editor of Commentary, a monthly journal launched by the American Jewish Committee, from 1945 to 1957.

As an art critic, Greenberg developed a vigorous and authoritative style, and a rigorous theoretical framework that became known as "Greenberg formalism." At a time when western art looked to Europe, Greenberg focused on America, and ultimately was a key figure in shifting the focus of the avant-garde to New York. Greenberg championed the Abstract Expressionist painters, especially Jackson Pollock, as well as the sculptor David Smith. Later Greenberg looked to Color Field Painters, especially Morris Louis, Jules Olitski and Kenneth Noland, seeing their abstractions as the purest expression of his formal vision.

In the 1950s, Greenberg was no longer writing regular art reviews, but did continue to write major reviews and exhibition catalog essays. In addition, Greenberg published four books: Miro, 1948; Matisse, 1953; Hans Hofmann, 1961; and Art and Culture, 1961.

Greenberg also organized exhibitions of the work of Jackson Pollock, Adolph Gottlieb, Barnett Newman and Hans Hofmann. He also gave lectures at museums and universities, and worked as a consultant for galleries and museums. Greenberg's personal ties to artists, dealers and curators gave him great influence.

Greenberg's reputation went into decline in the 1970s when it was uncovered that, while serving as the executor of sculptor David Smith's estate, he had ordered the paint removed from six Smith sculptures. The resulting scandal added fuel to the existing impression that Greenberg perhaps wielded too much power in the New York art world. There was also speculation that in exchange for critical praise, Greenberg received artwork, which he then sold for astronomical sums.

A new generation of critics questioned Greenberg's authority, critical discernment and power as a critic, along with his character, in a practice that came to be known as "Clembashing." Magazine articles referred to him as "the most hated man in the art world."

Despite a hostile climate in the art world, Clement Greenberg continued to publish articles and to give talks in the United States and abroad until his death in 1994 at the age of 85. His Collected Essays, published in four volumes between 1986 and 1993, received critical praise, and did much to mitigate the years of hostility from the art world.

Florence Rubenfeld, an art critic, teacher and arts administrator, began work on her full-length biography of Clement Greenberg in 1987. This book, Clement Greenberg: A Life, was published by Scribner's in 1998. Previously, Rubenfeld was the East coast editor for New Art Examiner, and Washington correspondent for Arts magazine. She has contributed to many other art journals, including ARTnews and American Craft Magazine. In addition, Rubenfeld has been guest lecturer at Christie's, the Krasner/Pollock House and Study Center, East Hampton, NY, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, and the Smithsonian Association Resident Associates Program. She was the organizer and moderator of "Round Table" discussion groups, attended by curators, writers and artists, that met monthly from 1986 to 1988 to discuss ideas and issues in contemporary art.