Tradition of the New

I was surprised at how well these essays held up, and what a terrific writer Rosenberg was. Very witty as well, and not nearly as portentous as his better-remembered rival Clement Greenberg.

In the last Century, the art has ran vertiginously from vanguard in vanguard, in frank rupture not only with the tradition, but also with every movement immediately anterior. Rosenberg scrutinizes the different tendencies and besides, makes a itemized analysis about the form and expression around several issues; painting, literature, social behavior, conventionalisms, in a mesmerizing account of the most representative expressions and protagonists. A fundamental book, that, despite its years, maintains actual interest.