Archive Journeys: Reise | Biography | Art Criticism

Education | Research | Art criticism

Art criticism

Clement Greenberg had emerged during the 1950s as the intellectual authority on Post-War American art, and was in particular, an enthusiastic exponent of Abstract Expressionism. It was Greenberg's success, coupled with his precise restrictions dictated by subject matter that made him an obvious target for young artists and critics keen to make their mark. Barbara had experienced at first hand the influence of Greenberg's writings upon the British art students during her visit to lecture at the Midland Group Gallery in Nottingham shortly after her arriving in the UK.

I'm sure I learned more than anyone there, but they were enthusiastic & irreverent and so so eager to get an understanding of what-is-happening beyond what they can see in Art News & Art in America or hear through Clement Greenberg (who seems to be the mouthpiece of Buddha to the English on what-is-American-Art-doing-and-why; and so far they've heard little of "why".

It was probably this feedback, the growing antagonism between Greenberg's theories and the fledgling Minimal and Conceptual movements, and her wish to defend friends and artists at the receiving end of Greenberg's criticism, that inspired Barbara to write the two-part piece in Studio International 'Greenberg and the Group: a retrospective view'.

Letter from Barbara Reise to Martin Friedman, Director Walker Art Center, Minn., 10 June 1968

Letter from Barbara Reise to Barnett Newman and his wife, 11 June, 1968

This piece proved to be popularly received by both critics and artists (despite Barbara's fear of its 'laced-gloved gentility'. Importantly for Barbara it was praised by Alan Bowness, Director of the Courtauld, and resulted in two further commissions from Peter Townsend, Editor of Studio International. In 1969; 'Untitled, 1969: A Footnote on Art and Minimalstylehood', and 'Sol LeWitt Drawing: 1968-1969'.

My piece on "Greenberg and the Group: A Retrospective View"....has endeared me to a large group of artists here - many of whom I've met while researching a piece on 'How Lively is London'.

Letter from BR to Martin Friedman, Director Walker Art Center, Minn., 10 June 1968

Reise was always the artists' champion as opposed to the money-makers within the art world, and so was completely in tune with the anti-commercial Minimal and Conceptual viewpoint. This letter to the Newmans from 1968, illustrates how she used her writing to support the cause of the artist.