Front cover image for Modernism's history : a study in twentieth-century art and ideas

Modernism's history : a study in twentieth-century art and ideas

"The history of twentieth-century visual arts can no longer be written as a succession of avant-garde movements, contends eminent art historian Bernard Smith in this stimulating book. He argues that a return to the concept of period style is inevitable and that modernism--the dominant "style" of art that emerged at the end of the nineteenth century and continued through the 1960s--deserves recognition as a period style. Smith renames this period Formalesque since it is no longer modern and since it emphasizes the formal values of art more than any previous period does."--Publisher's information
Print Book, English, 1998
Yale University Press, New Haven, 1998