Prefcio

This book is organized as a succession of important events, each keyed to an

appropriate date, and can thus be read as a chronological account of twentieth century
art. But, like the pieces of a puzzle that can be transformed into a great variety of
images, its 107 entries can also be arranged in different ways to suit the particular
needs of individual readers.
First, some narratives might be constructed along national lines. For example, within
the prewar period alone, the story of French art unfolds via studies of figurative
sculpture, Fauvist painting, Cubist collage, and Surrealist objects, while German
practice is traced in terms of Expressionist painting, Dada photomontage, Bauhaus
design, and Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) painting and photography. The
Russian avant-garde is followed from its early experiments with new forms and
materials, through its direct involvement in political transformation, to its eventual
suppression under Stalin. Meanwhile, British and American artists are tracked in their
ambivalent oscillation between the demands of national idioms and the attractions of
international styles.
As an alternative to such national narratives, the reader might trace transnational
developments. For example, within the prewar period alone one might focus on the
fascination with tribal objects, the emergence of abstract painting, or the spread of a
Constructivist language of forms. The different incarnations of Dada from Zurich to
New York, or the various engagements of modernist artists with design, might be
compared. More generally, one might cluster entries that treat the great experiment
that is modernism as such, or that discuss the virulent reactions against this idea,
especially in totalitarian regimes. Mini-histories of different media might be produced
in terms not only of traditional forms of painting and sculpture, but also of new modes
distinctive to twentieth century art, such as collaged and montaged images and found
and ready made objects. For the first time in any survey, a discussion of photographyboth in terms of its own development and as a force that radically transforms the other
media-is woven into the text.
A third approach might be to group entries according to thematic concerns, within the
prewar or the postwar periods, or in ways that span both. For example, the impact of
the mass media on modern art might be gauged from the first Futurist manifesto,
published in a major newspaper, Le Figaro, in 1909, through the Situationist critique
of consumer culture in France after World War II, to the rise of the artist as media
celebrity in our own time. Similarly, the institutions that shaped twentieth-century art
rnight also be explored, either in close focus or in broad overview. For instance, one
can review the signal school of modernist design, the Bauhaus, from its interwar
incarnations in Germany to its postwar afterlife in the United States. Or one can
follow the history of the art exhibition, from the Paris Salons before World War I,
through the propagandistic displays of 1937 (including the "Degenerate 'Art'"
["Entartete 'Kunst"'] show staged by the Nazis), to the postwar forms of blockbuster
exhibition and international survey (such as "Documenta 5" in 1972 in Germany). The
complicated relationship between art and politics in the twentieth century can be
studied through any number of entries. One might also define an approach through
readings in such topics as the relationships between prewar and postwar avant -gar
des, or between modernist and postmodernist models of art. Along with such
narratives of form and theme, other subtexts in the history of twentieth-century art can
be foregrounded. Especially important to the authors are the theoretical methods that
have framed the manifold practices of this art. One such approach is psychoanalytic

criticism, which focuses on the subjective effects of the work of art.

Another method is the social history of art, which attends to social, political, and
economic contexts. A third seeks to clarify the intrinsic structure of the work-not only
how it is made (in the formalist version of this approach) but also how it means (in its
structuralist version). Lastly, poststructuralist modes of criticism are deployed in order
to address questions not only of signification but also of institution-of how works
come to be designated as art and valued as such. Many entries present test cases of
these four methods at work, especially when their own development is related to that
of the art at issue. For each mode of criticism, an introduction that sketches its history
and defines its terms is also provided.
As might be expected, these methods often clash: the subjective focus of
psychoanalytic criticism, the contextual emphasis of the social history of art, the
intrinsic concerns of formalist and structuralist accounts, and the poststructuralist
attention to institutional framing cannot easily be reconciled. In this book, these
tensions are not masked by an unbroken story unified by a single voice; rather, they
are dramatized by the four authors, each of whom has a different allegiance to these
methods. In this regard, Art Since 1900 is "dialogical," in the sense given the term by
Russian theorist Mikhail Bakhtin: each speech act is structured by the positions that it
confronts, as a response to other speakers whom it moves to oppose or attempts to
persuade. The marks of such dialogue are multiple in this book. They appear in the
different types of perspective that one author might privilege, or in the different ways
that a single subject-abstraction, say-might be treated by the various voices. This
conversation is also carried on through the cross-references that act as signposts to the
intersections between the entries. This "intertext" not only allows two different
positions to coexist but also, perhaps in relation to the third perspective provided by
the reader, dialectically binds them.
Of course, with new orientations come new omissions. Certain artists and movements,
addressed in previous textbooks, are scanted here, and every reader will see grievous
exclusions-this is the case for each of the authors as well. But we also have the
conviction that the richness of the conversation, as it illuminates different facets of the
debates, struggles, breakthroughs, and setbacks of twentieth-century art, compensates
a little for the parts of the story that are left in ellipsis. Our use of the headline to
introduce each entry acknowledges both the strengths and the weaknesses of our
overall approach, for this telegraphic form can be seen either as a mere signal of a
complex event-from which it is then severed-or as an emblematic marker of the very
complexity of the history of which it is the evocative precipitate.
It is now common practice-in publishing, in teaching, and in curating-to break the art
of the twentieth century into two halves separated by World War II. We acknowledge
this tendency with the option of the two-volume format; at the same time we believe
that a crucial subject for any history of this art is the complex dialogue between
prewar and postwar avant-gardes. To tell this story it is necessary to produce the full
sweep of the twentieth century at once. But then such a panorama is also essential for
the many other stories to which the four of us have lent our voices here.
Hal Foster
Rosalind Krauss
Yve-Aiain Bois
Benjamin H. D. Buchloh

De especial importancia para los autores son los mtodos tericos que han
enmarcado las mltiples prcticas de este Me. Uno de estos enfoques es la
critica psicoanaltica, que centra su atencin e n los efectos subjetivos de la
obra de arte. Otro mtodo es la historia social del arte, que atiende a los
Contextos sociales, polticos y econmicos. Un tercero intenta aclarar la
estructura intrnseca de la obra, n o slo cmo est hecha (en la versin
formalista de este enfoque) sino tambin cmo significa (en su versin
estructuralista). Por ultimo, se hace uso de los modos de crtica post
estructuralistas para tratar cuestiones relacionadas no slo con la
significacin sino tambin con la institucin, cmo las obras llegan a ser
designadas como arte y valoradas como tal. En muchas entradas se
presentan casos prcticos emblemticos de estos cuatro mtodos. sobre todo
cuando su propio desarrollo guarda relacin con el del arte e n cuestin. Se
incluyen tambin sendas introducciones a esto s modos de crtica en las que
se esboza su historia y definen sus trminos.
Como cabria esperar, estos mtodos chocan a menudo: no es fcil conciliar
la atencin a lo subjetivo de la crtica psicoanaltica. e l nfasis contextual! de
la historia social del arte, las preocupaciones intrnsecas de los relatos
formalista y estructuralista y la atencin postestructuralista al marco
institucional. En este libro, esas tensiones no s e ocultan mediante un relato
ininterrumpido, unificado por una voz nica, sino que son exteriorizados por
los cuatro autores, cada uno de los cuales profesa una lealtad diferente a
estos mtodos. En este aspecto, Arte desde1900 es dialgico, en el
sentido que asigna al trmino el terico ruso Mikhail Bakhtin: cada acto
del habla es estructurado por las posiciones a las que se enfrenta, como
respuesta a otros hablantes a los que se mueve para oponerse o intenta
persuadir. Las huellas de ese dilogo so n mltiples en este libro.
Aparecen en los diferentes tipos de perspectiva que un autor puede prefer, o
en fas distintas maneras en que un mismo tema -la abstraccin, por ejemplopuede ser tratado por las diferentes voces. Esta conversacin contina
tambin mediante las referencias cruzadas que actan a modo d e postes
indicadores de las intersecciones entre las entradas. Esta intertextualidad
no slo permite la coexistencia de dos posiciones distintas, sino tambin, tal
vez e n relacin con la tercera perspectiva, la que ofrece el lector, su unidad
dialctica.
Como es natural, las nuevas orientaciones llevan aparejadas nuevas
omisiones. Algunos artistas y movimientos, tratados en libros de texto
anteriores, no se prodigan en estas pginas, y cada lector observar graves
exclusiones, algo que tambin les sucede a cada uno de los autores. Pero
tambin tenemos la conviccin de que la riqueza de la conversacin , al
aclarar diferentes facetas de los debates, las luchas, los grandes avances y
los reveses del arte del siglo xx, compensa un tanto las partes de la historia
que quedan en elipsis. El uso que hacemos de los titulares para presentar
cada entrada refleja los puntos fuertes y las debilidades de nuestro enfoque
global, ya que esta forma telegrfica puede entenderse como mera seal de
un acontecimiento complejo -del cual se corta despus o como indicador
emblemtico de la complejidad de la historia de l a que es el precipitado
evocativo.
Es prctica habitual en nuestros das -en el mundo editorial, en la enseanza

y en la gestin de exposiciones- dividir el arte del siglo xx en dos mitades

sepa radas por la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Nos hacemos eco de esta
tendencia; al mismo tiempo, creemos que una cuestin fundamental en
cualquier historia de este arte es el complejo dilogo entre las vanguardias de
antes y despus de la guerra. Para contar esa historia es necesario producir
todo el alcance del siglo xx de una vez. Pero entonces ese panorama es
tambin esencial para las muchas otras historias a las que los cuatro hemos
prestado aqu nuestras voces.
Hat Foster
Rosalind Krauss
Yve-Aiain Sois
Benjam n H. O. Buchtoh