The Case of the Baffled Radical

In surveying the contemporary art scene, former New Yorker art critic Rosenberg notes the absence of an avant-garde, the lack of motivating ideas, the overemphasis on craft and the fact that a public inundated by mass-media images consumes art like supermarket goods. This gathering of essays, reviews and interviews from Partisan Review, ARTnews, Commentary and other sources samples the broad cultural and politcal interests of an influential critic who championed Pollock, Kline, Gorky and de Kooning. Along with several dated or slight pieces, such as articles on McLuhan, Watergate and the film Barry Lyndon, there are substantial selections as well. A review of Richard Avedon's quirky photographs turns into a full-scale meditation on the art of making portraits. A timely essay on the Statue of Liberty points out that Bartholdi's massive sculpture transforms its site and makes questions of esthetics secondary. Rosenberg, who died in 1978, was never hesitant to speak his mind on any issue. He calls American conservatism ""a series of rationalizations'' but also chides liberals. Other selections ponder prehistoric art, Georg Lukacs, Koestler. December