Behind the times : the decline and fall of the twentieth-century avant-gardes

Does modern art "express the times" or is it a series of wilful aberrations?

Do we have any way of judging its success or failures?This text argues that unlike writers and composers, who have come to terms with mass-production and the technology of infinite repetition, painters still cling to the unique art-object, the product of the artist's own hands.

The result is a succession of attempts to find relevance and meaning that are doomed to failure.

This thesis contributes to a dilemma of our time, and would interest artists and critics alike.