Perhaps you've noticed, as we have, that the amount of real estate devoted to the arts in our country's publications has dwindled significantly in recent years. The arts are often bundled with lifestyles and entertainment these days, which has both obscured and obsficated the purported purpose and mission of art criticism so that the writer, more often than not, has his or her finger on record-breaking activity at auctions or the latest art-world gossip, rather than curious developments or important flares in the field. Not only is there less space in which to talk about the arts when any serious talking manages to be done, but there are less writers talking about it. And, beyond that, they're no longer known as they were once known. Who are they? Where are they? What are they doing?

Although it does not portend to answer these three (admittedly half-sillly) questions, "The Critical Moment: Abstract Expressionism’s Dueling Duo," recently published in Humantities, does address a fourth: Where was art criticism in its finest moment? From the article:

"As American modern art reached its apex in the 1950s through the flowering of Abstract Expressionism, art criticism achieved a glittering purity of its own—a beautiful high criticism perfectly matched to the period of high art. The writers who defined the parameters of this criticism were Clement Greenberg (1909-1994) and Harold Rosenberg (1906-1978)."

Click here to read about the "Grapple in the Big Apple" between these two critical opponents. Makes you want to say, those were the days, until you realize you're turning into your mother, which maybe isn't the worst thing, but still.