Visions of the Modern

John Golding is one of the most highly regarded living writers on modern art. Visions of the Modern assembles many of his most important essays: some long out of print, others first published in journals inaccessible to the average reader, still others which started life as lectures. Taken together they create an authoritative, deeply informed and original account of this century's art. A distinguished painter in his own right, John Golding taught for many years at the Courtauld Institute in the University of London and at the Royal College of Art. He brings to his scholarship a particular understanding of the way in which the pioneering giants of artistic modernism - Picasso, Matisse, Leger, Malevich, Brancusi, Duchamp and others - faced challenges and achieved their individual goals. An appendix to the book, in the form of a dialogue between Golding and the philosopher Richard Wollheim, casts new light on the origins and aims of abstract art. Visions of the Modern presents some of the most astute critical analyses of contemporary art ever made. For anyone seeking to fully comprehend the radical artistic upheavals of the twentieth century, it is utterly indispensable.