Clement Greenberg

To the Editors:
It seems to be the fashion today to attack Clement Greenberg, and the letter from Rackstraw Downes printed in the November issue is only one of a number I have read recently that I think require a response. It appears that the time is right to take shots at what is perceived, by the uninformed, as a “doctrine” of thinking about and looking at art. These people always attack what they believe to be the great symbol of this particularly “abhorrent” way of thought, Clement Greenberg. These attacks would not be worth further thought if they were not symptoms, and/or causes, of a real problem.

It needs to be said that there can be no one who gives more of himself, in time spent looking at art and talking to artists, than Mr. Greenberg. What people like Mr. Downes fail to understand is that Mr. Greenberg’s job, when asked a question by a painter in a studio, or when writing a review or criticism, is to be as...