--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Realistic, naturalistic art had…" description: "\"Realistic, naturalistic art had dissembled the medium, using art to conceal art; Modernism used art to call attention to art.\" — Clement Greenberg" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ad/clement-greenberg-16776_art_realistic-naturalistic-art-had-dissemble_2323227.jpg" --- # Realistic, naturalistic art had dissembled the medium… ![“Realistic, naturalistic art had dissembled the medium, using art to conceal art; Modernism used art to call attention to art.” quote by Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ad/clement-greenberg-16776_art_realistic-naturalistic-art-had-dissemble_2323227.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ad/clement-greenberg-16776_art_realistic-naturalistic-art-had-dissemble_2323227.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ad/clement-greenberg-16776_art_realistic-naturalistic-art-had-dissemble_2323227.jpg) > “Realistic, naturalistic art had dissembled the medium, using art to conceal art; Modernism used art to call attention to art.” [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Modernism reveals art's nature, unlike realism that hides it. **In simple terms:** Modern art shows itself; realism hides. Key Takeaway Embrace self‑referential art. Themes art theory modernism realism Mood analytical introspective Type critical theoretical When to use this quote - museum curation - art education - creative practice - gallery exhibitions Key Concepts self‑reflexivity aesthetic philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How does art reveal its own process? - Why hide or reveal? A Different Perspective Some audiences resist self‑referential works. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art Dissembled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-dissembled-5561210/) [Art Modernism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-modernism-5561208/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Attention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attention/) [Mediums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mediums/) [Modernism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernism/) [Modernism Used](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernism-used-5561209/) [Naturalistic Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/naturalistic-art-3523661/) [Realistic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realistic/) [Used](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/used/) ## Related quotes > [Naturalistic art, as we know it, is an art which imitates the appearance of things, not as they are in reality, but as they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigfried-giedion/naturalistic-art-as-we-know-it-is-an-art-which-imitates-the/) [Sigfried Giedion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigfried-giedion/) > [Where the Old Masters created an illusion of space into which one could imagine walking, the illusion created by a Modernist is one into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/where-the-old-masters-created-an-illusion-of-space-into-which-one/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [Decoration is asked to be 'merely' pleasing, 'merely' embellishing, and the 'functional' logic of Modernism leaves no room, apparently, for such 'mereness.' This is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/decoration-is-asked-to-be-merely-pleasing-merely-embellishing-and-the/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [Modern paintings often seem to have been made quickly, by comparison with the paintings of earlier centuries, and that seems to give us the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/modern-paintings-often-seem-to-have-been-made-quickly-by-comparison/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [“Postmodernism has turned into this devil's vortex where no matter what you do, your neck will be turned and your face shoved into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-celio/postmodernism-has-turned-into-this-devil-s-vortex-where-no-matter/) [Brian Celio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-celio/) > [“Being postmodern, however, is about being complicit rather than virtuous, it is about approaching categories like Good and Evil with a certain ironic skepticism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-hollinger/being-postmodern-however-is-about-being-complicit-rather-than/) [Veronica Hollinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-hollinger/) > [“One of the many innovations of modernism was the new demands it placed on the audience. 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The term…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-bourriaud/altermodern-is-an-in-progress-redefinition-of-modernity-in-the-era-of/) [Nicolas Bourriaud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-bourriaud/) > [As for critical writing about modernism, its moments of lucidity are but fulgurations illuminating the dark and incomprehensible landscape of its subject's unabashed difficulty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/as-for-critical-writing-about-modernism-its-moments-of-lucidity-are/) [Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/) > [A lot of '20s musicals were a hodgepodge of melodrama, mixed with operetta and romance, and then some sense of modernism and some sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-c-wolfe/a-lot-of-20s-musicals-were-a-hodgepodge-of-melodrama-mixed-with/) [George C. Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-c-wolfe/) > [“The first phase of modernism, which so far as the English language goes we associate with Pound and Yeats, Wyndham Lewis and Eliot and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-first-phase-of-modernism-which-so-far-as-the-english-language/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [The modernist writers found despair inspirational.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-modernist-writers-found-despair-inspirational/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [A 'modern' man has nothing to add to modernism, if only because he has nothing to oppose it with. The well-adapted drop off the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elias-canetti/a-modern-man-has-nothing-to-add-to-modernism-if-only-because-he-has/) [Elias Canetti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elias-canetti/) > [I am not the avant-garde. I am the artist who comes after the advancing guard. I am more concerned with continuity of ideas and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-oliveira/i-am-not-the-avant-garde-i-am-the-artist-who-comes-after-the/) [Nathan Oliveira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-oliveira/) ## More by Clement Greenberg > [The avant-garde poet or artist tries in effect to imitate God by creating something valid solely on its own terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-avant-garde-poet-or-artist-tries-in-effect-to-imitate-god-by/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [The peasant finds no "natural" urgency within himself that will drive him toward Picasso in spite of all difficulties. In the end the peasant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-peasant-finds-no-natural-urgency-within-himself-that-will-drive/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [The paradox in the evolution of French painting from Courbet to Cezanne is how it was brought to the verge of abstraction in and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-paradox-in-the-evolution-of-french-painting-from-courbet-to/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [It has become apparent that art can have a startling impact without really being or saying anything startling — or new. 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You like it. It hits you. You don't have to read it. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/you-like-it-that-s-all-whether-it-s-a-landscape-or-abstract-you-like/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [Once efficiency is universally accepted as a rule, it becomes an inner compulsion and weighs like a sense of sin, simply because no one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/once-efficiency-is-universally-accepted-as-a-rule-it-becomes-an-inner/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [Nothing could be further from the authentic art of our time than the idea of a rupture of continuity. Art is - among other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/nothing-could-be-further-from-the-authentic-art-of-our-time-than-the/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [The dissolution of the pictorial into sheer texture, into apparently sheer sensation, into an accumulation of repetitions, seems to speak for and answer something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-dissolution-of-the-pictorial-into-sheer-texture-into-apparently/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) [Explore all 39 Clement Greenberg quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. 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You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) [Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/) > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. 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