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Material Thought

Towards a Non-Standard Formalism

Material Thought cover

Material Thought

Towards a Non-Standard Formalism

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Pre-order. Available 07 Jan 2027
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Description

Material Thought recovers the legacy of 'formalist' art and theory of the mid-20th century, taking as its point of departure François Laruelle's project of 'non-standard aesthetics.'

Carrying out what Laruelle names a 'mutation' of formalism, recovering its radical scientificity whilst dismantling its reified façade, Jonathan Fardy operationalises a radical flattening of the division between making and thinking which he then applies to the work of select artists and critics: Clive Bell, Clement Greenberg, Michael Fried, and Rosalind Krauss, as well as artists, including Helen Frankenthaler, Giulio Paolini, and Degas. Tending to works that both predate and postdate the high-water mark of formalist art and theory, he recovers and renews a theoretical impetus that proceeded the idealist tendency of 'high formalism' - i.e., the drive to incarnate a materialist aesthetics that took the materiality of art as its critical point of departure.

Through his attention to what he calls this 'materialist-formalism,' Fardy restores to 20th-century formalism a vital theoretical and political significance that has been hitherto overshadowed by 'pure' formalism and its depoliticised abstractions.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. A Non-Standard Arsenal
2. Inhuman Aesthetics (Bell)
3. Scientific Flatness (Greenberg)
4. Philosopher, Historiographer, and Artist in Superposition (Fried)
5. Theory in the Expanded Field (Krauss)
Postscript
Bibliography
Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 07 Jan 2027
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Pages 208
ISBN 9781350563292
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 10 bw illus
Dimensions 216 x 138 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Jonathan Fardy

Jonathan Fardy is Associate Professor of Art Histo…

Author

Jonathan Fardy

Jonathan Fardy is Associate Professor of Art Histo…

Author

Jonathan Fardy

Jonathan Fardy is Associate Professor of Art Histo…

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