The Modern Ideal―The Rise And Collapse of Idealism in the Visual Arts, from the Enlightenment to Postmodernism

This book does two things. First, it defines and explores the idea of modernity, returning it to its historical context and showing how theory and practice in the modern visual arts emerged over three centuries. Modernity is surprisingly easy to define, but profoundly difficult to describe; concepts central to its meaning will be explained, including: style, modernization, progress, ideology and universality. Movements across all disciplines from the Enlightenment onwards will be discussed, including: Neoclassicism, Romanticism, the Design Reform movement, Realism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau, Neo-Impressionism, the arts and Crafts movement, Cubism, Futurism, De Stijl, the International Style, Surrealism, Pop, Minimalism, Conceptualism and Postmodernism. Second, and more specifically, the book explores the rise of idealism in the modern visual arts.
The book also deals with issues at large in the contemporary art and design scene. The author proposes that in real terms, the previous phase of modernist practice, and postmodernism, have come to an end. He identifies the collapse of idealism in the modern arts as being of central concern at this point in time, and speculates on what the next phase of modernity will be about.

Paul Greenhalgh is President of NSCAD University (Canada).