In the Pitfalls of Interpretations Optics: A Note on Progress

Abstract

The article draws attention to the uneven ways of 20th century art, i.e. without explicit direction that could be considered as clear historical gradualness “deserving” the idea of progress or rather improvement in time. The writing suggests research in the field of artistic practice as well as historiographical material in order to establish the conditionality and limited applicability of the notion of progress, and to show its ideological effect in both fields. Attention is also drawn to changes in the basic hypotheses regarding 20th century art and models of observation and description of artistic achievement.