The Spokesmen.

In the art world of the 1950s, critics had an exaggerated importance. The art itself was new and difficult to understand, so art lovers, even artists themselves, turned to the critics for direction. Two men, representing different theories of abstract art, dominated avant-garde art criticism of the day. They were Clement Greenberg, art critic for the Nation from 1945 to 1950 and associate editor of Commentary from 1945 to 1957, and Harold Rosenberg, a regular contributor to Art News (and reputed creator of Smokey the Bear for the national campaign against forest fires). They not only represented different views of art, they championed different celebrity artists. Rosenberg considered Willem de Kooning to be the preeminent artist of the day. Greenberg championed Jackson Pollock. Between them they popularized — even commercialized — an art form that was introspective above all and seemed a most unlikely subject for...