From his early career as an art critic during the sixties to his art historical writings of recent decades, Michael Fried has remained one of the most controversial and fascinating art writers of the late twentieth-century. The theoretical and historical aftereffects of Fried's art criticism continue to be played out in contemporary art and criticism, while his art historical studies impinge on many of the most pressing recent debates in art history and theory. This collection brings together for the first time a range of scholarly responses to Fried's art criticism, art history, and poetry. It illuminates Fried's distinguished contribution to the study of art, while taking his work in exciting new directions. This book will be of significant interest to art historians, those engaged in contemporary art and criticism, as well as critical and visual theory. First published in 2000, it remains the only anthology devoted to analysis of the work of this prodigious scholar. "Fried's effect on art history and art criticism has been immense. But it is still incompletely acknowledged.

The present anthology will decisively raise the stakes and establish a new standard of seriousness in discussion of Fried's work." -T. J. Clark In addition to the volume editors Jill Beaulieu, Mary Roberts, and Toni Ross, the contributors include Keith Broadfoot, Rex Butler, Hans-Jost Frey, Steven Z. Levine, Stephen Melville, James Meyer, K. Malcolm Richards, and Isabelle Loring Wallace.