Imagining the Present: Context, Content, and the Role of the Critic

Bringing together twenty-nine of Lawrence Alloway’s most influential essays in one volume, this fascinating collection provides valuable perspectives on the art and visual culture of the second half of the twentieth century.

Lawrence Alloway ranks among the most important critics of his time, and his contributions to the spirited and contentious dialogue of his era make for fascinating reading.

These twenty-nine provocative essays from 1956 to 1980 from the man who invented the term ‘pop art’ bring art, film, iconography, cybernetics and culture together for analysis and investigation, and do indeed examine the context, content and role of the critic in art and visual culture.

Featuring a critical commentary by Richard Kalina, and preface by series editor Saul Ostrow, Imagining the Present will be an enthralling read for all art and visual culture students.

Richard Kalina is a painter, critic, and Professor of Art at Fordham University in New York. He is a Contributing Editor at Art in America. He writes on Pop Art, Minimalism and Postminimalism, Conceptual Art, Abstract Expressionism, and issues relating to contemporary abstraction