The paintings of the American artist, Ad Reinhardt were from the start defined by their clear geometrical forms. Reinhardt, who before his training as a painter had received a degree in art history, rejected any kind of fusion between art and life or any mystification of painting. Around 1953 he did his first black paintings in which every tendency to colour seemed to fade. From 1960 his paintings were all only black, which he himself described as the 'last paintings that anyone can paint. 'The encounter between Ad Reinhardt and Josef Albers in 1952 - 1953 and their ensuing dialogues on the meaning of colour within the painting process were For The young Reinhardt an important impulse on his path towards his black paintings. Presented in this book is his oeuvre from the end of the 1930s To The late works; their special relevance can be recognised in juxtaposition with the works of Josef Albers.

Michael Corris examines Ad Reinhardt’s life and work, charting the development of his entire oeuvre - from abstract paintings, to graphic artwork, to illustrations and cartoons.

"Art from the post-World War 11 period, primarily in America"--Blurb.

In this stimulating collection of essays, John Roberts draws together a wide range of work on some of the most important artists of the post-war period. Written by leading art historians and artist-writers, the essays take a sharply critical look at the construction of modern art history. The artists discussed include Francis Picabia, Robert Smithson, Ad Reinhardt, Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, Mary Kelly, Cindy Sherman, Victor Burgin and Laurie Anderson. The extensive influence of post-structuralism on all schools of art history has brought about a widespread derogation of questions around intentionality and social agency. Free-ranging textual interpretation has come to outweigh causal analysis. Art Has No History! reverses this bias. Putting the artist back into art history, the essays reinstate the claims for historical materialism as a theory of the conflictual socialization of individuals. Acknowledging the dissemblances involved in the representations of artistic invention, the book challenges the self-image of traditional art history and the radical New Art History alike. In his introduction, John Roberts gives a fascinating account of the vicissitudes of Marxist writing on art, from Max Raphael and Arnold Hauser to T.J. Clark and Griselda Pollock. Placing the debates on intention and agency in their wider political context, he refers to what he calls "the continuing influence of historical materialism on the best Anglophone art writing today." Art Has No History! is a lively and iconoclastic contribution to that tradition.