The Shock of the New

The legendary book by the famous art critic and historian Robert Hughes, «The Shock of the New», was published in 1980. Each of its eight chapters corresponded to a series of the same name documentary film prepared by Robert Hughes in collaboration with the BBC and successfully presented to television viewers in the same year, 1980.
In Hughes's book, art, starting from the avant-garde movements of the late 19th century, appears in close connection with the surrounding reality, rooted in history. The author demonstrates how significant the experience of the era is for the art of the modernist period, and how for many key directions of 20th-century art, the search for expressive means in an attempt to describe this experience becomes the main creative and driving force. The inventiveness with which Robert Hughes conveys this to the reader through well-chosen examples and thoughtfully crafted phrases is the heart of the book's success.