Abstract art as it is conceived at present is a game bequeathed to painting and sculpture by art history. One who accepts its premises must consent t… - Harold Rosenberg

As with other modern artists, his readings provided not an organized outlook but a kind of metaphysical hum that surrounded his mental operations. His thinking was truly systematic only when it dealt with achieving the reality of the art object as a "creation out of nothing," which was a common theme in New York art after the last war and the break with the European past.

Abandoned by philosophy, politics, and sociology, historical determinism continues to hold out in formalist art criticism.

The current demoralization of the art world is attributable at least in part to museum interference, ideological and practical, with ongoing creation in art.