American Visions Vol. 7 - The Empire of Signs

Never I'll state that nothing can surprise me any more. I've been a librarian for almost three decades, but today I saw my workplace get rid of about half its books because the institution needs to change over into a shop with popular books to let. Amongst the books to be either sold for a penny or gotten rid off completely was Roberth Hughes's American Visions. The destruction of such a beautiful written book with over 300 illustrations made Kenneth Clark's observation that the Roman Empire rather dissolved itself by utter exhaustion ring true for our times too. In this seventh episode Hughes examined the American hegemony after Second World War, when Abstract Expressionists ruled very much the roost until they were dethroned by Pop Art's greats such as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, while more individualistic minded artists such as David Smith and Joseph Cornell marched to their own music [media=https://youtu.be/mVLEBow_6qA]