A Comparison of the Views of Ziapour and Greenberg of the Concept of Modern Painting

O ne of the main sources of knowledge of the foundations of modern painting is an article by Clement Greenberg entitled Modernist Painting. In this article, by expressing the function of self-criticism in art, and eliminating other mediums, he has introduced surface as the single distinguished and specific norm of painting for realization of purity in painting, which has been largely highlighted in modern art. In Iran Jalil Ziapour in 1949 published a statement entitled Elimination of Theories of Past Schools from Primitive to Surrealism in Kavir Journal. By elimination of other mediums in painting Ziapour sought to propose the “Perfect School Theory” and delineate the values of pure painting. Knowledge and comparison of the foundations of modern painting in contemporary art in Iran and World seem to be necessary. Since both statements express the foundations of the modern painting the question is that what differences and similarities do these statements have? The current essay uses a descriptive-analytic method to show that both statements consider the motives and goals of the artists a personal affair. But the difference of the statement of Ziapour lies in the fact that contrary to Greenberg it does not believe in the function of self-criticism in painting, existence of historical continuity in painting, lack of planning of modernity in art and the significance of historical and cultural context of modern art.