Pasadena City College Modernist Painting Discussion

In “Modernist Painting” (1960), Clement Greenberg argued that “Each art had to determine, through its own operations and works, the effects exclusive to itself. By doing so it would, to be sure, narrow its area of competence, but at the same time it would make its possession of that area all the more certain.” (p. 86) What does Greenberg mean by this statement? How does he characterize “modernist painting”?

How would you define “modernist architecture”? Do you think Greenberg’s definition of “modernism” is applicable to the field of architecture?