A glance at modern-art history shows that for Courbet--no antiques or
angels, no traditional authorities or academies, no classical idealisms
or romantic exoticisms, no fantasies, no world beyond our world. For
Manet and Cezanne--no myths or messages, no actions or imitations, no
orgies, no pains, no dreams, no stories, no disorders. For Monet, no
subjects or objects, no fixities or absolutes, no chiaroscuro or
plasticities, no textures or compositions, no timelessness, no terror,
no studio setups, no imaginary scenes, no muddy colors. For the
cubists--no pictures or puzzles, no closed or natural forms, no fixed
arrangements, no irrationalism, no unconsciousness. For Mondrian--no
particularities or local elements, no irregularities or accidents or
irrelevancies, no oppression of time or subjectivity, no primitivism, no
expressionism.
from ABSTRACT ART REFUSES, catalogue of "Contemporary American Painting"
exhibition, University of Illinois, Urbana 1952.