Where Does that Leave the Introverts? A Critique of Modernist Art Theory from a Jungian Perspective

This issue of the journal 'Harvest' demonstrates how Jungian analytic psychology can provide insights, methods and forms of expression to various academic disciplines interested in art and the image.

It is well known that Greenberg’s aesthetics is ubiquitously used as a counterpoint to a more conceptual or anti-aesthetic position in contemporary art criticism. However, in this article, I address a fundamental 'similarity' between this seeming divide by using the Jungian distinction between ‘extraversion’ and ‘introversion’ to shed light on the one-sidedness of this aesthetic/anti-aesthetic debate. By revealing this one-sidedness, I am able to posit how contemporary art theory inadvertently and inevitably marginalizes, a large part of the art audience. I seek to demonstrate this imbalance in art theory so that a more inclusive art critical debate can be established.