https://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2009/11/08/the-painted-word-the-motion-picture/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usWed, 10 Jun 2026 08:07:49 -0400<![CDATA[In the mid-1970s, liberals were outraged over Tom Wolfe&#8217;s book, The Painted Word for deflating the pretensions of one of the left&#8217;s then-most sacred institutions: modern art. Traditional painting and sculpture were based on two millenia of aesthetic assumptions, meaning that anyone could instantly understand the art they were looking at. Modern art eventually jettisoned traditional aesthetics to turn itself into a sort of insular game where the theory behind the art was far more important than the actual work of art itself. (Hence the title of Wolfe&#8217;s book.)]]>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:45:08 -0500<![CDATA[Ed Driscoll]]>https://pjmedia.com/ed-driscoll/2009/11/08/the-painted-word-the-motion-picture-n250497