born Jan. 16, 1909, New York, N.Y., U.S.
died May 7, 1994, New York City
U.S. art critic.
After graduating from Syracuse University, he returned to his native New York City and began writing for such publications as Partisan Review and The Nation , promoting an approach to looking at art that became known as "Greenbergian formalism." The chief arbiter of art in the U.S. from the late 1940s through the 1950s, he exerted extraordinary influence as a champion of Abstract Expressionism and its leading exponent, Jackson Pollock . He routinely visited galleries and artists' studios and promoted the work of many, including Helen Frankenthaler , Mark Rothko , and David Smith . He disavowed such later movements as Pop art and conceptual art and wrote little after the 1960s.