Philosophizing Art

by Danto, Arthur C.

• ISBN13: 9780520229068
• ISBN10: 0520229061
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Arthur Danto's work has always affirmed a deep relationship between philosophy and art. These essays explore this relationship through a number of concrete cases in which either artists are driven by philosophical agendas or their art is seen as solving philosophical problems in visual terms. The essays cover a varied terrain, with subjects including Giotto's use of olfactory data inThe Raising of Lazarus;chairs in art and chairs as art; Mel Bochner's Wittgenstein drawings; the work of Robert Motherwell, Andy Warhol, and Robert Irwin; Louis Kahn as "Archai-Tekt"; and visual truth in film. Also featured are a meditation on the battle of Gettysburg; and a celebration of the Japanese artist Shiko Munakata, an essay that is partly autobiographical. Arthur C. Danto is one of the most original and multitalented philosophers writing today, a thinker whose interests traverse the boundaries of traditional understandings of philosophy. Best known for his contributions to the philosophy of art and aesthetics, Danto is also esteemed for his work in the history of philosophy, the philosophy of history, philosophical psychology, and action theory. These two volumes, each with an introduction by the author, contain essays spanning more than twenty-five years that have been selected to highlight the inseparability of philosophy and art in Danto's work. Together they present the thinking of Arthur C. Danto at his very best.

Author Biography

Arthur C. Danto is Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Columbia University. He is art critic for The Nation and the author of more than twenty books

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction: Philosophy and Contemporary Art	1	(12)
The ``Original Creative Principle'': Motherwell and Psychic Automatism	13	(26)
Art-in-Response	39	(22)
The Philosopher as Andy Warhol	61	(23)
Illustrating a Philosophical Text: Mel Bochner's Wittgenstein Drawings	84	(22)
Giotto and the Stench of Lazarus	106	(17)
Postmodern Art and Concrete Selves: The Model of the Jewish Museum	123	(21)
The Seat of the Soul: Three Chairs	144	(20)
Munakata in New York: A Memory of the 1950s	164	(21)
Louis Kahn as Archai-Tekt	185	(20)
Moving Pictures	205	(28)
Gettysburg	233	(18)
Art and Taxpayers	251	(3)
Art and the Discourse of Nations	254	(5)
Index	259