Unnatural Wonders

Pub Date: October 2007

ISBN: 9780231141154

408 Pages

Format: Paperback

List Price: $32.00 £25.00

Pub Date: March 2017

ISBN: 9780231545723

408 Pages

Format: East-volume

List Price: $31.99 £25.00

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Arthur C. Danto'due south essays not merely critique bodies of piece of work just reflect upon fine art'south conceptual evolution as well, cartoon for the reader a kind of "philosophical map" indicating how art and the criteria for judging it has changed over the twentieth century. In Unnatural Wonders the renowned critic finds himself at a betoken when contemporary art has become wholly pluralistic, even cluttered-with i medium as good as another-and when the moment for the "next affair" has already passed. So the theorist goes in search of contemporary art's most exhilarating achievements, piece of work that bridges the gap between art and life, which, he argues, is at present the definitive fine art of our time.

Danto considers the piece of work of such young artists as John Currin and Renee Cox and older living masters including Gerhard Richter and Sol LeWitt. He discusses artists of the New York School, like Philip Guston and Joan Mitchell, and international talents, such as the South African William Kentridge. Danto conducts a frank analysis of Matthew Barney's The Cremaster Cycle, Damien Hirst's skeletons and anatomical models, and Barbara Kruger's tchotchke-set up slogans; finds the ghost of Henry James in the work of Barnett Newman; and muses on recent Whitney Biennials and art influenced past nine/eleven. He argues that aesthetic considerations no longer play a central role in the feel and critique of fine art. Instead art addresses usa in our humanity, equally men and women who seek meaning in the "unnatural wonders" of art, a meaning that philosophy and faith are unable to provide.

Borrowing his concept from Hegel, respected critic Arthur C. Danto observes that unlike the centuries of art made for spiritual needs, the fine art of our time has generally lost the ability to communicate on its ain and must be explained, because we have only an external relationship with information technology. Danto sympathetically assesses Damien Hirst (sliced-up sharks suspended in formaldehyde) and eloquently explains why some initially impenetrable fine art might have compelling statements to make, but he doesn't spare artists he feels are not pulling their weight... amidst the most sensible, intelligent, logical, and attainable art criticism of the last five years. Kirkus
Danto uses his revered position to illuminate his subjects' cultural and art-historical contexts in order to requite the public helpful tools for thinking nearly the fine art they are experiencing.... This enlightened drove of essays is an essential documentation of recent art history, brimming with valuable reminders of how art has gotten where it is today. RES magazine
His musings on fine art in the wake of 9/11 are incisive and moving. Booklist
A welcome respite for insiders and a friendly introduction to aesthetics. Publishers Weekly
One of our pre-eminent art critics... [Unnatural Wonders] serves as a good introduction to his work, likewise as a good introduction to contemporary fine art. Kenny Tanemure, Asian Week
To look at a work with Danto is to encounter it inside the context of contemporary art. Barry Gewen, New York Times Book Review
[A] brilliant, provocative drove of essays. Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times Magazine
A valuable collection of art criticism. The Art Book

Preface to the Columbia University Press Edition
Preface
Introduction: Art Criticism Later on the End of Art
Whitney Biennial 2000
"Making Choices" at MoMA
Chardin
Tilman Riemenschneider
Damien Hirst
Barbara Kruger
Yoko Ono
Sean Scully
Paul McCarthy
Sol LeWitt
Renee Cox: Yo Mama's Last Supper
William Kentridge
Picasso Érotique
Art and 9/xi
Philip Guston
Philip Guston: The Nixon Drawings
Alberto Giacometti
Norman Rockwell
Surrealism and Eroticism
Artemisia Gentileschi
Gerhard Richter
Barnett Newman and the Heroic Sublime
Joan Mitchell
The Art of 9/11: Ane Twelvemonth Later
Reflections on Robert Mangold'southward Curled Figure and Cavalcade Paintings
The Park Artery Cubists
Leonardo's Drawings
Matthew Barney's Cremaster Wheel
Christian Schad and the Sachlichkeit of Sex
Kazimir Malevich
Max Beckmann
Whitney Biennial 2004
John Currin
Dieter Roth
Banality and Celebration: The Art of Jeff Koons
Ii Installations by Joshua Neustein
Kalliphobia in Gimmicky Fine art; Or: What Ever Happened to Beauty?
The World as Warehouse: Fluxus and Philosophy
Painting and Politics
The Wing in the Fly Bottle: The Explanation and Disquisitional Judgment of Works of Fine art
Alphabetize

Virtually the Writer

Arthur C. Danto is Johnsonian Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Columbia University and art critic for The Nation. His books include The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art and Art in the Historical Present, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.