Arthur Coleman Danto (January 1, 1924 – October 25, 2013) was an American art critic, philosopher, and professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

. He was best known for having been a long-time art critic for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's ''The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'' and for his work in philosophical

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, Epistemology, knowledge, Ethics, values, Philosophy of ...

and philosophy of history, though he contributed significantly to a number of fields, including the philosophy of action. His interests included thought, feeling,

philosophy of art Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...

, theories of

representation Representation may refer to: Law and politics *Representation (politics), political activities undertaken by elected representatives, as well as other theories ** Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a ...

, philosophical psychology,

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...

's aesthetics, and the philosophers

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...

and

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialist, existentialism (and Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter ...

Life and career

Danto was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, January 1, 1924, and grew up in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. He was raised in a

Reform Jewish Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...

home. After spending two years in the Army, Danto studied art and history at Wayne University (now

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

). While an undergraduate he intended to become an artist, and began making prints in the Expressionist style in 1947 (these are now great rarities). He then pursued graduate study in philosophy at

. From 1949 to 1950, Danto studied in Paris on a

Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

under Jean Wahl, and in 1951 returned to teach at Columbia. In 1992 he was named Johnsonian Professor Emeritus of Philosophy. He was twice awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and was a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

. Arthur Danto died on October 25, 2013, aged 89 in Manhattan, New York City.

Philosophical work

Arthur Danto argued that "a problem is not a philosophical problem unless it is possible to imagine that its solution will consist in showing how appearance has been taken for reality." While science deals with empirical problems, philosophy according to Danto examines indiscernible differences that lie outside of experience. Danto "believe that persons are essentially systems of representation."

"Artworld" and the definition of art

Danto laid the groundwork for an institutional definition of art that sought to answer the questions raised by the emerging phenomenon of twentieth-century art. The definition of the term “art” is a subject of constant contention and many books and journal articles have been published arguing over the answer to the question " What is Art?" In terms of classificatory disputes about art, Danto takes a conventional approach. Non-conventional definitions take a concept like the aesthetic as an intrinsic characteristic in order to account for the phenomena of art. Conventional definitions reject this connection to aesthetic, formal, or expressive properties as essential to defining art but rather, in either an institutional or historical sense, say that “art” is basically a sociological category. Danto's "institutional definition of art" defines art as whatever art schools, museums, and artists consider art, regardless of further formal definition. Danto wrote on this subject in several of his works and a detailed treatment is to be found in ''Transfiguration of the Commonplace''. Danto stated, “A work of art is a meaning given embodiment.” Danto further stated, also in ''Veery'' journal, “Criticism, other than of content, is really of the mode of embodiment.” The 1964 essay "The Artworld" in which Danto coined the term “artworld” (as opposed to the existing " art world", though they mean the same), by which he meant cultural context or “an atmosphere of art theory”,Adajian, Thomas
"The Definition of Art"
''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', London, Oct 23, 2007. first appeared in '' The Journal of Philosophy'' and has since been widely reprinted. It has had considerable influence on aesthetic philosophy and, according to professor of philosophy

Stephen David Ross Stephen David Ross (born 1935) is an American philosopher, currently Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy, Interpretation, and Culture and of Comparative Literature at Binghamton University. He has published over 30 books in interdiscipl ...

, "especially upon George Dickie's institutional theory of art. Dickie defined an art work as an artifact 'which has had conferred upon it the status of candidate for appreciation by some person or persons acting in behalf of a certain social institution (the artworld)' (p. 43.)" According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', "Danto's definition has been glossed as follows: something is a work of art if and only if (i) it has a subject (ii) about which it projects some attitude or point of view (has a style) (iii) by means of rhetorical ellipsis (usually metaphorical) which ellipsis engages audience participation in filling in what is missing, and (iv) where the work in question and the interpretations thereof require an art historical context. (Danto, Carroll) Clause (iv) is what makes the definition institutionalist. The view has been criticized for entailing that art criticism written in a highly rhetorical style is art, lacking but requiring an independent account of what makes a context art historical, and for not applying to music." After about 2005, Danto attempted to streamline his definition of art down to two principles: (i) art must have content or meaning and (ii) the art must embody that meaning in some appropriate manner.

The end of art

The basic meaning of the term "art" has changed several times over the centuries and continued to evolve during the 20th century as well. Danto describes the history of Art in his own contemporary version of Hegel's dialectical history of art. "Danto is not claiming that no-one is making art anymore; nor is he claiming that no good art is being made any more. But he thinks that a certain history of western art has come to an end, in about the way that Hegel suggested it would." The "end of art" refers to the beginning of our modern era of art in which art no longer adheres to the constraints of imitation theory but serves a new purpose. Art began with an "era of imitation, followed by an era of ideology, followed by our post-historical era in which, with qualification, anything goes... In our narrative, at first only mimesis mitationwas art, then several things were art but each tried to extinguish its competitors, and then, finally, it became apparent that there were no stylistic or philosophical constraints. There is no special way works of art have to be. And that is the present and, I should say, the final moment in the master narrative. It is the end of the story."

Art criticism

Arthur Danto was an art critic for ''

'' from 1984 to 2009, and also published numerous articles in other journals. In addition, he was an editor of '' The Journal of Philosophy'' and a contributing editor of the ''

Naked Punch Review ''Naked Punch Review'' is a quarterly interdisciplinary review and magazine of philosophy, art, politics and poetry. The magazine was founded in 2002 by a collective of young London-based thinkers called the PostAnalytic group, now dissolved. Th ...

'' and ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

''. In

art criticism Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of visual art. Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty. A goal of art criticism is the pursuit of a rational basis for art appreciation but it is ques ...

, he published several collected essays, including ''Encounters and Reflections: Art in the Historical Present'' (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1990), which won the National Book Critics Circle Prize for Criticism in 1990; ''Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective'' (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992); ''Playing With the Edge: The Photographic Achievement of

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-p ...

'' (University of California, 1995); ''The Madonna of the Future: Essays in a Pluralistic Art World'' (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2000); and ''Unnatural Wonders: Essays from the Gap Between Art and Life'' (Columbia University Press, 2007). In 1996, he received the Frank Jewett Mather Award for art criticism from the

College Art Association The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their understa ...

. He was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto.

Publications

Books

*'' Nietzsche as Philosopher'' (1965) *'' Analytical Philosophy of History'' (1965) *''What Philosophy Is'' (1968) *'' Analytical Philosophy of Knowledge'' (1968), republished, within additional material, as ''Narration and Knowledge'' (1985) *'' Mysticism and Morality: Oriental Thought and Moral Philosophy'' (1969) *''Analytical Philosophy of Action'' (1973) *''

'' (1975), second edition ''

Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and liter ...

'' (1991) *''The Transfiguration of the Commonplace'' (1981) *''The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art'' (1986) *'' Connections to the World: The Basic Concepts of Philosophy'' (1989; with new preface, 1997) *'' Encounters and Reflections: Art in the Historical Present'' (1990) *''Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective'' (1992) *'' After the End of Art'' (1997) *''The Abuse of Beauty'' (2003) *''Andy Warhol'' (2009) *'' What Art Is'' (2013) *'' Remarks on Art and Philosophy'' (2014) *''Art and Posthistory, Conversations on the End of Aesthetics'' written with

Demetrio Paparoni Demetrio Paparoni (born Siracusa, Italy, 1954) is an Italian art critic, curator, writer, and editor who has taught History of Modern Art and History of Contemporary Art at the University of Catania. Art Criticism Paparoni is the art crit ...

(2022)

Essay collections

* ''

The State of the Art ''The State of the Art'' is a short story collection by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1991. The collection includes some stories originally published under his other byline "Iain Banks", as well as the title novella and othe ...

'' (1987) * '' Encounters and Reflections: Art in the Historical Present'' (1990) * ''Embodied Meanings: Critical Essays and Aesthetic Meditations'' (1994) * '' The Wake of Art: Criticism, Philosophy, and the Ends of Taste'' (1998) * ''Philosophizing Art: Selected Essays'' (1999) * '' The Body/Body Problem: Selected Essays'' (1999) *''The Madonna of the Future: Essays in a Pluralistic Art World'' (2000) *''Unnatural Wonders: Essays from the Gap Between Art and Life'' (2007)

Articles, book chapters and other works

"The Artworld"
(1964) ''Journal of Philosophy'' LXI, 571-584 *Introduction to: ''Playing With the Edge: The Photographic Achievement of

'' (1995) *
Hegel's End-of-Art Thesis
' (1999)

preprint In academic publishing, a preprint is a version of a scholarly or scientific paper that precedes formal peer review and publication in a peer-reviewed scholarly or scientific journal. The preprint may be available, often as a non-typeset version ...

of article in: Wellbery, David E. (ed.) ''A New History of German Literature'' (2004) *"The world as ruckus: Red Grooms and the spirit of Comedy" in '' Red Grooms'' (2004)
"The Poetry of Meaning and Loss: The Glass Dresses of Karen LaMonte"
(2005)from: Danto, Arthur, Juli Cho Bailer " Karen LaMonte: Absence Adorned." Tacoma, WA: Museum of Glass, International Center for Contemporary Art, (2005) *(with Robert Fleck and Beate Söntgen) '' Peter Fischli David Weiss'' (a survey of their oeuvre) (2005) *"Weaving as Metaphor" in ''Sheila Hicks: Weaving as Metaphor'' (2006) *"Architectural Principles in the Art of

Sean Scully Sean Scully (born 30 June 1945) is an Irish-born American-based artist working as a painter, printmaker, sculptor and photographer. His work is held in museum collections worldwide and he has twice been named a Turner Prize nominee. Moving fro ...

," '' Border Crossings,'' August 2007 #103 (2007)

Notes

External links

"Is it art?"
- an interview with Alan Saunders of ABC Radio National">Alan Saunders (broadcaster)">Alan Saunders of ABC Radio National (03/2006)
Biography
Arthur C. Danto's Biography on Columbia University Website. (Archived by

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and s ...

).
Arthur Danto - obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' (Archived by

).
Obituary
in November/December 2013 edition of ''

Philosophy Now ''Philosophy Now'' is a bimonthly philosophy magazine sold from news-stands and book stores in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada; it is also available on digital devices, and online. It aims to appeal to the wider public, ...

'' magazine
"Danto on Art"
The Partially Examined Life - Episode 16 (podcast by interpreters without Danto participating) {{DEFAULTSORT:Danto, Arthur 1924 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American painters 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American painters 21st-century American philosophers Action theorists Aesthetics American art critics American contemporary painters American humanists 20th-century American Jews American logicians American magazine founders American male non-fiction writers American male painters Analytic philosophers Artists from Ann Arbor, Michigan Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Columbia University faculty American cultural critics Epistemologists Frank Jewett Mather Award winners Historians of philosophy Jewish humanists Jewish philosophers Metaphilosophers Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers The Nation (U.S. magazine) people Ontologists Painters from Michigan Philosophers of art Philosophers of culture Philosophers of history Philosophers of literature Philosophers of logic Philosophers of mathematics Philosophers of mind Philosophers of psychology Philosophy writers Secular humanists American social commentators Social critics Social philosophers Wayne State University alumni Writers from Ann Arbor, Michigan 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American male artists