From Publishers Weekly
By now, collections of Columbia University philosopher Danto's review-essays on contemporary art are familiar; this fifth installment again centers on work reprinted from his regular column in the Nation, where he has been art critic since 1984. Danto may be one of the few critics whose work reads better in book form than as a journalistic review. His critical judgments are often less ends in themselves than jumping off points for explorations of particularly vexing problems in aesthetics, threaded through with references to art and philosophy classics, all of it undertaken in clear language and with an even, appreciative tone. In these 40-plus pieces, each of which is six to eight pages long, Danto covers younger artists like John Currin and Renee Cox; older living masters like Gerhard Richter and Sol LeWitt; New York School artists like Philip Guston and Joan Mitchell, whose reputations are still settling; and Modernist masters like Malevich, Giacometti and Picasso. Given an art scene and museum world driven to a great extent by power, glitz and internecine politics, Danto's reflective approach can be a welcome respite for insiders and a friendly introduction to aesthetics as it continues to play out in real time. Agent, George Borchardt.
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Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Booklist
Ever curious about the interplay between art and life, philosopher and art-critic Danto approaches each work of art, exhibition, and brain-teasing art-generated issue with a puzzle-solvers' delight. Knowledgeable, lively, and omnivorous, Danto has been covering art for the Nation for 20 years, writing essays notable for their sophistication and warmth. His latest collection covers the first three years of the twenty-first century and focuses primarily on art's infiltration into life and art's deliberate separation from beauty. Danto makes unexpected yet fertile connections, beginning his enlightening consideration of South African artist William Kentridge, for instance, with a visit to Matisse, and introducing Barnett Newman via Henry James. Danto's analyses of Barbara Kruger and Gerhard Richter are crisp and invigorating. He is quite frank about the mystification generated by Matthew Barney's Cremaster cycle. And his musings on art in the wake of 9/11 are incisive and moving. In art, Danto sees a response to the times and an expression of the human spirit, an evolution of thought and an embodiment of being. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
