Making Theory/Constructing Art: On the Authority of the Avant-Garde

by Daniel Herwitz

Overview

Artists and critics regularly enlist theory in the creation and assessment of artworks, but few have scrutinized the art theories themselves. Here, Daniel examines and critiques the norms, assumptions, historical conditions, and institutions that have framed the development and uses of art theory.

Spurred by the theoretical claims of Arthur Danto, a leader in the philosophy of the avant-garde, Herwitz reexamines the art and theory of major figures in the avant-garde movement including John Cage, Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, and Andy Warhol.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226328911
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	11/01/1993
Series:	Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion Ser.
Edition description:	1
Pages:	370
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: What We Have Inherited
Pt. I: Studies in Avant-Garde Art
1: Setting the Stage: Arthur Danto's Reading of the Avant-Garde
2: Constructivism's Descartes
3: Constructivism's Utopian Game with Theory
4: Mondrian's Plato
5: John Cage
Pt. 2: The Legacy of the Avant-Garde
6: Reading Arthur Danto's Theory
7: Reading Arthur Danto's Reading of the Object
8: Andy Warhol without Theory
9: The Uses of Theory in the Contemporary Artworld
Notes
Index