Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective [Paperback]

Arthur C. Danto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0520216741 | ISBN-13: 978-0520216747 | Edition: 1

In this collection of interconnected essays, Arthur C. Danto argues that Andy Warhol's Brillo Box of 1964 brought the established trajectory of Westen art to an end and gave rise to a pluralism which has changed the way art is made, perceived, and exhibited. Wonderfully illuminating and highly provocative, his essays explore how conceptions of art-and resulting historical narratives-differ according to culture. They also grapple with the most challenging issues in art today, including censorship and state support of artists.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Danto's view, artists' feelings of belonging to a continuous tradition vanished around 1965, one year after Andy Warhol's Brillo Box. In the current "post-historical" epoch, he writes, postmodernists make pathetic stabs at reconnecting with the past, when what is really necessary is an art responsive to human needs. In these often heavy, academic lectures and essays for journals and catalogues, the Columbia philosophy professor and Nation columnist interprets Pop Art as "a sacramental return of the thing to itself" and applies his definition of artworks as symbolic expressions to a discussion of African "primitive" art and Chinese painting. One challenging essay deals with Western art's "master narrative," comprising the Renaissance's "narrative of recovery," the Enlightenment scenario of progress and modernism which, for Danto, began when Van Gogh and Gauguin turned for inspiration to Japan, Egypt and Polynesia. Elsewhere he defends the National Endowment for the Arts' sponsorship of the controversial Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit and delves into minimalism, museum architecture and pluralism in the arts. Illustrations.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Danto's richly digressive wit and learning keep us in tow. . . . In this period in which Art has evolved into Philosophy, Danto is producing a Criticism that at moments turns into a kind of Poetry." -- Nicholas Jenkins, New York Newsday

"Rigorous, untrendy and wonderfully accessible . . . Danto [is] one of the most interesting and important critics of our time." -- Bruce Barcott, Seattle Weekly

"[Danto is] the one contemporary thinker about art that every intellectual interested in the subject must read." -- Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (November 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520216741
• ISBN-13: 978-0520216747
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,082,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective, December 16, 2008

By 

Jason F. Metcalf (Provo, UT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective (Paperback)

Arthur C. Danto's Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective, is somewhat of a prequel to the author's After the End of Art, and presents a group of collected essays on his perspective that "Andy Warhol's Brillo Box of 1964 brought the established trajectory of Western art to an end and gave rise to pluralism which has changed the way art is made, perceived, and exhibtited" (rear cover). He further explains within Brillo Box, and in the chapter on Learning to Live with Pluralism, that he previously published an essay entitled "The End of Art", but that it proposed "not that art would stop but that one reason for making art no longer had validity".

Throughout the book, Danto revisits this very thesis, and in actuality the said previous scholarship seems to be the backbone of the text. Indeed, the later (1997) After the End of Art explains the idea of a paradigmatic or epochal change in much more concrete and palpable terms. When reading the first several chapters of Beyond, the reader has to work to find their bearings in Danto's non-linear style of writing. The concise introduction thus deceivingly pushes the average arts interested reader into somewhat less familiar territory, as the author consistently journeys into areas of philosophical interest such as his chapters on Metaphor and Cognition, and Narrative and Style. Danto should be given considerable credit, however, for his self-proclamation as first philosopher, and second art-critic. He seems to be more than aware of his position as a philosopher-critic, and has no pretensions of his work identifying itself as just art criticism.

The work, as of 2009, will have been assembled 17 years prior (with many of the essays having been written considerably before the time of publication), and so, as with any text of its age--one might question the work's relevance to contemporary thought. There are several areas where the work engages in discourse that were certainly relevant to a widespread dialogue in 1992- such as Learning to Live with Pluralism, which the author presents at the time as an already eleven-year-old discussion. Pluralism remains, no doubt, a relevant and important point of discussion--it is however, a discussion that has been around for thirty years. Some of Danto's thoughts presented in the book become less an active voice in contemporary circles, and more a historical window into a not so distant past. Even with all that has been said, the author's writings still remain a fundamental influence to many later scholars.

There are also seemingly timeless issues that the author discusses such as Censorship and Subsidy in the Arts, and the topic of Dangerous Art. Danto's probing into the fundamental and all too contemporary subject matter of government and public censorship and sponsorship of the arts is a well-articulated treatise on the topic. In a time of economic insecurity, the subject of where to spend public monies, and if art is the right destination for those funds, becomes fresh and significant--even twenty years later. This likely will always be a controversial and relevant topic to democratic societies. And dangerous art will always be present in society- it is merely the public's opinion of what constitutes the dangerous that will change.

The book is well quoted and references a great deal outside of itself, yet specific references are not given or stated, although they might easily be found by obtaining the original essays. This poses a problem for further investigation or research on the part of the reader, although the text seems to have been assembled for a popular but specialized audience.

If one desires to be versed in art criticism, reading Danto's writings are a must. He is undeniably important to the field, and to be well read includes the reading of his works. If the reader is not familiar with philosophical writing or thought, they will gain an interesting arts related introduction to the area.

The question remains as to whether a reader should first embark upon After the End of Art, or Beyond the Brillo Box- with the answer leaning towards the former. However, if one can get through the first few chapters of Beyond, either through suffering or enjoyment, this book will prove a valuable and rewarding experience, both in intellectual stimulation, and for the pure love of criticism and philosophy.