Synopses & Reviews
The Invisible Dragon made a lot of noise for a little book When it was originally published in 1993 it was championed by artists for its forceful call for a reconsideration of beautyandmdash;and savaged by more theoretically oriented critics who dismissed the very concept of beauty as naive, igniting a debate that has shown no sign of flagging.
With this revised and expanded edition, Hickey is back to fan the flames. More manifesto than polite discussion, more call to action than criticism, The Invisible Dragon aims squarely at the hyper-institutionalism that, in Hickeyandrsquo;s view, denies the real pleasures that draw us to art in the first place. Deploying the artworks of Warhol, Raphael, Caravaggio, and Mapplethorpe and the writings of Ruskin, Shakespeare, Deleuze, and Foucault, Hickey takes on museum culture, arid academicism, sclerotic politics, and moreandmdash;all in the service of making readers rethink the nature of art. A new introduction provides a context for earlier essaysandmdash;what Hickey calls his andquot;intellectual temper tantrums.andquot; A new essay, andquot;American Beauty,andquot; concludes the volume with a historical argument that is a rousing paean to the inherently democratic nature of attention to beauty.
Written with a verve that is all too rare in serious criticism, this expanded and refurbished edition of The Invisible Dragon will be sure to captivate a new generation of readers, provoking the passionate reactions that are the hallmark of great criticism.
Synopsis
In The Abuse of Beauty, art critic and philosopher Arthur Danto explains how the notion of beauty as anathema to art arose and flourished and offers a new way of looking at art and beauty. He draws on the thought of artists, critics, and philosophers such as Rimbaud, Fry, Matisse, and Greenberg, to reposition beauty as one of many modes along with sexuality, sublimity, disgust, and horror through which the human sensibility expresses itself. 20 black-and-white illustrations are included.
Synopsis
Danto simply and entertainingly traces the evolution of the concept of beauty over the past century and explores how it was removed from the definition of art. Beauty then came to be regarded as a serious aesthetic crime, whereas a hundred years ago it was almost unanimously considered the supreme purpose of art. Beauty is not, and should not be, the be-all and end-all of art, but it has an important place, and is not something to be avoided.
Danto draws eruditely upon the thoughts of artists and critics such as Rimbaud, Fry, Matisse, the Dadaists, Duchamp, and Greenberg, as well as on that of philosophers like Hume, Kant, and Hegel. Danto agrees with the dethroning of beauty as the essence of art, and maintains with telling examples that most art is not, in fact, beautiful. He argues, however, for the partial rehabilitation of beauty and the removal of any critical taboo against beauty. Beauty is one among the many modes through which thoughts are presented to human sensibility in art: disgust, horror, sublimity, and sexuality being among other such modes.
About the Author
Dave Hickeyand#160;writes cultural criticism. He is former executive editor ofand#160;Art in America and the author of Air Guitar. He has served as a contributing editor for the Village Voiceand#160;and as the arts editor of theand#160;Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He is now a professor of English at the University of Nevadaand#8211;Las Vegas.
Table of Contents
Dragon Days: Introduction to the New Edition
Enter the Dragon: On the Vernacular of Beauty
Nothing like the Son: On Robert Mapplethorpeand#8217;s X Portfolio
Prom Night in Flatland: On the Gender of Works of Art
After the Great Tsunami: On Beauty and the Therapeutic Institution
American BeautyAcknowledgments