Arthur C. Danto`s essays not only critique bodies of work but reflect upon art`s conceptual evolution as well, drawing for the reader a kind of "philosophical map" indicating how art and the criteria for judging it has changed over the twentieth century. In Unnatural Wonders the renowned critic finds himself at a point when contemporary art has become wholly pluralistic, even chaotic-with one medium as good as another-and when the moment for the "next thing" has already passed. So the theorist goes in search of contemporary art`s most exhilarating achievements, work that bridges the gap between art and life, which, he argues, is now the definitive art of our time.

Danto considers the work of such young artists as John Currin and Renee Cox and older living masters including Gerhard Richter and Sol LeWitt. He discusses artists of the New York School, like Philip Guston and Joan Mitchell, and international talents, such as the South African William Kentridge. Danto conducts a frank analysis of Matthew Barney`s The Cremaster Cycle, Damien Hirst`s skeletons and anatomical models, and Barbara Kruger`s tchotchke-ready slogans; finds the ghost of Henry James in the work of Barnett Newman; and muses on recent Whitney Biennials and art influenced by 9/11. He argues that aesthetic considerations no longer play a central role in the experience and critique of art. Instead art addresses us in our humanity, as men and women who seek meaning in the "unnatural wonders" of art, a meaning that philosophy and religion are unable to provide.

Contents


Preface to the Columbia University Press Edition  ix
Preface  00
Introduction: Art Criticism After the End of Art  3
Whitney Biennial 2000  19
"Making Choices" at MoMA  27
Chardin  36
Tilman Riemenschneider  44
Damien Hirst  53
Barbara Kruger  61
Yoko Ono  69
Sean Scully  77
Paul McCarthy  85
Sol LeWitt  93
Renee Cox: Yo Mama`s Last Supper  101
William Kentridge  109
Picasso Érotique  117
Art and 9/11  125
Philip Guston  132
Philip Guston: The Nixon Drawings  139
Alberto Giacometti  147
Norman Rockwell  155
Surrealism and Eroticism  163
Artemisia Gentileschi  172
Gerhard Richter  180
Barnett Newman and the Heroic Sublime  188
Joan Mitchell  197
The Art of 9/11: One Year Later  205
Reflections on Robert Mangold`s Curled Figure and Column
Paintings  213
The Park Avenue Cubists  219
Leonardo`s Drawings  226
Matthew Barney`s Cremaster Cycle  234
Christian Schad and the Sachlichkeit of Sex  242
Kazimir Malevich  251
Max Beckmann  258
Whitney Biennial 2004  265
John Currin  272
Dieter Roth  279
Banality and Celebration: The Art of Jeff Koons  286
Two Installations by Joshua Neustein  303
Kalliphobia in Contemporary Art; Or: What Ever Happened to
Beauty?  321
The World as Warehouse: Fluxus and Philosophy  333
Painting and Politics  348
The Fly in the Fly Bottle: The Explanation and Critical Judgment
of Works of Art  355
Index  369