This penetrating new entry in Yale's Icons of America series synthesizes biography, cultural criticism and aesthetics. Former Nation
art critic and Columbia philosophy professor emeritus Danto (After the End of Art
) argues that Andy Warhol radically redefined the question of art. His Brillo Boxes
and Campbell's Soup Cans
challenged the viewer to ask, “What is the difference between two things, exactly alike, one of which is art and one of which is not?” Danto, whose visit to a Warhol show in 1964 inspired him to become a philosopher of art, views many of Warhol's most important works as answers to such philosophical puzzles. Danto's writing is elegant and his insights acute: the Marilyn Diptych
's “transformative repetition” is linked to Coltrane's compositions; Warhol's final Last Supper
series represented, Danto argues convincingly in a profound final chapter, the culmination of the artist's “mission to externalize the interiority of our shared world.” This valuable work of critical cultural analysis reveals aspects of Warhol so far uncovered and unexplored that will appeal widely to the interested generalist as well as to scholars of contemporary art, American culture and aesthetics. Photos. (Oct.)
