After the End of Art: Contemporary Art and the Pale of History

Originally delivered as the prestigious Mellon Lectures on the Fine Arts in 1995, After the End of Art remains a classic of art criticism and philosophy, and continues to generate heated debate for contending that art ended in the 1960s. Arthur Danto, one of the best-known art critics of his time, presents radical insights into art’s irrevocable deviation from its previous course and the decline of traditional aesthetics. He demonstrates the necessity for a new type of criticism in the face of contemporary art’s wide-open possibilities. This Princeton Classics edition includes a new foreword by philosopher Lydia Goehr. Arthur C. Danto (1924–2013) was the Johnsonian Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Columbia University and art critic for the Nation from 1984 to 2009. His books include What Art Is and Encounters and Reflections, winner of the 1990 National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism. Lydia Goehr is professor of philosophy at Columbia University. Her books include The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works and Elective Affinities.