Visual art / Literature
Arthur C. Danto
1924–2013 · art critic, philosopher, professor
Influential philosopher of art and longtime critic for The Nation who grew up in Detroit and studied art and history at Wayne University.
- Born
Ann Arbor, Michigan- Died
Manhattan, New York City
aged 89- Birth name
- Arthur Coleman Danto
- Also known as
- Arthur Danto
- Detroit years
- 1920s–1940s
- Field
- Visual art, Literature
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Danto was born in Ann Arbor in 1924 and grew up in Detroit. After two years in the Army during World War II he enrolled at Wayne University (today Wayne State), studying art and history and working seriously as a printmaker, before going on to graduate study in philosophy at Columbia, where he taught for decades. His 1964 essay The Artworld, prompted by Andy Warhol's Brillo boxes, and later books such as The Transfiguration of the Commonplace and After the End of Art made him one of the most cited thinkers on what makes something a work of art. From 1984 to 2009 he was art critic of The Nation.
Highlights
- The Artworld (1964), a landmark essay in the philosophy of art
- Art critic of The Nation, 1984–2009
- National Book Critics Circle Award for Encounters and Reflections (1990)
- Studied art and history at Wayne University after army service
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · late 1940s
Wayne State University (then Wayne University)
He studied art and history here after his army service.