Arthur Coleman Danto

author

American^[1] b. 1 January 1924, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA^[1] d. 25 October 2013, New York City, NY, USA^[2] active 1950–2013

Arthur Coleman Danto was a preeminent American philosopher, art critic, and academic who profoundly influenced 20th-century aesthetic theory. A longtime art critic for The Nation and a professor at Columbia University, Danto is best known for his philosophical explorations of art history and aesthetics. He is particularly renowned for developing the 'institutional theory of art,' which posits that an object's status as art is defined by the context of the 'art world' rather than inherent aesthetic properties. He also formulated the influential concept of the 'end of art,' describing a historical shift from a pursuit of representation to a state of self-reflexive conceptualization.^[1,2]

• Aesthetic philosophy
• Institutional theory of art
• Philosophy of history
• Art criticism