Renowned art critic kicks off Crystal Bridges speaker series
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008
Daily Record photograph by David Frank Dempsey Leslie Newell Peacock from Little Rock was first in line at a book signing by author and art critic Arthur Danto at Crystal Bridges at the Massey in Bentonville on Sunday.
BENTONVILLE — The auditorium at Old High Middle School was packed Sunday afternoon to hear art critic and philosophy professor Arthur Danto present his thoughts on the importance of aesthetics in art.
Danto, an art critic for The Nation and professor of philosophy, served as the speaker when The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art kicked off its “ Speaking of... ” lecture series.
Danto’s topic was: “ What is art ?”
“ We don’t need to know anything about what we’re looking at, or why we’re looking at it, or anything other than its being beautiful, ” Danto said. “ There is no special knowledge we need to acquire to respond to beauty. ”
Drawing mostly from the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Danto noted the meanings behind aesthetics; how some may see a work of art from a different perspective than others.
This was the first in a series of lectures Crystal Bridges plans to bring in the coming years. “ Speaking of …, ” will bring renowned thinkers and explorers in the world of art, design and nature to the region to share viewpoints and perspectives on the state of culture — past, present and future.
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