Arthur Danto, Philosopher and Artpress Collaborator, Dies at 89

Arthur Danto, the influential American philosopher and art critic, died on October 25, 2013. Artpress mourns the loss of a friend and collaborator who contributed a notable article on David Reed's abstraction and interviewed Cindy Sherman during her 2006 exhibition at Jeu de Paume. Danto's works, including 'The Transfiguration of the Commonplace' (1989), 'The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art' (1993), and 'The Madonna of the Future' (2003), were published in French by Seuil, translated by Claude Hary-Schaeffer. His columns for The Nation were praised for their pedagogy and humor. Danto's theory that 'interpretation is constitutive' of the artwork resonated with those shaped by conceptual art and Joseph Kosuth's 'Art after Philosophy.' Having studied at the Sorbonne under Merleau-Ponty, his dialogues with European thought were profound, and he joined Hans Belting in clarifying 'the end of art history.' In an interview with Eleanor Heartney published by artpress, Danto spoke of expelling the idea of beauty from art's definition, yet engaged with Hubert Damisch's book on the Judgment of Paris. His contribution to an artpress2 issue on Louvre masterpieces focused on Watteau's 'Embarkation for Cythera,' reflecting on love. Catherine Millet wrote the tribute.