Artists and critics regularly enlist theory in the creation and assessment of artworks, but few have scrutinized the art theories themselves. Here, Daniel examines and critiques the norms, assumptions, historical conditions, and institutions that have framed the development and uses of art theory. Spurred by the theoretical claims of Arthur Danto, a leader in the philosophy of the avant-garde, Herwitz reexamines the art and theory of major figures in the avant-garde movement including John Cage, Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, and Andy Warhol.

Artists and critics regularly enlist theory in their creation and assessment of artworks, but few have scrutinized the art theories themselves. Making Theory/Constructing Art: On the Authority of the Avant-Garde is among the first philosophical texts to provide a close encounter with this theoretical tendency in twentieth-century art and aesthetics, exploring the norms, assumptions, historical conditions, and institutions that have framed the development and uses of theory in art. In a series of intricate readings of constructivism, Mondrian, and John Cage, Daniel Herwitz outlines the avant-garde's belief that theory can perfectly prefigure the avant-garde art object and invest it with utopian force. Through similarly insightful treatments of Arthur Danto, Andy Warhol, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, and postmodern art and theory, Herwitz demonstrates how the contemporary art world is heir to the avant-garde's theoretical assumptions and practices. In fact, avant-garde art objects live as art only by partly resisting the master theories of their makers and interpreters. Skillfully resisting the lure of grand theory himself, Herwitz urges the art world to be more self-critical and self-reflective about its uses of theory. Making Theory/Constructing Art is as accessible and entertainingly written as it is philosophically incisive. Since the book is both a philosophical and a cultural encounter with theory in twentieth-century art, it will engage all those who have tried to grapple with the inscrutability of the theoretical art muse.

"Focusing on the key historical criticism and art-works, Brennan shows how the identities of all five Stieglitz circle artists were presented in terms of the masculinity and femininity, and the heterosexuality and homosexuality, thought to be embedded in their work. Brennan also discusses Stieglitz's relation to competing artistic and critical movements, including Thomas Hart Benton's regionalist art and Clement Greenberg's reformulation of formalism."--Jacket.

Only since the Romantic period has art been understood in terms of an ineffable aesthetic quality of things like poems, paintings, and sculptures, and the art-maker as endowed with an inexplicable power of creation. From the Greeks to the 18th century, art was conceived as techne--the skill and know-how by which things and states of affairs are ordered. Techne Theory shows how to use this concept to cut through the Romantic notion of art as a kind of magic by returning to the original sense of art as techne, the standpoint of the person who actually knows how to make a work of art. Understood as techne, art-making, like all other cultural accomplishments, is a form of work performed by an artisan who has inherited the know-how of previous generations of artisans. Along the way, Techne Theory cuts through the humanist-structuralist impasse over the question of artistic agency and explains what 'form' really means.

Art and Knowledge argues that the experience of art is so rewarding because it can be an important source of knowledge about ourselves and our relation to each other and to the world.

Publisher Description

Constructing Social Theory discusses the nature of social theory and theoretical orientations. Organized by forty-three theoretical orientations in seven domains--exchange, power, adaptation/reinforcement, social bond, altruism, functionalism, and identity--the text includes a tutorial on how to identify an appropriate theoretical orientation and create a theory given a particular research question. Bell separates the theoretical orientation of causal logic from theory itself, illuminating the mechanisms of scientific revolutions where new theoretical orientations are created, and the procedures of normal science, in which theories are developed using the logic of existing theoretical orientations.

Contemporary artist Faith Ringgold has adapted the tradition of the American slave quilt to create a world in which African Americans and women dominate, where history is not only questioned but reinvented. 102 illustrations, 40 in color.

In today's art world many strange, even shocking, things qualify as art. In this Very Short Introduction Cynthia Freeland explains why innovation and controversy are valued in the arts, weaving together philosophy and art theory with many fascinating examples. She discusses blood, beauty, culture, money, museums, sex, and politics, clarifying contemporary and historical accounts of the nature, function, and interpretation of the arts. Freeland also propels us into the future by surveying cutting-edge web sites, alongside the latest research on the brain's role in perceiving art. This clear, provocative book engages with the big debates surrounding our responses to art and is an invaluable introduction to anyone interested in thinking about art. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Constructing Social Theories presents to the reader a range of strategies for constructing theories, and in a clear, rigorous, and imaginative manner, illustrates how they can be applied. Arthur L. Stinchcombe argues that theories should not be invented in the abstract—or applied a priori to a problem—but should be dictated by the nature of the data to be explained. This work was awarded the Sorokin prize by the American Sociological Association as the book that made an outstanding contribution to the progress of sociology in 1970.