Art As Interpretation

The violent development of the avant-garde art in 20th century post a great treat to the traditional art theory so that the boundary of art and non-art tended to fuzziness.The analytic aesthetics gave the methods for classifying art while other theories had reservations about new arts.As a Neo-essentialist,Using the method of semantics,Danto drew a distinction between the "is" of the artistic identification which bases on art-world and the "is" of other identifications.Afterwards,Danto gave the art definition that interpretation composes art.Interpretation based on the discourse of reasons which art-world’s participators must be proficient in."Art as Interpretation" theory is inherently linked with the "the End of Art" theory from the point of "the relationship between the philosophy and art".Danto regarded this relationship as "The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art" which began with Plato and reappeared in the philosophy of Kant and Hegel.Danto criticized the disenfranchisement and point out art should be emancipated.In art history,The disenfranchisement means that philosophy provides some art truth and invests art with historical significance resulting the art history which is constructed by advanced significance.In 1964,the emergence of the Brillo Box by Andy Warhol end the art history,because it changed the relationship between philosophy and art:from thinking "what art essentially is" to thinking "why art is".The "Art as Interpretation"theory and "the End of Art" theory are both the result of the great change of the relationship between philosophy and art.The "Art as Interpretation" theory transforms the research method of the definition of art,bringing more criticism categories to the studies of aesthetics and philosophy of art.Danto projected the art after end as pluralism portraying an era in which art has thorough liberation and freedom.This project undoubtedly encouraged artistic activities and defend avant-garde art.However,We could regard Danto as a optimist for art’s present situation,because the avant-garde art evolved into a new art institution which it objected to at the beginning and art institutions established the boundaries one by one.Moreover,the core concept "interpretation"has fuzziness which weakens Danto’s theory.