Style of the Future

Abstract

In this chapter, Snyder examines the morphological changes that art underwent in the twentieth century, giving an alternative account that does not show art to have ended. Because Danto is primarily concerned with art’s ontology and its essentialist definition, he does not concern himself with the reasons why art changed. Snyder argues that if Danto’s theory is internally coherent, then there is no reason why external factors should matter. The alternative he presents demonstrates that though Danto’s narrative of art holds true, Danto’s narrative relies on an underlying process that may not always be amenable to narrative. Snyder’s alternative explanation corroborates the history of the pictorial image described by Ernst Gombrich with the social philosophy of Jurgen Habermas. The chapter concludes that despite flaws in Gombrich’s analysis of art’s move away from the representational form, it is more closely linked to art’s process of historical development than Danto’s aesthetic theory. Danto’s theory alludes to this process, but does not fully account for it.