Over the past few decades, the philosophy of art has enjoyed a remarkable revival. More and more studies are being devoted to the philosophical or theoretical probing into questions about the meaning of art. This gradual but steady expansion in the field also suggests a broadening group of potential readers. Indeed, the present situation may perhaps be characterized as not simply a revival but as an unprecedented breakthrough. There are three major developments that help explain this. Firstly, today's increased importance of philosophy of art is due to modern art itself. Revolutionary avant-garde movements, attempting to transcend existing norms in art as early as around 1910, unleashed a process that has challenged any supposedly self-evident notions of art ever since. This process still continues today. Modern art is constantly pushing the boundaries of the “artistic”, seeking and providing new answers to the question of what art really is. Not surprisingly, every new movement is accompanied by a theoretical discourse to justify its premises. In the art world, the permanent drive for renewal has urged more and more artists to turn to philosophy to support their concepts of art. Artists have sometimes taken this approach to such extremes as to identify thinking about art with art itself, as has happened in conceptual art. In any case, this explains the growing significance of art philosophy to the development of art.
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The last decade some interesting anthologies on aesthetics have been published:
Stephen David Ross (ed.), Art and its significance: an anthology of aesthetic theory, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1994 (Originally published in 1984).
David Goldblatt and Lee Brown (eds.), Aesthetics: a reader in the philosophy of arts, Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall, 2004 (Originally published in 1997).
Eric Dayton (ed.), Art and interpretation: an anthology of readings in aesthetics and the philosophy of art, Orchard Park, NY: Broadview Press, 1998.
Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugom Olsen (eds.), Aesthetics and the philosophy of art: the analytic tradition: an anthology, Malden, M.A.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004.
P. Kivy (ed.), The Blackwell guide to aesthetics, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2004.
In the recent boom of anthologies the following threefold project deserves to be mentioned separately:
Charles Harrison, Paul Wood, Jason Gaiger (ed.), Art in theory 1648–1815: an anthology of changing ideas, London: Blackwell, 2000.
Charles Harrison, Paul Wood, Jason Gaiger (ed.), Art in theory 1815–1900: an anthology of changing idea, London: Blackwell, 2000.
Charles Harrison, Paul Wood, Jason Gaiger (ed.), Art in theory 1900–2000: an anthology of changing ideas, London: Blackwell, 2002.
Quite old, already classical but still interesting readers are:
Melvin Rader (ed.), Modern book of aesthetics: an anthology, New York: Dryden Press, 1979 (Originally published in 1935).
Joseph Margolis (ed.), Philosophy looks at the arts. Contemporary readings in aesthetics. Temple: Temple University Press, 1987 (Originally published in 1962).
W.E. Kennick (ed.), Art and philosophy: reading in aesthetics, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1979 (Originally published in 1964).
In the seventies and the eighties two excellent readers saw the light:
George Dickie and Richard J. Sclafani (eds.), Aesthetics: a critical anthology, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989 (Originally published 1977).
Patricia H. Werhane (ed.), Philosophical issues in art, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1984.
During the last decade a lot of introductions into philosophy of art have been published. Some older, almost classical introductions are:
Arthur Weiss, Introduction to the philosophy of art, Berkeley, CA: Berkeley University Press, 1910.
Edward Bullough, Aesthetics: lectures and essays, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1977 (Originally published by Stanford University Press, 1957).
Monroe C. Beardsley, Aesthetics. Problems in the philosophy of criticism, New York: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1981 (Originally published in 1958).
George Dickie, Introduction to aesthetics: an analytical approach, Oxford, 1997. (Originally published in 1971 under the title: Aesthetics: an introduction).
Anne Sheppard, Aesthetics; an introduction to the philosophy of art, New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Some excellent, more recent introductions are:
Gordon Graham and Richard Eldridge, An introduction to the philosophy of art, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Standard works on the history of aesthetics:
Katherine E. Gilbert and Helmut Kuhn, History of aesthetics, Westport, Conn., Greenwood, 1972 (Originally published in 1939).
Wladislaw Tatarkiewicz, History of aesthetics, 3 Vols, Den Haag: Mouton, 1970–74.
On Aesthetics in the Middle-Ages:
Umberto Eco, Art and beauty in the Middle-Ages, (transl. by H. Bredin), New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1986.
Specific on American aesthetics:
Rufus L. Anderson, American muse: anthropological excursions into art and aesthetics, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.
For the quotes on Luc Tuymans in 1,4, see:
Bernard Dewulf, “De Zuivering” (Purification), Nieuw Wereldtijdschrift, Vol. 16, 1999, nr. 6, 55–60.
Bianca Stifter, “Ik wil schilderen zonder deemoed.; Schilder Tuymans over weerstand en geweld”(I want to paint without humility. Painter Tuymans on resistance and violence), in: NRC Handelsblad, 01-09-1995, p. 5.
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(2009). Introduction: What Is Philosophy of Art?. In: Thinking Art. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5638-3_1
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