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Against Aesthetic Exceptionalism

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Arne De Boever

Here, Arne De Boever proposes the notion of aesthetic exceptionalism to describe the widespread belief that art and artists are exceptional. Against Aesthetic Exceptionalism challenges that belief by focusing on the sovereign artist as genius, as well as the original artwork as the foundation of the art market. Engaging with sculpture, conceptual artwork, and painting by emerging and established artists, De Boever proposes a worldly, democratic notion of unexceptional art as an antidote to the problems of aesthetic exceptionalism.

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About the Author
#unexceptionalart
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About the Author

Background: Becky Kolsrud, Heads

Table of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • Introduction: The Toporovski Affair
  • 1. Aesthetic and Political Exceptionalism
  • 2. Democratic Exceptionalisms (On Sam Durant’s Scaffold)
  • 3. Against Monarchical Art: Alex Robbins’s “Complements”
  • 4. The Democratic Anarchy of Unexceptional Art
  • 5. Complement: Naked Painting (On the Work of Becky Kolsrud)
  • Conclusion: Unexceptional Rubens
  • Notes
  • Acknowledgments

Recent Activity

See all Activity
  • Resource Added

    Compression and Fragmentation

    May 28, 2019
  • Resource Added

    Compression and Fragmentation Sculptures

    May 28, 2019
  • Resource Added

    Nude at a Mirror (Sally)

    May 17, 2019
  • Resource Added

    Reclining Nude

    May 17, 2019
  • Resource Added

    Female Nude Rear View

    May 17, 2019
  • Resource Added

    Mrs. Carl Meyer and Her Children

    May 09, 2019

Resources

Resource Collections

  • Becky Kolsrud

    Resource Collection
  • Alex Robbins

    Resource Collection
2 Total Collections

Single Resources

  • Image

    Woman with Sewing Machine

  • Image

    Bather in Red

  • Image

    Mrs. Carl Meyer and Her Children

  • Image

    Lady Underwater

  • Image

    Allegory of a Nude II

  • Image

    Woman, Sag Harbor

  • Image

    We Alter and Repair (Shoulders)

  • Image

    Female Nude Rear View

  • Image

    Double Mountain/Backdrop

  • Image

    Nude Ascending

20 Total Resources

Metadata

  • rights
    Excerpt from “Pedestrian at Best,” performed by Courtney Barnett, written and composed by Courtney Barnett, published by Third Side Music, used by permission.

    Portions of chapters 2 and 4 previously appeared in a different form in “Art and Exceptionalism: A Critique,” boundary 2 45, no. 4: 161–81; used by permission of Duke University Press.

    Copyright 2019 by Arne De Boever
  • edition
    1
  • isbn
    978-1-4529-6340-2
  • issn
    2373-5074
  • publisher
    University of Minnesota Press
  • publisher place
    Minneapolis, MN
  • restrictions
    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
  • rights holder
    Arne De Boever
  • rights territory
    World
  • series number
    32
  • series title
    Forerunners: Ideas First
  • version
    1.0
  • doi
    https://doi.org/10.5749/9781452963402
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