SISTINE CHAPEL TO BE TOPIC OF ART CRITICS UCSB VISIT

Art critic Arthur Danto doesn't want for singular opinions.

Winner of the 1990 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism, Danto has continuously stirred the pot of contemporary art discussion, once pronouncing Western art deceased and reporting 1964 as the time of death.

An emeritus professor of philosophy at Columbia University and art critic for "The Nation" magazine, Danto will speak at the University of California, Santa Barbara Thursday, Oct. 7 at 4 p.m. in the Hatlen Theatre. Danto's topic will be "Restoration and Meaning: The Case of the Sistine Chapel."

The lecture is free and the public is invited.

Though he has plenty of critics of his own, Danto is nonetheless considered by many to be America's most profound reviewer of art.

"Arthur C. Danto has no peer in American art criticism," wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer's Carlin Romano.

"He's the one contemporary thinker about art that every intellectual interested in the subject must read."

Danto has been prolific in sharing his views, with more than eight books describing his thoughts on the pluralism of contemporary art, how different cultures view art and on the perplexing issues of censorship and governmental support of art and artists.

His books include, "After the End of Art" (1996),

"Embodied Meanings" (1994), "Beyond the Brillo Box" (1992), "Encounters and Reflections" (1990), "Connections to the World" (1989), "The State of Art" (1988), "Narration and Knowledge" (1985), and "The Transfiguration of the Commonplace" (1981).

As testimony to his place in contemporary art discussion, Danto and his work are the subject of three books, "Danto and His Critics" (1995), edited by Mark Rollins, "Arthur Danto: The Wake of Art" (1998) by Greg Horowitz and Tom Huhn and "The End of Art and Beyond: Essays After Danto" (1997), edited by Arto Haapala.

Danto's visit to UCSB is sponsored by the UCSB Art Affiliates, the College of Creative Studies, the Department of History of Art and Architecture, the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, the Hester and Cedric Crowell Endowment and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

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