Encounters & Reflections: Art in the Historical Present

Danto's absorbing essays probe the meaning and inspiration behind the work of some of the 20th century's most influential artists, including Georges Braque, Gustav Klimt, Robert Mapplethorpe, Pablo Picasso, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol. Broader themes emerge within each essay. In his discussion of Warhol, for example, Danto declares, "[T]he significant art of this extraordinary period . . . has to be assessed as much on grounds of speculative theory as on those of aesthetic discrimination." He goes on to characterize the art of the 20th century as "a collective investigation by artists into the philosophical nature of art." Encounters & Reflections won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1990.