Into the light of things : the art of the commonplace from Wordsworth to John Cage
"In this startling interdisciplinary revision of avant-garde history, John Cage takes his rightful place as Wordsworth's great and final heir. George Leonard traces a direct line from Cage, Pop and Conceptual Art through the Futurists to Whitman, Emerson, Ruskin, Carlyle, and Wordsworth, showing how the art of everyday objects, seemingly an exclusively contemporary phenomenon, actually continues and culminates a project begun as far back as 1800. Much of his book concerns Cage and end-of-art philosopher Arthur Danto, both of whom helped the author develop the sections about their work, as did many contemporary artists and theorists. The result, including at last a full exploration of Cage's relationship with the Zen of D.T. Suzuki, with Italian Futurism, and with New England transcendentalism, makes it impossible henceforth to speak of Cage without Wordsworth and Emerson, of Warhol without Whitman, of 1960s Concept Art without Ruskin."
xviii, 249 pages ; 24 cm
9780226472522, 9780226472539, 0226472523, 0226472531
28504065
The end of art?
The status of art object relative to mere real things before 1800
Confronting the art object : the simple produce of the common day : William Wordsworth : the simple produce of the common day ; Thomas Carlyle : natural supernaturalism ; John Ruskin
Leaving the raft behind : John Cage : Recontextualizing Cage : industrial supernaturalism, Suzukian Zen, and the Buddha's raft ; The simple produce changes : the Industrial Revolution and the crisis of natural supernaturalism ; On the Buddha's raft ; The ultimate object ; Ecology : 24'00''
Epilogue