num_pages: 352
description: With The Invention of Art Larry Shiner challenges our conventional understandings of art and asks us to reconsider its history entirely arguing that the category of fine art is a modern inventionthat the lines drawn between art and craft resulted from key social transformations in Europe during the long eighteenth century.Shiner spent over a decade honing what he calls 'a brief history of the idea of art.' This carefully prepared andgiven the extent and complexity of what he's discussingadmirably concise well-organized book is the result. . . . Shiner's text is scholarly but accessible and should appeal to readers with even a dabbler's interest in art theory.Publishers WeeklyThe Invention of Art is enjoyable to read and provides a welcome addition to the history and philosophy of art.Terrie L. Wilson Art DocumentationA lucid book . . . it should be a must-read for anyone active in the arts.Marc Spiegler Chicago Tribune Books
language: English
title: The Invention of Art: A Cultural History
publisher: University of Chicago Press