A History of Western Art [antikvár]

Introduction i duchamp Fountain 1917 Art is not something which has ceased to be created. It is more important for a history of art to begin with that fact than to offer any theory of what art is - still less to try and guess what art will be. It is important to begin with that fact partly because the art that is sealed off by belonging in the past has often lost its power to shock, startle or annoy. History has made it all dreadfully palatable. We smile to read how disconcerted were contemporary spectators when they first saw the art of, for example, Tintoretto, or Borromini or Cézanne. But few people have worked out their own estimate of these artists' creations; history seems to have done it for them. Not only is there no credit in mindlessly subscribing to the cult of 'old masters', but there is a positive danger in this waiting for the anaesthetist, history, to turn art drowsy before one dares inspect it. Such an attitude comes from fear. It is nothing to do with 'modern' art as such but is connected with ordinary human reaction to novelty of any sort. Art is always novel. It all aspires to the condition of Duchamp's Fountain (III. í j, in so far as it means to be something