Stanizewski defines Art as an invention of the modern era. She says, “Art, as we know it is a relatively recent phenomenon and is something made to be seen in galleries, preserved in museums, purchased by collectors, and reproduced within the mass media. When an artist creates a work of Art it has no intrinsic use or value; but when this artwork circulates within the systems of Art (galleries, art histories, art publications, museums, and so on) it acquires a depth of meaning, a breadth of importance, and

In the twentieth century, there has been a much wider acceptance of what constitutes a work of Art. In the past, there were specific ideals and standards of beauty, but with the new definition of Art according to modern values, there have been a number of different artistic styles that developed throughout the last century. Futurism, Expressionism, Dadaism, Surrealism, the De Stijl movement, the Bauhaus, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art, among others characterized the diverse works of Art that define contemporary art. The Futurists focused on the benefits of modern technology. The Dadaists wanted to overcome traditional fine art, and to give it meaning. Surrealists were concerned with the desires of modern life. Under the de Stijl and Bauhaus movements, the modern world was recreated (227-236). With all these different styles, it is easy to see how we, as ‘free’ subjects determine how we see value in artistic production. There were advocates of each of these styles of Art, in addition to people who dismissed the work as uninspired. Differing opinions about the aesthetic beauty of a work have proven time and again that contemporary art has a much wider scope than the visual work of the past.

Staniszewski, Mary Anne. Believing Is Seeing: Creating the Culture of Art. New York: Penguin

an increase in value that is greater proportionately than perhaps anything else in the modern world” (28). In other words, it is not unt

Some topics in this essay:
Marcel Duchamp, Believing Seeing, Stijl Bauhaus, Leonardo Michelangelo, Pop Art, , Vinci Michelangelo, contemporary art, De Stijl, Anne Staniszewski, Penguin Books, art specific history, “to question art, specific history belongs, belongs particular, art specific, history belongs, specific history, question art, believing seeing, history belongs particular, art past, standards beauty, belongs particular era, era tell,