letter to the Commissioner

[claim: the term 'art' has shifted over time].


I can concede all of that, but my basic point still stands. The term 'art' as used today does not appear to have the same sense as it did in the 19th Century. Take the following utterances:

1a Leonardo da Vinci is an artist. 1b The Mona Lisa is an artwork.

2a Marcel Duchamp is an artist. 2b Nude Ascending a Staircase is an artwork.

3a Chris Burden is an artist. 3b "Shoot" (1971) is an artwork [in which he was shot in the left arm]

4a Tracey Emin is an artist 4b My Bed (1999) is an artwork


I would say that the terms 'artwork' in 1b and 2b have the same meaning, and the terms 'artist' have the same meaning in 1a and 2a. But the terms 'artwork' and 'artist' in 3a,b and 4a,b simply do not have the same meaning. That's the real argument: what the term 'art' actually means is a matter of semantics. So, I agree with you that the meanings of words can shift over time; what I think is seriously problematic is the assertion that Burden and Emin are artists in the same sense that Da Vinci is an artist. The term 'art' has shifted in its referent, just as the terms 'awesome' and 'enchanted' have been cheapened.