The Philosophy of Art

This piece is remarkable as much for its author as for its content. Arthur Frothingham was instrumental in forming Princeton's art history curriculum and was one of the most respected archaeologists and art historians of his time, working in both ancient and medieval art, co-founding the American Journal of Archaeology, and serving as associate director of the American Academy in Rome. In this essay, Frothingham lays out his view of art – not only plastic arts, but literature, philosophy, politics, and religion – as a unified whole. Here one of the founding fathers of Art History provides his answer to the question “What is Art?”