What Is Art : 27 Questions 27 Answers

What would life be like without art? This is hardly a rhetorical question: for at least as long as art criticism has existed, there has been a great deal of philosophizing and speculation on the topic. What Is Art? allows young readers and interested adults to quickly immerse themselves in the world of art. Young people have formulated 27 basic questions about art, which are by turns earnest, bemused, amusing and profound: how did art begin? At what point does something become art? What does an artist do when he or she doesn’t like a work? Why is the “Mona Lisa” so famous? Is graffiti art? Are forgeries art? Why are most artists men? And why do so many artists become famous only after their death? The easy-to-follow question-and-answer format invites the reader to dip into or browse the book at whim, finding out about historical developments and significant concepts, or gaining specific knowledge about artists, museums and works of art, in the process. Experts from the Beyeler Foundation provide accessible, anecdotal replies to each of the questions posed, which are accompanied by color photographs of young people at museums by Andri Pol.