ABSTRACT
Responding to the general feeling that old ways needed to change, many artists were becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the elitism of the traditional art world and its focus on the creation of gallery art for a privileged few. One problem was the gulf that seemed to separate the world they inhabited as art students and the world of the working-class people they wanted to reach. The writings of the art philosopher Arthur Danto, particularly those in which he elaborates the concept of the art world, can help us begin to untangle the threads. Danto’s original article was prompted by his visit to an early Andy Warhol exhibition featuring Warhol’s piece Brillo Box, which consists of simple replicas, on a larger scale, of Brillo pad cartons. Danto’s argument was taken up by George Dickie, who developed what he called the Institutional Theory of Art. The Free Form founders, by virtue of their art school training, could also be considered experts.
