C'est un oiseau ! » Brancusi vs États-Unis, ou quand la loi définit l'art

Bibliographic Data

ID4523290
AuthorsN Heinich (0000-0002-1897-9160, corresponding author)
Year1996
Volume34
Issue1
Pages649-672
Publication date1996-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDroit et société (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0769-3362 • E-ISSN: 1969-6973
PublisherPERSEE Program (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3406/dreso.1996.1390
OpenAlexW2329255885
LanguageFR
Citations received4

It's a Bird ! » Brancusi vs USA : When Law Defines Art. In 1928, the sculptor Brancusi filed a suit against the American customs, to obtain the recognition of one of his sculptures as a work of art. This trial dramatically emphasizes the link between a juridical argumentation, leaning on the formal rules of law, and an aesthetic argumentation, leaning on the informal conventions delimiting the common sense of art. It condenses in the judicial arena the repertoire of arguments which contributed first to the reaction against modem art, then to its institutional integration. What is at stake here is the reconstruction of a consensus, framed by law, on the proper delimitation of the cognitive boundaries of art, that is, on the definition of what can be considered artistic. Thus the winner was not only Brancusi, but also a « labelling theory » already experienced by Marcel Duchamp throughout artistic institutions : a theory which was to become, fifty years later, the standing point of a major turn in social sciences as well as in contemporary art

Argumentation theory · Art · Art history · Contemporary art · Epistemology · Humanities · Literature · Performance art · Repertoire · Sculpture · Sociology · Visual arts · Work of art · Education, sociology, and vocational training · Historical and Scientific Studies · Law in Society and Culture · Philosophy

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