| Abstract: |
The twentieth century was a time of rapid globalization for advanced art.
Artists from a larger number of countries made important contributions than in
earlier periods, and they did so in a larger number of places. Many important
innovations also diffused more rapidly, and more widely, than in earlier
times. The dominance for much of the century of conceptual forms of art, from
Cubism and Dada to Pop and Conceptual Art, was largely responsible for the
greater speed with which innovations spread: conceptual techniques are
communicated more readily, and are generally more versatile in their uses,
than experimental methods. There is no longer a single dominant place in the
art world, comparable to Paris for the first century of modern art, but it is
unlikely that a large number of places will join New York and London as
centers of artistic innovation in the future. |