David E. Haberstich's electrons arrived as:

>Call me a linguistic fuddy-duddy, but I hate to see a common workhorse word
>like "contemporary" used to denote a style, any style.

I think it's doomed -- at least within the context of art-historical
thinking.  Most non-artworld folk will go on using it to denote what is
current, but for me it's already doing double duty as indicating a style.


Consider, though, the hapless museum of contemporary art, which goes on
forever acquiring what is current -- until enough time and change has
elapsed so that 90% (and climbing) of its collection is not
"contemporary" at all, but relics of the past!  Two hundred years hence,
will the year 2201 contemporary art museum boast that it only collects
art made since 1945?

     ______________________________________________________________
     S t e p h e n   N o w l i n     V.P., Director,
                                     Williamson Gallery

                                     Creative Director, ACCD online
     Art Center College of Design    www.artcenter.edu
     ______________________________________________________________

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