This title was first published in 2000. This work sets out to establish an original sociology of art and artistic practice. Based on the theories of Emile Durkheim, and contemporary models of complex social systems, it offers a critique of current history, philosophy and sociology of art. It cites a series of critical moments in the history of art in which communities of practice, criticism and appreciation are realized in images and in words. In so doing the work stands in a constructive, critical and informative relation to much contemporary art historical theory.