Art for art's sake Art for art's sake "Art for art's sake" is the usual English rendering of a French slogan from the early 19th century, "l'art pour l'art", and expresses a philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only "true" art, is divorced from any didactic, moral, or utilitarian function. Such works are sometimes described as "autotelic", from the Greek "autoteles", "complete in itself", a concept that has been expanded to embrace "inner-directed" or "self-motivated" human beings. The term is sometimes used commercially. A Latin version of this phrase ("ARS GRATIA ARTIS") is used as a motto by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and appears
Ars Americana Ars Politica Ars Americana Ars Politica Ars Americana, Ars Politica: Partisan Expression in Contemporary American Literature and Culture is a 2010 critical study by Peter Swirski. The book examines contemporary American political literature and culture in the context of American politics and history. It examines not only the partisan credentials of what it argues is a new brand of art engagé but also the nobrow style in which it conducts its political business. The principal examples of American literature that Swirski discusses in detail are: Irving Wallace’s "The Man" (1964), Richard Condon’s "Death of a Politician" (1978), P.J. O’Rourke’s "Parliament of Whores"