20 th Century Theories of Art

1. 20th Century Theories of Art

2. 20th Century Theories of Art Clive Bell – Beauty Theory of Art Susanne Langer – Expressive Symbolism R.G. Collinwood- Imaginative Expression Morris Weitz- Wittgensteinian

3. Clive Bell: Beauty Theory of Art Clive Bell Art 1914 Art is something that has the essential property of “significant form” This property is an aesthetic property that cannot be reduced to any natural property or set of properties. It produces in us an aesthetic emotion. Bell was influenced by G.E. Moore’s ethical views.

4. G.E. Moore Moore argued that the concept Good was not reducible to any natural properties, such as pleasure. His argument is called the Open–question argument. If two concepts are logically equivalent, then to ask whether one is the other is meaningless. For instance, a bachelor is an unmarried man. To ask whether a bachelor is unmarried or to ask whether a bachelor is a man is meaningless.

5. Open Question Argument Good is logically equivalent to pleasant. The question is this pleasant state of affair,x, good should be a meaningless question. But it is we can conceive many pleasant state of affair in which such a question is not meaningless, hence it is an open question. Therefore, Good is not logically equivalent to pleasure.

6. Art What is art is similar to Moore’s idea of good because it is a simple and unanalyzable property.

7. Aesthetic Theory Based solely on feelings (taste). General and universal judgments. There is a difference between the subjective liking of a work of art and recognizing it as a good work of art. So you might like work A,B, C and D, and I like C,D,F, and G. We can both admit that A-G are all works of art and have property x. We just have different preferences.

8. How do we know? Significant form cannot be reduced to anything further. It is a special combination of the content of the art that evokes a special aesthetic feeling. One cannot explain or show another the feeling. A person can know the feeling only by feeling it themselves.

9. Clive’s Aesthetic Theory Aesthetic theory has nothing to do with the artist, or how the artists produced the work. The theory rest solely on the relationship between viewer (audience) and the content of the art.

10. Significant Form Significant form refers to the arrangement of lines and colors in a visual work of art that causes in the viewer a peculiar kind of emotion, the aesthetic emotion. The aesthetic emotion is not the same as the admiration for natural things, which we sometimes call beauty. The aesthetic emotion is not the same as the feeling we get when one see’s a sexually attractive (desirable) person (sensual).

11. Significant form Significant form is the essence of art. Significant form is the necessary and sufficient condition of art. It evokes the aesthetic emotion.

12. Art The purpose of art is NOT to convey ideas or a message. Therefore, a descriptive painting is not art. For example, Frith’s Paddington station is not art!

13. Frith’s Paddington Station Thisd