The Buck Passing Theory of Art James O
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Retrieving Kant's Aesthetics for Art Theory After
8 Retrieving Kant’s Aesthetics for Art Theory After Greenberg Some Remarks on Arthur C. Danto and Thierry de Duve Diarmuid Costello The Fate of Aesthetics in Contemporary Art Theory In art theory since the early 1980s the discourse of aesthetics has been notable by its absence. Th is suggests that the majority of art theorists believe that the historical or conceptual limits of aesthetic theory have been breached by the internal development of art after modernism. But why would art theorists believe this? I n a n s w e r t o t h i s q u e s t i o n I s u g g e s t — I t a k e i t n o n c o n t r o v e r s i a l l y — t h a t the widespread marginalization of aesthetics in postmodern art theory may be attributed to the success of the art critic and theorist Clement Greenberg. In co- opting the discourse of (particularly Kantian) aesthetics to underwrite modernist theory, Greenberg mediated the art world’s sub- sequent rejection of both aesthetics in general and Immanuel Kant’s aes- thetics in par tic u lar. But one need only refl ect on the centrality for postmodern theory of anti- aesthetic fi gures like Marcel Duchamp or of movements (such as surrealism), marginalized in Greenberg’s account of “the best modern art,” to see that for all their antipathy to Greenberg, many postmodernist art theorists continue to operate with a broadly Greenbergian view of aesthetics—which is why, of course, they are forced to reject it. -
Outline of a Sociological Theory of Art Perception∗
From: Pierre Bordieu The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature ©1984, Columbia University Press Part III: The Pure Gaze: Essays on Art, Chapter 8 Outline of a Sociological Theory of Art Perception∗ PIERRE BOURDIEU 1 Any art perception involves a conscious or unconscious deciphering operation. 1.1 An act of deciphering unrecognized as such, immediate and adequate ‘comprehension’, is possible and effective only in the special case in which the cultural code which makes the act of deciphering possible is immediately and completely mastered by the observer (in the form of cultivated ability or inclination) and merges with the cultural code which has rendered the work perceived possible. Erwin Panofsky observes that in Rogier van der Weyden’s painting The Three Magi we immediately perceive the representation of an apparition’ that of a child in whom we recognize ‘the Infant Jesus’. How do we know that this is an apparition? The halo of golden rays surrounding the child would not in itself be sufficient proof, because it is also found in representations of the nativity in which the Infant Jesus is ‘real’. We come to this conclusion because the child is hovering in mid-air without visible support, and we do so although the representation would scarcely have been different had the child been sitting on a pillow (as in the case of the model which Rogier van der Weyden probably used). But one can think of hundreds of pictures in which human beings, animals or inanimate objects appear to be hovering in mid-air, contrary to the law of gravity, yet without giving the impression of being apparitions. -
Art in the Mirror: Reflection in the Work of Rauschenberg, Richter, Graham and Smithson
ART IN THE MIRROR: REFLECTION IN THE WORK OF RAUSCHENBERG, RICHTER, GRAHAM AND SMITHSON DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Eileen R. Doyle, M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2004 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Stephen Melville, Advisor Professor Lisa Florman ______________________________ Professor Myroslava Mudrak Advisor History of Art Graduate Program Copyright by Eileen Reilly Doyle 2004 ii ABSTRACT This dissertation considers the proliferation of mirrors and reflective materials in art since the sixties through four case studies. By analyzing the mirrored and reflective work of Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, Dan Graham and Robert Smithson within the context of the artists' larger oeuvre and also the theoretical and self-reflective writing that surrounds each artist’s work, the relationship between the wide use of industrially-produced materials and the French theory that dominated artistic discourse for the past thirty years becomes clear. Chapter 2 examines the work of Robert Rauschenberg, noting his early interest in engaging the viewer’s body in his work—a practice that became standard with the rise of Minimalism and after. Additionally, the theoretical writing the French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty provides insight into the link between art as a mirroring practice and a physically engaged viewer. Chapter 3 considers the questions of medium and genre as they arose in the wake of Minimalism, using the mirrors and photo-based paintings of Gerhard Richter as its focus. It also addresses the particular way that Richter weaves the motifs and concerns of traditional painting into a rhetoric of the death of painting which strongly implicates the mirror, ultimately opening up Richter’s career to a psychoanalytic reading drawing its force from Jacques Lacan’s writing on the formation of the subject. -
Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice
Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice PUBLICATIONS COORDINATION: Dinah Berland EDITING & PRODUCTION COORDINATION: Corinne Lightweaver EDITORIAL CONSULTATION: Jo Hill COVER DESIGN: Jackie Gallagher-Lange PRODUCTION & PRINTING: Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZERS: Erma Hermens, Art History Institute of the University of Leiden Marja Peek, Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science, Amsterdam © 1995 by The J. Paul Getty Trust All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America ISBN 0-89236-322-3 The Getty Conservation Institute is committed to the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide. The Institute seeks to advance scientiRc knowledge and professional practice and to raise public awareness of conservation. Through research, training, documentation, exchange of information, and ReId projects, the Institute addresses issues related to the conservation of museum objects and archival collections, archaeological monuments and sites, and historic bUildings and cities. The Institute is an operating program of the J. Paul Getty Trust. COVER ILLUSTRATION Gherardo Cibo, "Colchico," folio 17r of Herbarium, ca. 1570. Courtesy of the British Library. FRONTISPIECE Detail from Jan Baptiste Collaert, Color Olivi, 1566-1628. After Johannes Stradanus. Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum-Stichting, Amsterdam. Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Historical painting techniques, materials, and studio practice : preprints of a symposium [held at] University of Leiden, the Netherlands, 26-29 June 1995/ edited by Arie Wallert, Erma Hermens, and Marja Peek. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-89236-322-3 (pbk.) 1. Painting-Techniques-Congresses. 2. Artists' materials- -Congresses. 3. Polychromy-Congresses. I. Wallert, Arie, 1950- II. Hermens, Erma, 1958- . III. Peek, Marja, 1961- ND1500.H57 1995 751' .09-dc20 95-9805 CIP Second printing 1996 iv Contents vii Foreword viii Preface 1 Leslie A. -
Rethinking Plato's Theory of Art: Aesthetics and the Timaeus
Rethinking Plato’s Theory of Art: Aesthetics and the Timaeus Omid Tofighian Introduction The Timaeus presents a fascinating account of the cosmos. It includes a creation myth that introduces the figure known as the ‘Demiurge’, who, despite the fact that he is the cause of the sensible world, is reverently attributed with reason, and whose creation – the cosmos – is actually beautiful and good. In this dialogue Plato offers his readers a panorama of the universe. But just what are his intentions for this? Is his approach a precursor to the methods of natural science,1 or does the Timaeus fall under the category of theology? This paper will discuss Plato’s cosmological treatise and certain consequences that can be drawn, that is, how the methods used to analyse the origins and structure of the universe reveal a more existential attitude towards aesthetics. In the Timaeus Plato explores the complexities of mimesis and entertains the possibility that imitation could actually exhibit ideal qualities. These considerations have repercussions for the status of the material world in Plato’s cosmology, but they may also be extended to rethink his theory of art. I wish to analyse a number of salient themes in the Timaeus such as ontology, mythic symbols and the use of rhetoric. I will demonstrate how Plato’s view towards these themes in the Timaeus can be extrapolated to reassess his aesthetics. My critical analysis will provoke the question – ‘What evaluation of art would Plato have offered in accordance with the positions explicated in the Timaeus?’ Upon investigating a number of dialogues, searching specifically for references to art or representation, I realised that certain views I had thought to be exclusive to the Timaeus, or other late dialogues, also featured in works as early as the Ion. -
What “Rand's Aesthetics” Is, and Why It Matters1 Michelle Marder Kamhi
Discussion Reply to The Aesthetics Symposium (Spring 2001) What “Rand’s Aesthetics” Is, and Why It Matters1 Michelle Marder Kamhi This is the first of a two-part reply to our Spring 2001 symposium on Ayn Rand’s philosophy of art. In our Fall 2003 issue, we will publish part two, written by Louis Torres. — The Editors The Aesthetics Symposium is described in the journal’s table of contents as “[a] discussion of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of art inspired by Louis Torres and Michelle Marder Kamhi’s What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand.” The ten contributors vary widely in the extent to which they deal with either Rand’s theory of art or our book, however. While Lester Hunt and Jeff Riggenbach offer on the whole thoughtful, though not necessarily approving, responses to our analysis and application of Rand’s theory, two of the longest essays —those by John Hospers2 and Barry Vacker—scarcely touch on Rand’s philoso- phy of art, much less on our book. David Kelley focuses on two points we raised in “Critical Neglect of Ayn Rand’s Theory of Art” (Kamhi & Torres 2000)—a chapter omitted from the book and subsequently published in this journal.3 Like Kelley, Roger Bissell deals only with points related to that article, not with the main thesis of our book.4 Michael Newberry deals exclusively with the application of Rand’s concept of metaphysical value-judgments to the interpretation of paintings. Gene Bell-Villada appears to deal with the substance of our book—in particular, with our application of Rand’s theory in Part II—but he so often ignores or misconstrues our point that it is The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies 4, no. -
Painting Outside the Lines: How Daoism Shaped
PAINTING OUTSIDE THE LINES: HOW DAOISM SHAPED CONCEPTIONS OF ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE IN MEDIEVAL CHINA, 800–1200 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN RELIGION (ASIAN) AUGUST 2012 By Aaron Reich Thesis Committee: Poul Andersen, Chairperson James Frankel Kate Lingley Acknowledgements Though the work on this thesis was largely carried out between 2010–2012, my interest in the religious aspects of Chinese painting began several years prior. In the fall of 2007, my mentor Professor Poul Andersen introduced me to his research into the inspirational relationship between Daoist ritual and religious painting in the case of Wu Daozi, the most esteemed Tang dynasty painter of religious art. Taken by a newfound fascination with this topic, I began to explore the pioneering translations of Chinese painting texts for a graduate seminar on ritual theory, and in them I found a world of potential material ripe for analysis within the framework of religious studies. I devoted the following two years to intensive Chinese language study in Taiwan, where I had the fortuitous opportunity to make frequent visits to view the paintings on exhibit at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Once I had acquired the ability to work through primary sources, I returned to Honolulu to continue my study of literary Chinese and begin my exploration into the texts that ultimately led to the central discoveries within this thesis. This work would not have been possible without the sincere care and unwavering support of the many individuals who helped me bring it to fruition. -
Kant, Art, and Art History
Kant, Art, and Art History Moments of Discipline mark a. cheetham University of Toronto published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, uk 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011-4211, usa 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, vic 3166, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon ´ 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org Mark A. Cheetham 2001 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2001 Printed in the United States of America Typeface Concorde 9.75/13 pt. System MagnaType [ag] A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Cheetham, Mark A. (Mark Arthur), 1954– Kant, Art, and Art History: moments of discipline / Mark A. Cheetham. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-521-80018-8 1. Kant, Immanuel, 1724–1804–Contributions in aesthetics. 2. Aesthetics, Modern. 3. Art–Philosophy. I. Title. b2799.A4 c48 2001 111′.85′092–dc21 00-063029 isbn 0 521 80018 8 hardback Contents Acknowledgments page ix 1 Introduction: Bo(a)rders 1 Why (Not) Kant? 7 Moments and Places of Discipline 11 Plasmatics 24 2 Place and Time: Kant in Rome, c. 1800 38 Kant in Rome 41 The Concurrency of Reception 45 The Politics of Beauty 52 3 The Genealogy of Authority: Kant and Art’s History in the Twentieth Century 67 “Immanent Meaning” and the Historicity of Art: 68 Panofsky and Kant Kant and Cubism Revisited 78 Clement Greenberg’s Strategic Formalism 87 4 The Sublime Is Now (Again): French Theory / International Art 101 Derrida’s Sublime 103 The Sublime Is Now (Again) 114 Scapes 124 The Limits of Pointing 130 Intimations of a Countersublime 136 vii contents 5 Kant’s Skull: Portraits and the Image of Philosophy, c. -
Abstraction: on Ambiguity and Semiosis in Abstract Painting
Abstraction: On Ambiguity and Semiosis in Abstract Painting Joseph Daws Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Visual Arts Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology 2013 2 Abstract This research project examines the paradoxical capacity of abstract painting to apparently ‘resist’ clear and literal communication and yet still generate aesthetic and critical meaning. My creative intention has been to employ experimental and provisional painting strategies to explore the threshold of the readable and the recognisable for a contemporary abstract painting practice. Within the exegetical component I have employed Damisch’s theory of /cloud/, as well as the theories expressed in Gilles Deleuze’s Logic of Sensation, Jan Verwoert ‘s writings on latency, and abstraction in selected artists’ practices. I have done this to examine abstract painting’s semiotic processes and the qualities that can seemingly escape structural analysis. By emphasizing the latent, transitional and dynamic potential of abstraction it is my aim to present a poetically-charged comprehension that problematize viewers’ experiences of temporality and cognition. In so doing I wish to renew the creative possibilities of abstract painting. 3 Keywords abstract, ambiguity, /cloud/, contemporary, Damisch, Deleuze, latency, transition, painting, passage, threshold, semiosis, Verwoert 4 Signed Statement of Originality The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text. Signature: Date: 6th of February 2014 5 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to my Principal Supervisor Dr Daniel Mafe and Associate Supervisor Dr Mark Pennings and acknowledge their contributions to this research project. -
Kant Expressive Theory Music
Kant’s Expressive Theory of Music Samantha Matherne Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (2014, pre-print) Abstract: Several prominent philosophers of art (e.g., Kivy, Dahlhaus, Schueller) have worried whether Kant has a coherent theory of music on account of two perceived tensions in his view. First, there appears to be a conflict between his formalist and expressive commitments. Second (and even worse), Kant defends seemingly contradictory claims about music being beautiful and merely agreeable, i.e., not beautiful. Against these critics, I show that Kant has a consistent view of music that reconciles these tensions. I argue that, for Kant, music can be experienced as either agreeable or beautiful depending upon the attitude we take towards it. Though we might be tempted to think he argues that we experience music as agreeable when we attend to its expressive qualities and as beautiful when we attend to its formal properties, I demonstrate that he actually claims that we are able to judge music as beautiful only if we are sensitive to the expression of emotion through musical form. With this revised understanding of Kant’s theory of music in place, I conclude by sketching a Kantian solution to a central problem in the philosophy of music: given that music is not sentient, how can it express emotion? §1. Introduction As philosophers like Peter Kivy and Stephen Davies have emphasized, one of the central issues in the philosophy of music is the problem of expression.1 Frequently when we hear a piece of instrumental music, we describe it as expressing an emotion, e.g., Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ symphony sounds triumphant or Chopin’s Étude in E Major (Op. -
Mathematics and Painting
Mathematics and painting HENRIK JELDTOFT JENSEN Department of Mathematics, Imperial College, London, UK Mathematics and painting are interrelated in many ways. At a technical level mathematics can be used to enhance our appreciation of paintings. This was recently demonstrated beautifully by Taylor, Micolich, and Jones in their analysis of Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, which led them to the conclusion that Pollock’s paintings are in a way gurative pictures. Relations also exist at a more basic level. Painting and mathematics can share subject matter, as is illustrated here by a discussion of the mathematical concepts ‘open’ and ‘closed’, which are related to paintings by Pollock, Kandinsky, Turner, and van Gogh. It is suggested in conclusion that mathematics and painting are so closely related and have so many similarities that it is reasonable to consider them simply as two diVerent but complementary ways of visualising aspects of the concrete or abstract reality in which we are embedded. Mathematics and ne art painting are two examples very speci c way when the task is, through either of the human consciousness striving to comprehend painting or mathematics, to represent some speci c reality – not just the immediate physical reality around object. But often the constraints on creativity experi- us, but reality in its broadest sense. Relations and enced by the creative mind, whether the artist’s or parallels between these two disciplines are therefore the mathematician’s, are not so much physically explicit to be expected. The artist as well as the mathematician as they are constraints arising from the need to pro- is involved in attempting to make sense of the world. -
Poetry Is an Exemplar of This Line of Analysis
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA A thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in pamal hilfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Comparative Literature DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES AND COMPARATIVE STUDIES EDMONTON, ALBERTA SPRING 1998 National Library Bibliothbque nationale (*) oi Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Seivices services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaON K1AONc) Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada Your fi& Votre ralMma Our file Narre rdWrsnce The author bas granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in rnicroform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. Theauthorretainsownershipofthe L'auteurconservelapropriétédu copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author' s ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT Ut pictura poesis-' as painting, so is poeuy'-is an analogy between painting and literature that has been studied since antiquity. This study is a survey of that concept and some of the questions it has generated. The first pan of the study is a review, focusing on classical and Renaissance philosophy, of the contribution of the analogy to a definition of the arts as imitative or representative of the physical world and as mediated by the senses; to classifications of the arts as visual or verbal, spatially or temporally mediated; and to aesthetics and theory.