Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Formalism
- Refers to the idea that what
matters in a work of art is
not what it represents or
expresses, but the form of
the art.
- Form in art means the particular
artistic qualities such as elegance,
balance or grace.
- It encompasses all forms of art - abstract art that
is not representative and art without emotional
value. Context also becomes irrelevant.
- Clive Bell and art as significant form
- Art is created by
humans and have the
ability to produce an
aesthetic emotion.
- An aesthetic emotion is
the singular pleasure
provided by a work of art.
- Significant form is achieved
through combination of
lines, shapes and colours,
which relate to each other in
specific ways
- Art can be non-represnetatiive as
artists may use their imagination
beyond our individual perspectives
- The task of the viewer is not to understand the
expression of emotion
- Bell's example of bad art: William Firth's 'The Railway Station'
- It's purpose is to represent a particular scene
but Bell felt that the result is unattractive - it
does not provoke an aesthetic rapture
- Bell's example of good art: Cezanne's 'Hillside in Provence'
- It is not an accurate portrayal but the way that he has put the
colours together produces an aesthetic response
- Strengths
- encompasses most types of art; abstract,
non-representative, unemotional and architecture.
- No need for understanding of context -
explains how we can be interested in a
painting and not what the painting is of
- distinguishes what is not art
through significant form, nature or
human expression can not be art
- all art has signicant form and significant form is what art is
- objectivity - modern formalists distinguish
form from beauty, and value art solely for its
formal features.
- appreciation of beauty is subjective,
appreaciation of form is not.
- art can be useful as representation or giving
moral message but the principal function
must be aesthetic
- Weaknesses
- elitism
- only a few people are sensitive
viewers and can understand and
analyse the formal qualities of art
- ivory tower view of art, in so
far as the study of formal
qualities in art are too removed
from other meaningful human
experiences
- forgeries
- a perfect forgery would have the same form as the
original
- to claim that it is the fact that
the original has the artist's own
significant form is to get too
close to expressionist theories
- portraits and lanscapes
- the first thing we see in a
portrait or landscape is what
it represents and not the
formal qualities
- knowing the subject of a portrait can improve our appreciation of it
- art has an important place in life - that formalism neglects
- do we value Guernica by Picasso only for it's formal qualities? Or do we value it for
its effect on society - representing the horror of war
- ready-made objects
- does not account for
ready-made art that does not
have form in mind
- e.g. Duchamp's Fountain and Emin's My Bed
- circular
- significant form and aesthetic emotion define each other
- religious or moral art
- cathedrals were built to promote Christianity
- works of art can display
communication of religious
or social meanings