Art Luosuo Version 1

Knowledge and Inquiry Questions / ​ Parallels ​ / ​ Main Ideas Notes Art: Meaning, Nature, Construction, Validity, Society Readings I plan to use 1. The ethical criticism of art (12) 2. Philosophy-of-the-Arts-Gordon-Graham (first 3 chapters, especially the one on understanding, 10 or 75) a. Art and Pleasure (12) b. Art and Understanding (14) 3. The_Institutional_Theory_of_Art_A_Survey (8) 4. Evaluating Art_Alan Goldman (9) 5. Readings Used 1. Art And Knowledge Art is often thought to be unrelated to Knowledge, however it does make Knowledge claims such as... Knowledge Claims from Art ● Vividness ● Richness ● Originality (of Artist) ● Imaginativeness (Of Artist) ● Emotion ● Expressiveness Problem: Art is often thought to have more value in the following responses > Knowledge ● Emotional ● Psychological ● Sociological ● See “We cannot know art, we can only appreciate it” essays Aesthetics and Art ● Art Claims ≠ Aesthetic Claims ○ Something is Beautiful = Something is aesthetically pleasing ≠ Something is Art ○ However, Art must have aesthetic qualities (see necessary qualities of Art) To understand the NATURE of ART, we shall examine the...

Necessary Qualities of Art ● Intentionally composed at Presentation ○ Product of people: Tree vs Cut Bonsai ■ Nature can have Aesthetic Properties but ≠ Art ○ Intention: Intention Does not need to be the primary intention; Only needs to exist ■ Monuments: Intended to Convey Historical Knowledge, but Artistic Intention exists ○ Distinct from the effect on the Audience ■ An Asian American’s migration story may have the purpose of expressing the migrant’s experiences but have the effect of being a critique on racial politics ● Inspires: An Aesthetic Source with Aesthetic Properties for ​ Knowledge Construction ​ of Message ○ // Definitions of Art ● Presence of Viewer ● Some extent of Skill: Work of art may be so bad that society cannot identify any aesthetic properties These two Qualities ​ are NECESSARY but not SUFFICIENT ​ in defining something as ART, thus we have different DEFINITIONS OF ART such as… ● The definitions of art have grown over time to accept more things as art: Mimesis → Representation → Expression → Formalism → Historicism → Institutionalism Mimesis Art should be a model of the ​ Natural World ​ and ​ Mimic Nature Literally ● Object ​ → Artist → Art ● Leeway: Can vary arrangement and presentation ● // Correspondence Theory, Verisimilitude in Literature ● Most Dominant and Intuitive Definition of Art Good Art ● Accurate ​ reflection of reality Problems ● Insufficient: Excludes some pieces ​ without a subject-matter ​ that we would generally consider art ○ Abstract Art: Uses a shape, form, color and line to create a composition > reference to real-world objects ■ //Formalism ○ Music without words ○ Mr Dio: Later types of Art which are Expressionist/Formalist etc. could be simply imitating different subject-matters e.g. the complexity of modern life ● Plato: Art is an inferior K source ○ All objects have Ideal Forms

○ The physical world is “…as we experience it, is an illusion, a collection of mere appearances like reflections in a mirror or shadows on a wall.” ○ Artists mimic the physical world therefore basing their K-claims about the artwork on a ​ copy of an Ideal form ​ rather than the Ideal form itself ■ Artists ​ only Know the Visual aspects ​ of the Object Imitated ■ Art is a copy of the copy of the form ○ ≠ Craftsmen: Use ​ raw ideal form ​ of Object to bring it into physical reality ■ Craft based on True Knowledge in Raw form > An imitation of it ○ Therefore Art ​ does not help in increasing K ​ of Audience ● Plato: Art is Deceptive ○ Sensual and Persuasive > Concerned with Truth ○ Emotionally Destabilising ■ Counterproductive ■ Dangerous ○ Threat to Political Stability ■ May stir up negative emotions we are trying to control ● Art is ultimately and inevitably more Representational (see below) than Mimetic ○ Painting of a Person: 2-dimensional rather than 3 dimensional, Paint vs Pores ○ Literature: Even if we were to restrict art to Reports, Reports choose specific qualities of Objects/Events ■ Cannot reflect all qualities of Objects/Events ● e.g. The number of dewdrops on the grass during the Battle of Napoleon, the name of each Soldier’s Horse, which Harry Potter Character shares the Same star sign as Napoleon’s Generals (Number 6 will shock you) ■ Tone and Style are inevitable in words ■ Truly Mimetic: Boring ■ The map is not the territory: Otherwise it would not be a map ● Art has its value in drawing out the key parts of things ○ Drama: Cannot reflect all qualities of Objects/Events ■ Time ■ Exact Occurrences not fully expressed in a linear fashion Representation Art should ​ represent ​ reality ● Object ​ → ​ Artist ​ → Art ● ≠ Mimesis: No need to show reality precisely

● Should involve the observation of object > Intellectual Interpretation (as in abstract art) Good Art ● Real-world object represented should be ​ distinctly recognisable ○ Less limitation in Colours, Texture etc Mimetic Art Representational Art Problems ● Insufficient: Excludes some pieces ​ without a subject-matter ​ that we would generally consider art ○ Abstract Art: Uses a shape, form, color and line to create a composition > reference to real-world objects ■ //Formalism ○ Music without words Expression Art is an outer manifestation of the ​ inner state ​ of the Artist ● Artist ​ → Art → Audience / ​ Artist ​ → Object → Art → Audience ● The “inner state” has been thought to constitute: ○ Self-expression

○ Expression of feelings ​ (not necessarily one’s own feeling) which include emotions and attitudes ■ Feelings of race, nation and all humanity ■ Most historically significant and developed Expressionist view from the Romantic movement ○ Ideas and Thoughts ● Claims that Art has expressive qualities ○ The elements of the artpiece ​ carry rather than evoke ​ a certain emotion/attitude ■ It is the ​ feelings the artist aimed to express ​ that are being felt, rather than feelings inspired by yourself ○ Support: Similarities between certain formal features of the artwork and features of human attitudes/feelings ■ Restlessness → Rapid Breathing and Drumming Fingers // Trills, Quavers, and increases in Tempo in Music ○ Tolstoy: Aim of Art is to embody qualities of feeling so as to evoke the said feelings within the audience Self-Relief view on Expression: Art as the pursuit of relief from clarifying one’s Ideas and Feelings ● Art is preceded by a ​ perturbation or excitement ​ from a ​ vague ​ cause about which the artist is ​ uncertain and therefore anxious ● By expressing these feelings and ideas with a medium, the artist achieves a relief from tension as the said elements are ​ clarified ○ Has managed to “express what he wanted to express” ● Limitations ○ Does not make the element of an audience necessary or relevant to the artpiece ○ Limits expression to the first and third views above; the emotions and attitudes must come from the artist himself ○ Not sufficient: Excludes purely abstract, mimetic, representational, historical art ● ≠ Craft: A good Artist does not need to know what the end-product will be like at the beginning and in the midst of the artistic creation ○ A good Craftsman is aware of the exact dimensions, materials and tools involved in making the Artpiece ○ // Plato’s criticisms of Art also apply to Expressionist Art ○ // Formalism: ≠ Abstract Art ○ //Access Externalism in General Epistemology: Artist does not Know what Aesthetic Knowledge he will put across in making Art