"Art Theory" by Cynthia Freeland

In this "Very Short Introduction" the author begins with a challenge by describing artworks which utilise bodily fluids and challenge the idea that beauty is necessarily pretty. Thus, the first chapter is entitled "Blood and beauty"; goriness is something shared by some very challenging modern art pieces but also by all those renaissance paintings of martyrdom. From this she extracts her first art theory: that art began as a component of a ritual (noting that the central Christian ritual of the Eucharist involves blood). However she dismisses this theory: “For participants in a ritual, clarity and agreement of purpose are central ... Most modern art .... lacks the background reinforcement of pervasive community belief that provides meaning in terms of catharsis, sacrifice, or initiation.” So she seeks alternative theories of art.

For Hume agreement on what is good art was a matter of intersubjectivity. He thought that "men of taste acquire certain abilities that lead to agreement about which authors and artworks are the best. ... in doing so, they set a ‘standard of taste’ which is universal." However she points out that this process seems akin to "cultural indoctrination".

Kant believed that Beauty was an objective quality residing in the art object. One of the criteria was that good art has “purposiveness without a purpose”. This implies that if I am sexually aroused by Botticelli’s Venus then, for me, it is not art but pornography. Kant thought that "a beautiful object feels ‘right’. “The beautiful object appeals to our senses, but in a cool and detached way ... Art should inspire a special and disinterested response of distance and neutrality.”

“One of the most persistent of all theories of art, the imitation theory: art is an imitation of nature or of human life and action.” Thus, the Gombrich theory of “the history of Western art ... as a search for progressively more vivid renderings of reality.” The imitation theory, inevitably, led to a disagreement between Plato and Aristotle: Plato disliked imitations because they could never match up to his "eternal ideal realities”; Aristotle (in the Poetics), on the other hand, “felt that tragedy could educate by appealing to people's minds, feelings, and senses.”

Christian art theory started with Aquinas. “Aquinas theorized that Beauty was an essential or ‘transcendental’ property of God, like Goodness and Unity. Human artworks should emulate and aspire to God’s marvellous properties.” This led to the three key principles governing art in the middle ages: "proportion, light, and allegory.” The influence of proportion “dates back to Plato's Timaeus, where the creative ‘Demi- Urge’ used geometry to plan an orderly material world. The Christian God too was seen as the master builder of the Cosmos.” “Aquinas also emphasized light, using the term claritas, which denotes internal brightness and design.” hence the use in cathedrals of clerestories (clearing away the previous balconies) and therefore the need for flying buttresses.

“Nietzsche ... describe the origins of tragedy from the worship of the God Dionysus. Tragic vision showed the very essence of life as violence and suffering, with no meaning or justification. The beauty of ‘Apollonian’ poetry in Tragedy provides a veil through which we tolerate the horrific get enticing Dionysian Vision.”

Modern art critic “Danto concludes that a work of art is an object that embodies a meaning.” This means that "what artists can make as art depends upon the context of intentions possible for a given era and culture.” Freeland accepts this to some extent: “I do not mean to say we cannot begin to appreciate the power of nail fetish sculptures without further facts; but information add considerably to our experience.” “Richard Anderson (an ... ethno-aesthetician) argues that we can find something akin to art in all cultures: certain things are appreciated for their beauty, sensuous form, and skill of creation ... Anderson proposes to define art as ‘culturally significant meaning, skillfully encoded in an affecting, sensuous medium’.”

Freeland goes on to ask whether Art is about the emotions or about ideas. A bit of both, she suggests. “Expression Theory holds that art communicates something in the realm of feelings and emotions.” It was espoused by Leo Tolstoy. “Freud saw art as a form of ‘sublimation’, a gratification that substitutes for the actual satisfaction of our biologically given desires (such as the desire for oral or genital pleasure).” But “Artists are often admired because then can express ideas in ways that are original, apt, and unique to a particular medium.” "Artists share thematic concerns in a given episteme with other intellectuals, including philosophers and scientists.”

In the end, she sees all this disagreement as productive. “Critics help us see more in the artist’s work and understand it better. Interpretations are superior if they explain more aspects of the artist’s work.” “Experts notice many things that regular movie audiences might not, such as the intricate shot structure of the infamous shower scene in Psycho.”

An excellent brief introduction into 'What is Art?'

More great and thought-provoking quotes:

• “Blood ... has interesting similarities to paint. Fresh blood has an eye-catching hue with a glossy sheen. It will stick to a surface.” (C 1)
• “Blood is our human essence - Dracula sucks it up as he creates the undead. Blood can by holy or noble, the sacrificial blood of martyrs or soldiers. Spots of blood on sheets indicate the loss of virginity and passage to adulthood.” (C 1)
• “The cynical assessment is that blood in contemporary art does not forge meaningful associations, but promotes entertainment and profit. The art world is a competitive place, and artists need any edge they can get.” (C 1)
• “Wagner’s ...use of leitmotifs - phrases associated with particular themes or characters, as well as used for dramatic effect - recurs, for example, in John Williams's music for the Star Wars movies.” (C 2)
• “Cultures often come into contact through means that limit communication, such as imitation, shopping, and mass-market sales.” (C 3)
• “Despite gaps between cultures, intercultural contact is age-old. The art of ancient Greece was influenced by Egyptian sphinxes, Scythian goldsmithing, Syrian love goddesses, and Phoenician coin design.” (C 3)
• When the leader of an aboriginal dance troupe stepped forward at the end of a performance to tell the audience that there were CDs for sale, the author was shocked “as though he but not I had to remain trapped in the amber of the past.” (C 3)
• “Dictators and other political powers often suppress art because it provides a point of critical resistance.” (C 3)
• “Art and money interact in many institutions - in, particular museums. Museums preserve, collect, and educate the public and convey standards about art’s value and quality - but whose standards, and how?” (C 4)
• “As John Dewey commented in 1934, ‘Generally speaking, the typical collector is the typical capitalist.’ ... J Paul Getty’s ... tales of collecting are in each case accounts of how much he spent.” (C 4)
• "Dewey said that understanding art is like understanding another person. You may know how to interpret your beloved's smile, but can you summarize it in a sentence?” (C 6)
• “The elaborate three-minute videos broadcast worldwide on MTV specialize in rapid cuts and montage.” (C 7)

July 2019; 140 pages