Theory of Knowledge

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
====== Aesthetic Judgement ======
----
===== Different Art Forms =====

^ art form ^ performance ^ non-performance ^
| literature | poetry reading, theatre | fiction, poetry, drama |
| music | classical, pop, folk | - |
| dance | ballet, modern/contemporary, traditional | - |
| visual | - | painting/drawing, sculpture, fashion design |
| cinema | - | entertainment, art house, documentary |
| architecture | - | modern, traditional, everyday |

===== Content and Form: Representational and Abstract Art =====

in language, we can distinguish between the __content__ of a sentence and its __form__ -- e.g.
  * "John loves Mary",
  * "Mary is loved by John": same content, different form,
  * "John hates Mary": same form, different content;
this distinction can also be applied in the case of works of art, although it may not always be obvious what the content or the form are.

art that has a clear content is called __representational__, other art, which appears not to be //about// anything, is called __abstract__.

^ art form ^ content ^ form ^
| literature | story, plot, setting | division into acts or chapters, rhyme and metre, vocabulary |
| music | lyrics, but also (the form of) emotions (Susanne K. Langer) | structure, e.g. verses, instrumentation, dynamics and speed |
| dance |  |  |
| visual |  |  |
| cinema |  |  |
| architecture |  |  |

===== Genres and Styles =====

===== High Art and Low Art? =====

===== What do We Base Aesthetic Judgements on? =====

it may help to think of art as a form of communication that we can compare with language:
<code>
                                   sound, text
language:  speaker/writer    =======================>  listener/reader
                                    language
                               
                               object, event (= it)           
art:       artist (= he/she) =======================>  audience, spectators, ... (= me)
                                  genre, style         + critics (= they)
</code>
note: a critic is a specialist who helps us understand a (purported) work of art better, and thereby enables us to evaluate it -- so I read critics even after I have attended a concert or finished a novel;\\ a good piece of criticism, including a good literature lesson in school, should enable me to understand, appreciate and hopefully enjoy a work more.

so when judging a (purported) work of art we can use

  * __he/she:__ the artist's intention, ("If I say I have made a work of art, you must accept it as a work of art.") his/her background, period, biography;

  * __me:__ the spectator's or audience's feelings and emotions ("I know what I like!" or: "Everyone likes it, so it is a great song.")

  * __it:__ properties of the work itself, formal aspects like balance, use of colour, intensity, ORIGINALITY;

  * __they:__ the general consensus, especially of informed specialists who have studied the art form, ("It must be a great work because I saw it in the museum.")

for each of these ways, there have been people arguing that it is the only correct one, but in practice we use all of these.
Theory of Knowledge

User Tools

Site Tools

Page Tools
