Clive Bell

1635 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of art and aesthetics

Clive Bell argues that in order for an artwork to be considered art, it must evoke aesthetic emotion in the individual. If an individual or a group of individuals do in fact find aesthetic emotion in an artwork, Bell claims it is mainly because of significant form. He defines significant form as a significant relationship between lines, shapes, colors, and other sensory properties in an artwork that make it appealing to an audience. The common phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is similar to Bell’s theory in the sense the individual determines whether an artwork is worthy of acclamation. At one point he argues that no one has called a butterfly not beautiful and that it is universally viewed as beautiful. Bell stresses that there …show more content…

Bell also only limits his argument to human-made objects and does not address naturally made objects. Another problem is that there is a strict contrast between aesthetic and other emotions. Critics argue if “aesthetic emotion” is even real. If Bell could have explained, in detail, what aesthetic emotion is and used studies or cases rather than his opinion of artworks, his theory would be more acceptable. However, I agree with Bell’s view that in order for an artwork to be considered art, it must evoke aesthetic emotion although I do not fully understand what aesthetic emotion is. On the other hand, author R.G. Collingwood clearly defines a distinction in …show more content…

I believe, the “Last Supper” causes expression of emotion by making the viewer connect with the painting on a deeper level. Because of this deeper connection, the painting has a broader moral purpose. If a person were to just see a splatter painting, there might not be any emotional expression towards the artwork. By simply looking at a splatter painting a person wouldn’t know the history, emotion, or purpose. However, with the “Last Supper” most people know of its religious significance and history, which in turn allows for a more emotional and conscious experience. By conscious experience, I mean that a viewer will not only look at the painting, but actually think investigate, understand, and remember it better. Ultimately, Collingwood would most likely agree that the “Last Supper” causes an emotional connection, which overall serves as a significant moral purpose for the

Show More
Related

  • Joseph Hirsch 's Painting Analysis

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    As Hirsch intended, the painting is meant to teach a lesson in judgement and retribution. Hirsch’s painting showed the how we as human are susceptible to greed and it is something we need to overcome or we will be judged and punished.

    Read More

  • Comparison of Annunciation and The Raising of Lazarus

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...elationship between the people in the composition and their feelings in each other’s company. The viewer is forced to think critically about the people in the painting and their feelings and body language.

    Read More

  • Jean Hey’s Annunciation

    2188 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...t would help bring into understandable light the mystery of the Church’s teachings. Finally, achievements in re-creating human emotion would ensure the painting’s, and therefore the Church’s teachings would leave an indelible mark on all of its viewers.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Defining Art And Artworlds

    1242 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is split up into sections, each containing definitions, historical context, factual examples, and in many cases addressed flaws. In the begging of the article, the author provides the readers with his intensions, and ends with a recapitulation, providing the readers with a list of art definitions as the last page. (5b) The article is structured around the concept of having an accurate definition of art and artworlds—analyzes how the earliest art was created by individuals who certainly did not possess the concept, to how modern artists’ decide to alternate the it. (6)The word “Defining” best crystalizes the article. A well-developed concept of art needs to have a stable definition. (7a) Davies supports his article with plenty of experts, but prominently himself, a professor of philosophy and humanities at the University of Auckland, since he contributes not only extensive definitions of art but addressed problems within them. Another prominent expert cited in the article is Robert Stecker, affiliated with the University of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania State University, who examines the meanings and values of contemporary art, and also explains how an artwork at time t if and only it is in one of the central art forms at t and is intended to fulfill a function art had at t then it is an excellent piece of art. Expert Monroe Beardsley, from Cornell University, provides classical statements of aesthetics, with concrete details of how artwork is an arrangement of conditions intended to be able to afford an aesthetic experience. (7b) There are some instances where logic was implied; art demonstrates emotions, skills, and quality. Another instance of logic is that the artworld does not necessarily contain core sets of art forms: fictional narratives, dramas, poetry, picturing, sculpting, music, song,

    Read More

  • Gaut's Argument

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    He clarifies his interpretation of aesthetic value, rejecting the traditionally narrow notions regarding beauty and composition, and expands his view to include insights and emotions expressed through the medium. Explaining that he views overall value as an all-things-considered judgement, he asserts the ethicist’s duty to contrast the aesthetic with the ethical and determine the extent to which one outweighs the other. Gaut calls on readers to defy the popular paradigm equating beauty with goodness and ugly with evil, allowing for great, yet flawed pieces of

    Read More

  • Alexanader Graham Bell

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...on, Mitchell. "Alexander Graham Bell." American Science and Invention: A Pictorial History. New York: Bonanza, 1960. 278-83. Print.

    Read More

  • Michelangelo's Last Judgment- Barnes Critique

    1367 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...hile ornamenting it with `figures' that functioned in the same way as a poet's figure of speech. Even those who disliked the fresco recognized this" (97-98), the reason for the Last Judgment to have received such bad criticism is: "the possibility of seeing a religious image as erotic seems to have become a problem only in the sixteenth century, possibly because by that time artists were more skilled in depicting the nude. But the sixteenth century was also a time when images once directed at a more exclusive audience" (87) "this is certainly the case with the Last Judgment. Although it was painted was painted where only a select audience could see it, reproductions, painted and printed, immediately became available to the general public. ... The real problem is not nudity or artificial movement, but the distribution of copies of the painting for all to see" (88).

    Read More

  • Putting Value into Art

    3147 Words  | 7 Pages

    The attempt to set up a standard for assessing the merit of works of art, based upon contingent connections between these works and the sentiments (feelings of pleasure or displeasure) of spectators, was famously made by David Hume. His attempt remains the locus classicus for those philosophers who attempt to found the aesthetic judgment upon empirical, rather than a priori, grounds. I have myself given it a limited defense (1). Recently, Hume's argument has been severely attacked by Malcolm Budd (2). His central contention is that Hume completely fails to introduce any normative element into the aesthetic judgment; he fails, that is, to give any content to the claim that some judgments on the value of a work are more warranted or appropriate than others...

    Read More

  • “The Pieta” by Michelangelo

    1239 Words  | 3 Pages

    Just as other works that reflect art, pieces in the category of fine arts serve the important message of passing certain messages or portraying a special feeling towards a particular person, function or activity. At times due to the nature of a particular work, it can become so valuable that its viewers cannot place a price on it. It is not the nature or texture of an art that qualifies it, but the appreciation by those who look at it (Lewis & Lewis, 2008).

    Read More

  • David Hume's Of the Standard of Taste

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    David Hume’s essay “Of the Standard of Taste” addresses the problem of how objects are judged. Hume addresses three assumptions about how aesthetic value is determined. These assumptions are: all tastes are equal, some art is better than others, and aesthetic value of art is defined by a person’s taste(from lecture). However, Hume finds the three beliefs to be an “inconsistent triad”(from lecture) of assumptions. If all taste is equal but taste defines the aesthetic value, how can it be that some art is good and others bad? Wouldn’t all art be equal if all taste is equal? Hume does not believe all objects are equal in their beauty or greatness. He states that some art is meant to endure, “the beauties, which are naturally fitted to excite agreeable sentiment, immediately display their energy”.(text pg 259) So how will society discern what is agreeable and what is not? Hume proposes a set of true judges whose palates are so refined they can precisely define the aesthetic value of something.

    Read More

  • Aesthetic Emotion Essay

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    Of course, this argument cannot be held to all art. If that were the case, then a majority of artwork would be then considered worthless. Bell’s principle of aesthetic emotion is far too specific to define such a wide array of visual art. Not to mention, everyone’s interpretation of what

    Read More

  • The Last Judgement Michelangelo Analysis

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    They exemplify “the good...bad...famous and...obscure; the decision being taken by God must be the most momentous of all decisions ever taken; the painter must convincingly imagine Hell for those who receive thumbs-down on God’s final judgement; at the same time he must convincingly imagine Heaven for those who are saved” (3). This depicts that the painter perceives the afterlife in this manner, and shows Heaven and Hell through the people and colors, lighter and closer to jesus for Heaven, and darker and closer to Hell for the individuals with the “thumbs down” judgement. This evaluation ties in within the historical context of the painting. The Last Judgement “covers the wall behind the altar in the Sistine Chapel. The work depicts the second coming of Christ and, although the artist is clearly inspired by the Bible, it is his own imaginative vision that prevails in this painting” (4). This shows that even though Michelangelo was ordered by the Pope and inspired by the Bible to paint this artwork, this painting is based off of Renaissance ideals, due to his “imaginative vision” that prevails in the

    Read More

  • A Brief History of Aesthetics

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aesthetics is the theoretical study of the arts and related types of behavior and experience. It is traditionally regarded as a branch of philosophy, concerned with the understanding of beauty and its manifestations in art and nature. However, in the latter 20th century there developed a tendency to treat it as an independent science, concerned with investigating the phenomena of art and its place in human life. Yet, what in a field with a hazy line in between being classified as a science or study of beliefs is considered data for determining what can be studied? It can simply be drawn to the only three things involved in the process of art : The creator, the person experiencing, and the art itself.

    Read More

  • The Psychological Effect of Art

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... time passes and the observer looks deeper into the piece, several feelings or emotions may arouse. Some feelings such as warmth, comfort, anger, hostility, calmness, sadness, and indifference can spring from just seeing certain colors in an image. The overall effect created by the artist could vary from person to person; however, it can be seen how a painting can psychologically affect people.

    Read More

  • The Painting

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    To me the painting is a way of showing you what everyone else is seeing. That the painter had the men looking right at each other so they can see themselves running away. In turn I got to see myself doing the same thing and was able to change because of it. When other people look at the painting they probably see something else. That is why I choose to do the painting, it gives you the choice too interpret it any way you see fit. Or it can just be a beautiful painting to look at, but the painting was so much more to me. It painted a thousand words for me.

    Read More

More about Clive Bell

Open Document