LCAD Aesthetics

The Origins of Pleasure

2012-01-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

Check out this TED talk on The Origins of Pleasure

Conclusion: Part 10 - 20th & 21st Century Aesthetics

2011-04-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

This final post will offer an overview of the trends in 20th and 21st century aesthetic thought. As will become apparent the past century and our brief movement into the present century have been eras of great uncertainty and diversity. Yet the diversity is a reminder that the entire history of aesthetics is diverse and that any single artist can hold multiple views.

In the Interwar era (1919-1939) three general aesthetic outlooks arose and have been identified in the acronym "CUT": Critical, Utopian and Transcendental. Each of these broad views are rooted in the myriad ideas that begin with Nietzsche and others and which I have sketched out below. Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth can both be understood as holding all three "CUT"views at the same time in their art. Others, such as Georgia O'Keefe were more transcendent tending to shy away from the more critical and Utopian nuances one finds in Hopper or Wyeth. Decidedly Utopian views are seen in Russian Socialist art which promoted the contradictory ideals of a new and perfect social order. The "CUT" application to individual artists is presented in Brenden Prendeville's book -- "Realism in 20th Century Painting" published in 2000.

In any case it is important to remember that human beings are capable of holding layered views of reality rather than simple, singular or simplistic worldviews. Reality is complex and even contradictory and aesthetic thought must express this complexity in layered and nuanced ways. I hope the overview that follows will offer some clarity and insight into the rich range of ideas that follow us into our own era and assist each of us in identifying and modifying and layering our aesthetic worldviews and aesthetic road maps.

To begin with, the last breath of the 19th century seems to have been breathed with Nietzsche who believed that the ideals of art as offering solace and harmony for the mind and spirit were doomed. He felt that art and its role in promoting existence was at an end and that human history was headed toward catastrophe and crises. His concern was manifested in WWI. The one redeeming idea that Nietzsche held onto was that art allowed for expression of inner emotion and here he agreed in part with Aristotle who saw the cathartic release that art could provide humanity in the face of tragedy.

Other thinkers of the age were not as pessimistic as Nietzsche. For instance Richard Wagner the great German composer encouraged a return to the Romantic view of art as a celebration of human life as part of the fruitful embracing of nature with a strong emotional outpouring of passion. His views though formulated in the late 19th century resonated into the 20th. Hitler for instance idolized Wagner who thought of art as a means of escape from reality and wanted to create events that would merge all of the arts into a grand spectacle of opera, art, myth, drama etc.; events that would last for days at a time and which would require retreating from daily life to enter such powerful escape mechanisms.

Hitler made use of this Wagnerian ideal in his grand spectacles of military power with thousands of Nazi soldiers, drummers and flags fluttering over acres of paved power formations. Wagner's dream of a grand spectacle was achieved only in opera but even on stage it was never on the scale and for the several days at a time duration he envisioned. Modern film and the Mega-plex screen experience or hyper-rock concerts approach some of Wagner's dream of art as vast spectacle but only years later, long after his death.

Other views of the eras include Schopenhauer who saw paradox in the blind striving for purpose in the face of the loss of reason for existence spoken of by Nietzsche. Later after the First World War ended numerous politically related aesthetic theories appeared. Some were Marxist views with art used to criticize culture and the idea that art should be bought and sold considered a loss of power for art. Another set of theories known as "Critical Theory" arose championed by Adorno and other German thinkers who saw art as less Marxist but critical in its reaction against cultural excess, in particular American materialism, commercialism and mass advertising. Art as criticism was reactive and had little to do with self expression. Its aim was broadly social not individualistic.Adorno and the Critical thinkers were reacting also to a strong current of Hedonistic Pessimism in Europe that artists such as Beardsley and Oscar Wilde had promoted at the end of the 19th century.

Instead of a critical response other thinkers argued for a return to Platonic contemplation, a good example of this more reflective approach would be Santayana. Comte another of the key thinkers of the early 20th century took a more organic approach and described art as a product of human conditioning which had its ties to Darwin who considered beauty as an evolutionary device for the survival of the fittest.

In America there was a more robust view of art at the beginning of the century with Walt Whitman's idea of art as a kind of joyful labor and profitable joy with strains of a return to a Medieval love of craft as inspired labor. This was close to an art for art sake idea but it stressed the practical use of craft in service to the needs of others as in building a solid house or painting a good sign for direction. The American view of aesthetics was more pragmatic and practical in contrast to the European art for art sake mentality. This is why the "Art and Craft Movement" took root in the United States in the 20th century following its advent in England in the mid-19th century.

This pragmatic tendency seems to still hold in our country and why craftsmanship in art is still admired in our country by many. Taine although not an American advocated aesthetic views related to this pragmatic approach when he claimed that art is a product of the environment. In Russia Leo Tolstoy's view of art as a form of social communication with Naturalistic overtones was closely related to the American Pragmatic view and later American writers and social critics such as John Steinbeck would eulogize the laborer and crafts person along with a return to nature. The Hippie movement in America grew out of such views. What both America and Russia had in common were strong social visions of art. We can see this in Tolstoy, Steinbeck and the Communal oriented Hippies. Not surprising a Cold War would erupt between the two world powers over differing views of how cultivating culture should be carried out.

In Italy in the late 1920's a philosopher named Croce offered a view of art as a lyrical intuition ie. instant knowledge. Artist's like Dali who advocated dreams and intuitive thinking helped to make Croce's views widely accepted internationally but the downside of his view was that it made little of the crafting of a physical object which we call a work of art. It was as if he saw art as a process of contemplation with Platonic overtones or dream-states of mind. Where was Aristotle and the engagement with the physical process one would ask of Croce?

John Dewey in America seems to have offered a challenge to Croce. In the 1930's Dewey stressed a non-dualistic view of art as less intuition and more as pragmatic interaction with the real object and the natural environment and ones surrounding society. John Steinbeck another American in tune with Dewey, saw moral and ethical uses for art close to Aristotle along with other thinkers in history who promoted meaning in art and life. These views were a direct challenge to the nihilism of Nietzsche and to the "art for art sake" alone mentality more prevalent in Europe at the time.

In England in the 1940's Herbert Read followed Karl Jung and Dilthey in stressing the healing potential of art for the individual and society at large. Related to the curative views of art in a psychological sense came the Phenomenological views of thinkers such as Maurice Merleau Ponty and Mikel Dufrenne whose ideas gained currency in the 1950's and 60's and again are presently much in favor by 21st century thinkers.

At Northwestern University in Illinois there is an entire department devoted to the study of Phenomenology with courses offered on thinkers such as Ponty and Dufrenne. Here the view is that art manifests the complex inner working of sense and cognitive operations in human awareness. They see art as offering a way in which humankind can find greater understanding of the rich and diverse ways in which consciousness works. Through the study and practice of the arts there can be a renewed engagement with nature, awareness of diverse kinds of beauty and concern for making society more responsive and wise overall.

In the most recent years within Phenomenology one can see a renewed interest in moral issues having to do with personal freedom, gender issues and many other social themes. Along with these inquiries there has been a renewed interest in spiritual aspects of the arts along redemptive Renaissance lines.

A number of international Colleges such as Laguna College of Art and Design or the Florence Academy now offer a strong advocacy toward beauty using time-tested Renaissance and Academically traditional approaches to art making. There is presently a noticeable move back to beauty in art and figurative practices that celebrate nature and craft traditions in the practices of the arts. Many art schools, music schools and the like are being built and there is an international movement to open art museums or to remodel and update them. All of the Arts, concert halls and museums are seen increasingly as existing as a balm for social well-being with pragmatic and spiritual overtones. Aesthetics is always on the move like the consciousness that drives thinking, acting and making things new.

Arvo Part the Estonian composer for instance, exemplifies a bridging of the best of past and present aesthetics in his musical inventiveness with its spiritual, natural and humane synthesis. He is one of a number of thoughtful integrators of artistic practice we can learn from who are at work in our present time. Other examples include: Chuck Close, Bob Dylan, the recently deceased Andrew Wyeth and many others in the related arts of theater and film. These ardent artistic practitioners prove that art continues to edify those who seek to be edified by it.

PART 9 - THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AESTHETIC VIEW

2011-04-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

The eighteenth century was dominated by British and French aesthetic theory with its strong interest in social theories of art but the nineteenth century as we will soon see was shaped by German thinkers who were fascinated by universal psychological and spiritual experiences. Some of the key names of the era were: Goethe, Humboldt, Schiller, Schelling, Schlegel, kant, Hegel, Schleiermacher, Wackenroder, Novalis and Schopenhauer. The overall mood of the period resonated with humanity's inherent need to establish a harmony with nature and achieve the mind's need for unity and purpose.

Nature was a model of what art and harmonious human existence should be for nature revealed clarity, utility and order. So it occurred to thinkers that a well-functioning mind should likewise be clear, balanced and well-functioning. Art that was based on the appreciative observation of natural pattern, balance, form, beauty, etc. would therefore have natural characteristics and in this way would assist humankind in achieving rational harmony and purposeful tranquility in thought and action.

There was a renewed interest in Greek Classical art at the beginning of the 19th century because Greek art and architecture featured unity, clarity and naturalness. This love of Classical art was a carryover of the rationalism of 18th century thinkers like Thomas Jefferson. It was evident to people like him that the Greek sculptors for instance had studied the human body and discerned its natural perfection and lawful construction. The beauty of Greek art had already prompted the Renaissance artist to copy Greek examples but the nineteenth century saw more of nature in Greek art and less of the philosophical idealism of Plato and Aristotle. The nineteenth century was more organic putting nature and observation firsthand and Greek philosophy in a secondary position unlike the Renaissance with its fascination with Greek texts and theories.

As the nineteenth century progressed the focus on nature expanded so that human consciousness and its ability to execute Judgment, determination and reflective states of mind while engaged in aesthetic activity became the life work of Kant who prompted a true psychology of art which he called "The Critique of Judgment." This much read work revolutionized aesthetic thinking forever.

Kant laid out principles of how the human mind bridges (through the 5 senses) the inner and outer realms of thought and the outer world of active experience. Kant was fascinated by aesthetics and how the meta-esthetical state of bridging could impact ones moral and ethical understanding. The idea was that nature's beauty and inherent design could filter into the deepest parts of the mind and prompt one to behave harmoniously, lawfully, reflectively and ultimately- morally.

Goethe then took Kant's ideas of the pure beauty of nature and human consciousness and enlarged them by focusing on Kant's interest in the sublime. The sublime has to do with experiences in nature that are so vast that they transcend the minds ability to fully grasp them. Included in the sublime would be the idea of outer-space, the vastness of the sea, mountains which are so large they cannot be fully known, blinding snowstorms, massive earthquakes, the revolving of the earth on its axis, etc.

Goethe said that art should attempt to evoke sublime awe and further, that art was a moral symbol of a state-of-being that was spiritual in essence and awesome because moral laws protect and harmonize society in the same way that the laws of nature keep it in balance.

Goethe stressed the importance of human imagination and its harmonious fusion with the intellect. Let the imagination lead you, he would say onto sublime thoughts and let those thoughts take you to moral insights on the purposes of existence including most importantly, human love which creates the desire for beauty.

Think he would say of how much art has stemmed from the experience of love and of the state of being in love as a sublime mind expanding state of consciousness. It is why we link love and Romance which are beyond our ability to fully understand. They have sublime features and the nineteenth century celebrated love in remarkable and complex ways because of the awe we have of loves power. Examples of a mother who out of love would die to protect a child or a man his family or the heroic ideal of dying for ones country. All of these were themes in 19th century art and literature and why Napoleon was able to convince over a million young Frenchmen to die for him and his romantic ideals of conquest.

Eventually the sublime of Goethe was taken up by many of the above thinkers who added mystical, romantic and religious ideas to the list. Wackenroder for instance said that art is a form of natural religious experience though it had no doctrine specifically. Novalis spoke of a mystical and magical universe which the human imagination was at-one with. There was much talk and poetic expression of the dream-life and even of aesthetic prophecy with the artist seen as a mystic, prophet and seer as in the case of William Blake and Samuel Palmer. Casper David Frederich, the German painter produced art that had mystical, prophetic qualities and was dominated by sublime images of mountains, fog banks, the vastness of the ocean or sky etc. Blake, like Casper Frederich used the Bible for visionary and mystical imagery in addition to seeking it in nature.

There was a renewed interest in Dante's "Divine Comedy" in the nineteenth century because Dante the 14th century Italian poet acted as a prophet and evoked awesome and mind-bogglingly sublime images in his poetic writings. Dore the great French 19th century illustrator illustrated the "Divine Comedy" with sublime views of heaven filled with angelic beings or hell filled with monsters and fearful and monstrous creatures.

So the view of these German thinkers was given powerful expression by artists who called themselves Romantics. The list is long but some of the key nineteenth century artists following Goethe and the other thinkers included in addition to the several listed: Geracault, Goya, Delacroix, Turner, Constable, Van Gogh for example in painting. In literature: Dickens, Hugo, Dostoevsky and in poetry: Wordsworth, Whitman, Emerson, Keats, Coleridge, Byron etc.

Here the poet/painter/writer is a seer who brings us into contact with the infinite, sublime, transcendent in order to transform our limited thinking and move us into deep insights and intentional living.

PART 8 - EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AESTHETIC THOUGHT

2011-04-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

The 18th century was an era of passionate publishing. All over Europe aesthetic thinkers produced books and articles on aesthetic themes following the social focus on art that was unleashed in the 17th century. Printing books was a common practice in this time so that students could own or borrow a textbook; it was an age of information and the subject of what art should be was perhaps never more relevant and intensely discussed then between 1700 and 1800.

The most influential aesthetic thinking in the 18th century was centered in Britain, Italy and France. John Locke, Shaftsbury, Addison, Hutcheson, Kames, Hume, Reid, Burke Hogarth and Reynolds in England produced compelling articles. I will overview them in this Post. But before looking at the English thinkers we should have a partial listing of Italian and French writers to add to the British contingent. Vico, Gravian in Italy held much sway in the art community while in France- Dubos, Condillac, Diderot and Rousseau carried the most serious attention. Obviously the British had the largest and most compelling legion of aesthetic thinkers.

In summarizing the trend of thought in this era one leading idea can be discerned. Put simply it is: Beauty is a social sense shared by an enlightened majority and that it is constructive and appreciative in nature and function.

There was an appreciation of Plotinus in this era with a blend of Plotinus' spirituality balanced by rational methodology. A prominent saying in this respect was that "Beauty is conquered chaos", that beauty and virtue in art and society are constructive and instructive. It was believed that lasting beauty was a form of insight and teaching was essential in perceiving it. Joshua Reynolds as head of the British Academy of Art said that "there is no art without rules" and that "the enduring things of nature"-- not flux and irrationality-- "are the things meant for the canvas."

From the spiritual side of the discussion the idea first stated by Plato was picked up and expanded in the 18th century. The stress was on the social value of art as a moral agent. Addison in Britain said that "Beauty is God's precaution against our indifference" and that "the pleasures of our imagination should be moralistic, reflective and religious."

Hume who was not religious still stressed the cognitive aspects of the arts and said that "emotion and learned sentiment are the paths by which beauty comes to us" and that taste can be taught and even analyzed. We can sense in these British thinkers the rational and ethical mood of the time. We can recall that the American Constitution was drafted in this era and that it too contains strong universal belief in human progress and social conscience. Beauty like freedom required deep contemplation and widespread knowledge so that its practitioners would be capable of upholding tradition and at the same time expand into new realms of discovery.

The Italian and French aesthetic thinkers paralleled the British thinkers and spoke of "the moral bearing of imagination", the importance of "distanced and tactful judgment" in the practice of art, of "art as a balm for the human spirit", of art and "imagination as distinctly human behavior" separating humankind from the animals, that taste like all forms of knowledge is taught. Diderot for instance said that "beauty is a relation of the inner sense and the mind.

Rousseau at the end of the era tried to break away from the rational mood of the era and said that nature is about feeling not knowledge. But the vast majority of thinkers of the age saw a balance of feeling and thinking reflected in art. In the end it is Aristotle with his balanced views of art who seems to have had the most lasting impact on the 18th century overall.

PART 7- 17th Century AESTHETIC THEORY

2011-03-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

The late Renaissance ended with disputes within art criticism. The mystical mood of the Gothic and Renaissance prompted a turn toward rational explanation of arts purposes. Less focus was given to Renaissance ideals of beauty, balance and geometry as a mantle on which to structure artistic design. In the 17th century more stress in art production was placed on secular values, lessons to the taken from a work of art.

With a focus on the social aspects of the arts Plato's cautionary concern that too much freedom in art could be culturally destructive was echoed in the theories of the time. "Reason above imagination" seems to have been the mantra of the era and many pages of scholarly theorizing took place on what art should do for society. The Dutch for instance produced a history of Dutch painting with moral reflections on the key artists in Dutch history.

As one looks at Rembrandt and Vermeer (outstanding examples of 17th century Dutch art) one sees a obvious focus on social themes in their paintings. Rembrandt often quoted the Bible to make moral points in his lush, light-saturated canvases aimed at a discerning ethically aware society. Even his late self-portraits seem to probe into his conscience as if weighing his own moral status.

In general the shift from the Renaissance into the 17th century was away from the vested authority of the church and toward the private conscience of the individual. Art was seen a product of a rational society where individual rights were gaining value. A protestant worldview stressed reason and logic in biblical studies as well as in the arts. The Reformation spirit had much to do with this shift, along with advances in scientific empirical study. It was also an age where great technical breakthroughs were made in painting chemistry with detailed recipes published on: glazing, solvents, varnishes, pigments etc. The most comprehensive of these technical writings were produced by the Dutch masters.

Bill

PART 6- METAESTHETIC VIEW FROM MEDIEVAL TO RENAISSANCE

2011-03-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

The most significant transition in Western aesthetic thought took place at the end of the medieval period and blossomed into the Renaissance (1300-1600). I cannot find a clear explanation in the history of aesthetic thought that outlines the points at which this transition occurred. I will attempt to do it in this post, namely present the key medieval ideas that were expanded upon by Renaissance thinkers.

Point 1. Beauty was one of the names of God for medieval thinkers. Beauty was considered a mirror or veil which reflected or revealed aspects of God in the Renaissance. For this reason the study of nature was elevated in the Renaissance era which is why science was not separated from religious devotion. Many of the great early scientists were clergyman in the Renaissance.

Point 2. In medieval aesthetic thought mathematics, design and harmony deepened the meaning of an object by imparting a sense of intentionality and intelligence to it.
In the Renaissance, mathematics and geometry held mystical qualities and were used by most artists of the time as the scaffolding upon which their compositions were built.
For instance, the Golden Section can be found in both Gothic Cathedrals such as Chartres as well as in Renaissance paintings. Both medieval and Renaissance eras celebrated the science of mathematics as a metaphysical language. Artists as well as early scientists were united in the love of numbered rationality. Metaesthetics and mathematics are expressions of profound harmony in the universe.

Point 3. The medieval period held fine craftsmanship in the highest esteem while in the Renaissance it was a common belief that "what was hard to do" was the proof of outstanding human achievement.

Point 4. The great medieval thinkers, Aquinas and Augustine, believed that Beauty and imagination acted as a bridge between the human and divine realms. In the Renaissance this view was also held but with the added focus on human intelligence seen as the conscious application of imagination in the making of beautiful works of art. Human intelligence was valued as the crown of nature because conscious awareness of beauty and design in art and nature elevates these things into rational cognition. Here geometry and mathematics, drawing and shading, perspective and composition--- using the elements of nature, all of these were harmonized in the mind of the artist in the creation of beautiful works of art.

Point 5. The medieval era launched the first universities in the Western world and learning was highly valued where it could be found. In the Renaissance, because of the proliferation of manuscripts and libraries, private individuals could obtain knowledge that was previously the possession of the few. The Renaissance era saw an explosion in learning and the best artists were usually highly learned. Leonardo and Michelangelo for instance were the equals of the best educated men of their time. Previously medieval artisans were masons and craftsmen with limited formal education. Knowledge was associated with the wisdom of God for Michelangelo who aspired to please God by developing all his rational potential in thought, art and life.

Point 6. Art objects, such as the stained glass window or cathedral acted as symbols for "substance dualism" in the medieval age. In the Renaissance the work of art was less a demonstration of the distinct differences of matter and spirit and far more of an "incarnation" where the spirit was given expression in the things of nature and art.

The mind of the artist was according to da Vinci, like the mind of God in that what an artist could conceive in his imagination he or she could (with proper training) make real and evident in a work of art. In essence the Renaissance artist understood art-making as having moral and metaesthetic meaning ie. creation was considered a metaphysical action.

This deep respect for artistic action effectively lifted the artist out of the lower status of a mere craftsman into that of the esteemed philosopher and theologian. The ability to make a work of Beauty was a difficult thing to do and like all things that are hard to achieve it was the living proof of a god-like power--- hence the metaesthetic character that was given to art in the Renaissance.

PART 5 - MEDIEVAL AESTHETICS

2011-03-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

The Medieval ages (which I count from the 800s to the 1200s) brought a new set of concerns to the Western mind in its quest to understand aesthetics. What makes Medieval aesthetics a bit different from Greek and Roman thought has to do with the Christian view of God as above nature and whose Mind is reflected in the Beauty, Purpose and Goodness that can be found in nature. While appreciating the marvelous things in nature the problem for these Christian thinkers was to not confuse God with nature--to avoid animism or pantheism which considered that god was essentially the same as nature.

Deep Christian thinkers like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas were worried that Greek and Roman aesthetic thought advocated pantheism and animism by not separating the Creator Being from the things of creation. Medieval thought championed by Augustine and Aquinas citing Judeo/Christian views of Creation defined the distinction of Spirit (God and the human spirit) and and Matter (nature and the human body) as interactive yet distinct from one another. This view came to be called "Substance Dualism" but it can also be described as a unity in the "Incarnation" where spirit resides in flesh.

Central to this Incarnation view is the doctrine of the "Logos" where God in Jesus Christ became a human being and took on flesh as fully God and man. Physical Beauty was elevated to a level that it never been in the Greek and Roman system because of the Logos concept. For subsequent Christian artists and theologians nature and matter was blessed and considered Good in that it revealed aspects of God's thought and character. In yet another way the character of Creator/Redeemer was revealed in the life of Christ in the New Testament of the Bible.

Art in the Medieval era was the same thing as craft but craft was held in high esteem as in the refined properties of jewelry, illuminated manuscripts and beautiful objects of all sorts-- made in imitation of the fine things of nature--for instance the wing of a bird or the human eye.

The world's harmony seen on the Cosmic scale was for these thinkers a sign of divine origin and number, found in nature a principle of spiritual thought with mathematics, guided by deep spiritual emotion and enlightened passion the unity of matter and spirit on the human plane.

Shining forms, shaped effulgence, clarity, light in nature and art forms were considered by Thomas Aquinas as a visible shell of an underlying Divine Reality or as symbols to be contemplated by humankind to discern the hand of an Eternal Artist-Creator. Beauty informed finely made objects if they were crafted by artisans who lovingly incarnated their art with energy and Grace.

A key art form of the era was the stained glass window. It was bright, shining, clear and splendid hence all the things Aquinas admired in nature. Glass windows allowed light to pass though planes of pure color bringing physical beauty to life while at the same time illuminating the sacred stories depicted in the windows. The complex designs of the window showed number. measured forms and pure gem-like colors which Aquinas said reflected the glowing light of God. This measured proportion is also prevalent in the Gregorian chant that echoed within the intricate interior of the Gothic cathedral yet another measured and jewel-like structure. All based on complex mathematical laws as found in nature.

What made the glass window a perfect means to contemplate eternal ideas was that the light (like spirit) though separate from the window could enter and pass though it without being the same substance as the glass. This was a graphic example of "Substance Dualism" where the light, like God can enter creation cover it with light while being distinct from the objects the light shines upon.

So Medieval art reminds us how complex their thinking about aesthetics was. You can read more about the symbolism of stained glass windows in the handout I gave each of you last night.

Part Four: AFTER ARISTOTLE -- ROMAN ERA AESTHETICS

2011-02-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

In the centuries following Aristotle, Roman and early Christian thinkers took a great interest in art and added rich detail to Aristotle's probing insights into aesthetic experience.

Two of the best known Roman era thinkers were probably Greek trained philosophers: Plotinus and Theophrastus who provided us with great descriptions of the techniques of art-making and of art's more mystical potential. Aristoxenus offered innovative insight into the nature of music and composition theory. Because of the prevalence of Stoic Philosophy which promoted restraint and self-mastery the general mood of aesthetic thought in this era promoted mastery of the materials of art and of artistic restraint.

Most important of all was a growing sense of history itself and the history of aesthetic thought as it had evolved. There was as part of this historical consciousness a rediscovery of Aristotle's writings. Cicero the great conscience of his age saw the excess and weakness of a declining Roman culture and spoke out against the arena where wanton bloodshed and the wholesale slaughter of humans and animals was offered as entertainment. He also reminded readers of the more heroic qualities of the best of Greek and Roman literature along with the moral values promoted. Plutarch thought deeply about a cult of ugliness in vogue in the art of his time.

Longinus like Aristotle, believed that great style in art springs from an artist's inner-greatness and requires humane character and inner strength. Chrysostom added to Longinus and believed that art is the revealing of the artist's vision--the more splendid and sublime the vision the more compelling the artistic expression. Plotinus a Christian thinker having studied many art forms and techniques believed that Beauty is the projection of love onto perception and that the impulse to love what is experienced is a "metaphysical homesickness". He believed our love of the external world of beauty in nature and art is a mystical/spiritual urge to return to God and a Heavenly Home. What Plato had called the Realm of Perfect Forms and Ideals-- Plotinus understood as a true and final home in Eternity with the Divine Creator.

ARISTOTLE & AESTHETICS - PART 3 - Hist. of Aesthetics

2011-02-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

As we saw in the last post Plato had mixed views of art and aesthetic experience when considered from a cultural point of view. Aristotle, who was a student of Plato, took his teachers concerns to heart and pondered them. Being a strong observer of nature and culture rather than a pure thinker (like Plato) Aristotle thought he could unravel some of the doubts of his master through the scientific observation of art in culture and form and function within nature. Here are some of the key points of Aristotle on art and Aesthetics:

1. Nature is dynamic and designed for a purpose. 2. Art emulates nature; the arts and especially music are patterned energy created for a purpose to move another emotionally. 3. Just as we move from infancy and instinct toward adulthood and mature thought, so we see a similar evolution in humanities comprehension of art from instinct to patterned thought and logically guided form to evoke certain emotions and ideas. 4. the way a great tragic play is organized to produce insight shows a logic that is scientific and purpose-driven by the writer or designer. 5. Fantasy is the cause of poetry and shows a fusion of form and matter into a pattern which is driven by the purpose to teach a lesson. Fantasy can be used for pleasure and for a good. 6. Catharsis which is the release of deep emotion, grief, sadness etc. can be achieved by a good play (in our era film, book, etc) 7. A viewer of a good film or play etc. experiences rational or logically patterned emotion leading to a moral point or practical lesson or the release of a painful memory or emotion and is therefore good in that sense. 8. Aristotle celebrated the remarkable ways in which art media can be shaped by humans and he could not stop talking about the skill of the artist/shape-maker who was like God in creative/shaping capacity and artistic logic. In the end Aristotle believed that art and fantasy are of real benefits to society if used wisely by mature artists for the good of others.

A Singular Aesthetic Experience

2011-02-05T16:13:00.000-08:00

Please go to the link below for OK Go's White Knuckles video, and you would also enjoy the This Too Shall Pass marching band and the Rube Goldberg Machine, among others:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHlJODYBLKs

HISTORY OF AESTHETICS - PART 2 -PLATOS VIEW

2011-01-31T15:51:00.000-08:00

Plato who is famous for his Platonic dialog or discussion approach to philosophy had much to say about art and aesthetics. His views were a mixture of admiration for the arts and serious concerns about the misuse and abuse of the imagination in the practice of the artistic life.

Much of what Plato worried about continues to surface in our own era even though many of contemporary critics know little about Plato. The reason for the on-going concern about the arts has to do with the impact of the arts on society when this influence seems negative as in the case of violence films and games which seem to dull the moral restraint of troubled people.

Here are some of Plato's ideas and issues:

1. Art is mainly skill, clever manipulation of paint or stone or in our era the film or digital media. 2. Sometimes the artist is much more than skillful and may be wise and able to say something of value through the arts which makes it more than skill alone. 3. Art is at its worse nothing more than a mirror of reality, passive and unmediated sense experience alone. 4. At its very worse art is fantasy and can corrupt the logical operations of the mind. 5. Music of all the art forms moves most directly out of the soul and follows the souls inner rhythms it therefore can calm the soul if the motions are complementary to the operations of the soul and has a beneficial influence on society at large if more Classical in nature. 6. Art's whole apparatus can, under ideal circumstances, serve a moral purpose for society if made by wise and moral makers. 7. BEAUTY is the realization of the visits of the Divine on humanity. 8. BEAUTY, LIGHT, MEASURE AND PROPORTION are observable in NATURE and point to a Divine maker and like good music move the soul to balance and joy. 9. In summation art may be poor philosophy according to many thinkers but philosophy at its best is excellent art. . . this apparent contradiction shows that art is powerful and not easily understood or easily dismissed by even one of humankind's greatest minds, namely Plato.

Bill

Historical View of Aesthetics-- Part One

2011-01-25T11:06:00.000-08:00

The earliest discussion of aesthetics took place in ancient Greece some 500 years before Christ. We find fragments of discussion involving thinkers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle which reveal a tension between the arts of poetry and the early practice of philosophy. The tension surrounded the idea that a poet visionary like Homer who began to script Greek mythology was somehow inspired in a way that a logician/philosopher was not. Socrates and Plato who were great logicians were worried that a poet like Homer might be carried away with his fantasies and in this way mislead others either by giving them fallacious information or to encourage such free-wheeling visionary activities.

Art and Aesthetics as we have come to know them would evolve out of this early tension between philosophy and Poetry with each century adding some fresh insight to the debate. One century might look at the problem from the point of view of psychology and say hey--the poet can reveal unconscious insights so the poet/artist is valuable to society. This move toward psychic insight is where Aristotle comes into the picture. He will be one of the first of the ancient Greeks to point out that the poet, artist is one who is highly aware of his five senses and of the surrounding Cosmos or Universe. The skill with with Homer makes the world of nature appear before our minds eye through his gift of inspired language Aristotle considered a real benefit to humankind. The awareness itself was the portal to the Common Senses and to appreciation of the natural realm. Here is where science and philosophy are actually aided by the arts. The tension can be relieved between the arts and philosophy through the insights of Aristotle.

AESTHETICS 2011

2011-01-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

Aesthetics students,

I welcome you to this blogsite for a new year of active participation in the matters of aesthetic experience. Please scroll down and open past years of dialog and postings to see just how rich a subject aesthetics is---notice the insightful comments your fellow students (many now graduated) have made.

I now ask you to make your mark, add your line and contribute to the ongoing discussion about the meta-esthetic world our five senses presents to us when we are consciously aware of our own states and modes of awareness.

Aesthetics means more than anything else being in touch with our marvelous faculties and refining our ability to access our sensory world, mindful that they are our bridge-- linking us to one another and to our external and internal worlds.

I also welcome Dr. Joe Ferguson who will also be posting and regularly participating in our weekly discussions.

Bill Havlicek PhD

500 Years of Male Self Portraits in Motion

2010-10-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

Self Portraits from Philip Scott Johnson on Vimeo.

Van Gogh Self Portraits in Motion

2010-10-16T11:39:00.001-07:00

Van Gogh from Philip Scott Johnson on Vimeo.

Six-Part Series on Beauty

2010-10-01T17:12:00.000-07:00

This is excellent viewing. I recommend it highly:

2010-10-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

FEMALE OR MALE AESTHETIC DISPOSITIONS ?

2010-10-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

This post is a followup to the question that Dr. Joe brought up in class today and which I am asking each class member to respond to. The question is: are there observable differences between females and males in aesthetic taste, artistic conception, subject matter and art collecting? In responding to the question you can address all of the points or focus on one only. For example one may simply want to talk about art collections and how women such as Marion Koogler McNay obtained works of art that seem to be more domestically related than the more eclectic preferences of Norton Simon or J.P.Getty. Or one may want to tackle the big genetic question on innate genetic dispositions which will require more than a paragraph to accomplish =)

Offer examples from real life and use yourself as an example as a female or male.

I look forward to the dialogue and to Dr. Joes joining into the discussion.

Warm regards to all genetic participants,

Bill

A Capella Aesthetics

2010-09-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

DEAR AESTHETIC EXPLORERS:

THE LINK BELOW OPENS TO A ALL-VOICE SYMPHONY IN WHICH THE SOUNDS OF RAIN AND THUNDER ARE SIMULATED; WHAT FOLLOWS WILL TAKE YOU LITERALLY INTO "THE MUSIC OF OUR LIVES"-- A TOPIC WE WILL SOON DISCUSS IN CLASS.

A HIGH FIVE TO THE FIRST VIEWER TO RESPOND TO THIS NEW POST.

REGARDS,

BILL

TVKim- Watching: Kim's Picks- African thunderstorm

Welcome Back, LCAD Bloggers!

2010-08-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

This semester will be a richly interactive experience for us. Our class will extend outside the classroom onto this blog and Facebook. It is appropriate in studying the diverse subject of aesthetics to view it in multiple ways. We are living in an age that is above all aesthetically atuned.

I look forward to working with all of you and heightening our aesthetic perceptions. From time to time we want to welcome Dr. Joe Ferguson to our blogsite. He is a clinical psychologist with a passion for aesthetics; in fact, I am deeply grateful to Joe for formulating the HFAP, which you will soon discover to be a valuable aesthetic tool.

Welcome all,

Dr. Bill Havlicek

Back on the blog!

2010-08-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

Dear Aesthetic students and friends,

2010 marks the third year that this blogsite has been open to dynamic discussion.

This year I want to invite all bloggers to share, consider and reflect back the
richly diverse ways in which aesthetic experiences occur. The sidebars have video segments from one of the finest examples of such diversity in the form of the human face and the fascinating ways in which we communicate thought and emotion through facial expressions. My thesis is a simple one, namely that in understanding more about how we use our faces we can better understand the perceptional framework by which we understand art and many other related things. Aesthetics is about perception, and in my view there is nothing closer than our faces that can bring perception closer to where we live and breathe. Please begin your immersion into the magical world of Aesthetics by watching these video segments from "The Human Face" where one serious point after another is ingeniously presented by comedian John Cleese.

Scanning the Blog

2009-03-02T18:17:00.000-08:00

Dear aesthetically minded viewers:

I want to welcome you to this blogsite and encourage you to spool down through the many Postings and Comments. Hopefully, you will discover that the many topics on this blog are interesting and timely. I encourage you to add comments to any of the numerous Postings; especially those that were made a year or more ago. Simply title your comments with the title-- 'New Comments' and the current date will automatically be attached to it.

My students from past classes in Aesthetics are encouraged to stay in touch with us so they may respond to your response. I too of course constantly visit the site and manage it as best I can but the interesting thing about the site is that it has its own strange life in spite of my managing of it.

Read, spool, comment---keep the site alive with your fresh, creative input.

Bill Havlicek PhD

Many thanks from David Glen

2009-02-11T20:57:00.000-08:00

Many thanks for allowing me to talk to you all tonight...I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, and hope I was able to impart something of value.

Please feel free to e-mail me at any time. My local address is davidglen@cox.net

Wishing you all great passion in everything you do!

David Glen

FACING THE FACTS

2009-02-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

2009-02-10T09:12:00.000-08:00

FACING THE FACTS

Dear students,

Please look at the video segments on the human face that appear
on the last posting. The aesthetic students from the Autumn semester
really enjoyed these segments and left some fascinating comments. I now invite you to read the student comments and to view the film segments. This is an opportunity for us to reflect on the complex ways in which we signal one another through the signs we call facial expressions. Following your reading and viewing please comment on what you think is aesthetically important about all of this.

The point of this exercise is for us to become more aware
of the most common forms of communication; this awareness is the start of
aesthetic awareness. In fact, becoming more aware of how we communicate
though the arts stems from our system of bodily signaling---
and the face is without doubt the most profound of these signaling systems.

Lets begin by thinking about the aesthetic realm of the face and proceed from there. I look forward to the your comments-- please record your thoughts for us to consider.

Regards,

Bill Havlicek

THE HUMAN FACE

2008-09-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

This post is devoted to the subject of the aesthetics of the human face. Human beings are naturally engaged with human faces, deriving endless information from reading the thousands of expressions found in faces. Any serious study of aesthetic experience must begin with the face for it is the first thing we recognize and respond to as infants. After we learn to recognize our mother's face we quickly learn to respond to other significant faces as we mature.

As we mature, so does the content that we read into faces-- in fact a measure of our humanity can be determined by the degree to which we can respond to the signals broadcast by the face. For the lover, misreading the signals can be cause for concern. For the artist it can be the cause for elation at the successful portrayal of a significant other.

The film segments on this site are some of the most effective and enjoyable reflections on the mysterious and fascinating subject of the human face. Please enjoy learning more about something that we tend to take for granted-- which in the end is the most fascinating thing in all of human experience.

Bill Havlicek PhD

UT PICTURA POESIS

2008-08-02T15:54:00.001-07:00

This blogsite is devoted to the study of aesthetic experience. The study of aesthetic experience entails reflecting on the many ways in which the five senses (mediated by thinking) provides life-enhancing enrichment. This appreciative stance is in keeping with a long tradition in the history of art known as UT PICTORA POESIS. This is a tradition of thinking about aesthetically significant art as part of the fabric of cultural edification in which universal values of: beauty, balance, moral and ethically important stories and ideas are embodied in the media of art. Here painting shares characteristics with poetry, dramatic art with the novel, narrative arts and music with dance, opera or film where separate art forms are cross-pollinated and conjoined.

The idea of UT PICTORA POESIS points to a unification theory of the arts and further to the underlying reality of how all human faculties combine in any aesthetic experience or everyday perception for that matter. In this way, UT PICTORA POESIS can be understood as a form of kinesthetic consciousness united to the highest forms of thought. As the philosopher Descartes said, this is a commonsense approach to appreciating how the five senses work in common under the aegis of the mind. When the common unity of the senses are placed under moral and ethical value systems one has achieved what the principle of UT PICTORA POESIS promoted, which was to make humankind-- kinder, more reflective, creative, practical and more aware and ultimately transformed. It is my hope that this blogsite can contribute to this tradition. In this spirit I want to encourage all bloggers to comment on the many topics already posted on this site. I will endeavor, with the support of my colleague Dr. Joe Ferguson and his commonsense approach to the psychology of perception-- to offer fresh and worthwhile updates on points of view on aesthetic themes on this site.

To this end, Joe and I have been working on a taxonomy of aesthetic expression in which well-known visual artists are analyzed using a range of sense and thought processes. Joe has used his background as a clinical psychologist to organize these perceptual forms under a numerical rating system. The numerical rating is in no way to be confused with an IQ test or indication of some superior status based on higher numbers on what we call the HFAP. The idea for a rating system is to simply make one more aware of the different thought and sense processes we have noted in diverse artists, and also to draw out the identifiable elements of any particular aesthetic experience. The HFAP is intended to serve an aesthetic purpose by promoting ways to appreciate what artists have made and the underlying levels of human awareness that were experienced by the artists in the making of their artworks. This approach is consistent with John Dewey's pragmatic and important study- "Art as Experience." Click here to download HFAP forms and to see a brief description of its rating scales.

In the most general sense, this blogsite, the HFAP, posting and comments are about appreciating appreciation as an aesthetic end in itself as part of an on-going contribution to the history of UT PICTORA POESIS.

Bill Havlicek, PhD

Havlicek-Ferguson Aesthetic Profile

2008-06-26T14:22:00.001-07:00

The extent to which an artwork or any aesthetic object can be objectively characterized is both sensitive and controversial. It is commonly felt that deconstruction detracts something from aesthetic experience, although I do not believe that this is true. In fact, reductive analysis necessarily broadens the scope of any aesthetic experience and subtracts nothing from it.

Bill Havlicek and I have been engaged in a philosophical discussion around this question with a purported artificial intelligence calling itself Constructive Reductor. We have agreed that it is time to add a practical framework to our inquiry, and to open this project to all interested parties. For this purpose Bill and I have cooked up a simple instrument that we call the Havlicek-Ferguson Aesthetic Profile (HFAP), which allows a rater to characterize her aesthetic experience in terms of the elements listed below, each on a scale of 1 to 10. For each element I have suggested an artist or thinker who might score high on it. The substitution of thinkers for artists, and the selection of these examples generally, reflect my limited sophistication in art appreciation and criticism.

Click here for downloadable HPFA forms and a brief description of each scale.

Craft skill
Expressive depth
Neurobiological stimulus
Psychophysical stimulus
Archetypal stimulus
Intellectual appeal
Ideological appeal
Expression of an alternative world
Novelty
Creativity
Complexity
Social alliance
Economic value
Comfort or threat
Nostalgic association
Cultural Significance
Controversy

Of course, this list of aesthetic elements is by no means complete, nor could any claim of completeness ever be confirmed for any such list. Our principle project here will be to establish a library of aesthetic profiles for a wide variety of artworks and other aesthetic objects. Once we accumulate a sufficient number of profiles Bill and I will be able to analyze them along various lines in order to determine, once and for all, the true nature of art (wink).

My own principle interest is in the functional psychological analysis of each aesthetic factor in the HFAP, so I must await a substantial body of data before I can expect meaningful results. For students and scholars of art and aesthetics such as you, however, the analytic reflection that the HFAP requires for each aesthetic object should be fruitful in and of itself.

Please download either oneof the HFAP printed forms or the corresponding Excel spreadsheet version by clicking here. Please send copies of your completed forms, as email attachments, to AestheticProfile@gmail.com and also post them as comments on this thread (see the “comments” link, immediately below). Copies of email sent to AestheticProfile@gmail.com will be automatically forwarded to Bill, to me, and to the Constructive Reductor. Excel spreadsheets via email are preferable since they can be more easily accumulated and analyzed by electronic means.

Suggestions for additional profile elements are welcome and better examples than mine of artworks that epitomize each of the profile elements are particularly welcome. Finally, please note that there are three blank lines at the bottom of each HFAP where you can add aesthetic criteria that you find particularly important for each artwork that you profile, which will help Bill and I to refind the scale over time.

I look forward to your results and to seeing where this exercise leads!

Joe Ferguson :)

Aesthetics and the Artistic Enterprise Re-Deconstructed

2008-05-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

This title announces a discussion on some thorny issues in the theory of consciousness and the part that aesthetic experience may play in understanding the nature of human consciousness. In order to effect a discussion alternate views of consciousness will be posed by an identity known as the Constructive Reductor. In addition to this mysterious being, Dr. Joe Ferguson a clinical psychologist will comment as well. This looks like a lively format for some interesting discussion. I will be arguing for the importance of aesthetic experience in all of this and I imagine that Dr. Joe will offer some fascinating clinical points of view while the Constructive Reductor will take some extreme positions, I assume this from what he has written in an earlier dialog in the comment section on this blog.

Aesthetic Awareness In Daily Life

2008-03-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

John Dewey, one of America's best known thinkers on the subject of aesthetic experience made us aware of the fact that aesthetic appreciation is a natural component of human awareness. From the piece of toast that is over-toasted to the coffee that is no longer hot, we appreciate a sense of amplitude and rightness in our daily life. When the rightness of taste is deprived we feel let down.

Taken in an art historical sense, we feel the desire to see a work of art which has been lifted to a level of refined elaboration (some would say perfection) and when we do see such a work, we feel fulfilled in a profound way by being taken into a world view created by a human hand.

As one artist put it, "we see man's hand on the land" which translates into the notion that we feel comforted to see the evidence that humankind can shape the land in positive ways rather than destroy it senselessly. Put another way, perceiving a work of art that has been shaped with the creative, analytical and practical thought and feeling of an aesthetically aware artistic consciousness provides a level of satisfaction that is difficult to explain.

A specific example that I can offer of this profound satisfaction in aestheticized perfection was the viewing of Michelangelo's Captive figures in the Academy of Florence this past summer. Far from being polished to a normal sheen these marble figures tug and turn out of rubble and only part of the figures received polish. The very contrast between rough and smooth stone and the putty-like color of the native stone bathed in light-- all of this yields an aesthetically satisfying experience that makes crisp toast and hot coffee seem like fairly unimportant concerns.

Yet, the sense of satisfaction that we feel when culinary things turn out right is in it's own way a prelude to the symphonic potential of masterfully produced works of art by the hand of man on the land or put yet another way-- the land of man on the hand.

Bill

Modern and Contemporary group project

2008-03-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

As an off-site exam, each member of the study group needs to log a response to this posting. You will each enter a three-part set of observations to the: Form, theme and contextual aspects of a painting by Paul Klee. You will first select the work, then as you cite your textbook and class handout materials, you will each offer your personal observations to the work of art.

Under form, you will first note the title of the work, date it was created, media, and actual size, then you will proceed to make observations: about how it's size impacts it's expressive character, why the media works to heighten the mood, like-wise, the use of line, use of color, contrast, atmospheric treatments, general composition, brushwork and unique iconographic elements and so on.

Under theme, you will offer ideas about the meanings of the work and how these meaning emerge from the formal language of the work. Here we are after [content] in a work of art and how content is given a unique visual structure by Klee's knowing use of the elements of form. You should cite the text handouts as they offer a unique look into Klee's thematic interests, put these citings into "quote marks" and note the page and source.

Finally, under context you will again need to briefly cite the text and handouts discussing Paul Klee's artistic world view. You will offer insights into his personality and how Klee's personal view of life/reality/metaphysics etc. informed his formal language and his thematic choices. To make this simple this is where [in a biographical manner] you talk about Klee's artistic influences, childhood, love of narrative, story-telling, music, opera etc. In other words in this final part you will all offer thoughts on how Klee became- Klee the painter/story-teller.

In commenting on this blogsite, please leave your full name-- so that I can easily identify each group member and read their contributions to this off-site group exam.

Regards and enjoy the process,

Bill

Keith's All American Presentation

2008-02-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

Keith Maclelland shared his passion and process of making illustative works devoted to the theme of the cult of the American Cowboy. What is fascinating about Keith and his approach to his theme is the rich range of materials, photographs and digital images he employs in his quest to understand what in fact a Cowboy is.

From the Rhinestone Cowboy, to outlaws and gunners on the run, our views of cowboys are as many and as complicated as life in America is complex and contradictory. I welcome comments and discussion on Keith's carefully crafted presentation as it applies to the use of the art object as a means of exploring complex ideas and the images that have been created to express these ideas.

Above all, as we move into Module 2 with it's focus on what the artist is and can do in society, lets reflect on how Keith and Dave Glen function as artists. How would you compare and contrast these two different artists and their range of interests? Can you see some common ethical concerns the two share? What differences do you see between Dave Glen's documentary approach to photography and the more exploratory collage approach of Keith Maclelland? How would you describe the aesthetic characteristics of these two artists?

Bill

Some final thoughts from David Glen

2008-02-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

Hello, Everyone!

I Hope Bill doesn't mind my taking poll position in the blog to thank you all again for your thoughtful input regarding aesthetics and the documentary photograph. I have some final thoughts that I'd like to share with you, and these touch on just two issues.

The first is to do with historical responsibility. That we all--whether photographer, painter, illustrator, sculptor, or writer--have an impact on history is without question. For our work will be seen by future generations, and what our artwork contains will be used by our descendants in the ongoing process of understanding existence itself. As I have said elsewhere in the blog, all of us are setting down the visual evidence of our time for those who will come after us. In doing so, it is imperative that we tell the truth about what we see around us every day, whether with camera or brush, and that we connect with the heart of the matter on both an intellectual and an emotional level. We owe that to posterity because if we fail to tell the truth, are disingenuous in our motives, or manipulate facts, we violate the trust not just of those alive today but of future generations to come.

I believe very strongly in this and that it applies to ALL facets of the human condition. It even applies to the ethics of those who would represent us in government; of doctors who have sworn to put the lives and well-being of their patients first; of scientists and engineers in whose integrity we rely every time we step on an airplane, or drive a car.

When we look back on history, we have to rely on the fact that the photographers who were present in say Vietnam, or those in Iraq, were people of integrity, and that their work was not some kind of sordid manipulation of the truth for personal gain.

As you go on in life and pursue your art in whichever medium you have chosen, please remember always your integrity, your dedication to honest representation. Show that you really do care about issues, and always remember that child of the future who will one day stand and stare at your work and be changed forever.

The second thought is to do with taking sides. This is an extension of "caring about issues", and the good news is that we need not always focus on the tragic; we can also reveal the uplifting. One of the most overused words in the media today is "objectivity". It may seem odd to many of you when I say that I don't believe in absolute objectivity. It's just not possible to be wholly objective in anything. The very fact that we choose a specific topic for our art is subjective, and in choosing a subject I care about, I am by definition taking a side.

The great Dorothea Lange once wrote: "...documentary photography records the social scene of our time. It mirrors the present and documents the future. Its focus is man in relation to mankind. It records his customs at work, at war, at play, or his round of activities through 24 hours of the day, the cycle of the seasons or the span of a life. It portrays his institutions--family, church, government, political organizations, social clubs, labor unions. It shows not merely their facades, but seeks to reveal the manner in which they function, absorb the life, hold the loyalty, and influence the behavior of human beings. It is concerned with methods of work and the dependence of workmen on each other and their employers. It is preeminently suited to building a record of change."

This is true of all art. In my opinion, you MUST take a stance on the things you care about. The only part of "objectivity" that should apply is your unfailing effort to tell your visual story with absolute integrity. Just one work of art contributed in this way will rekindle our trust in humanity, and will leave the world a better place. It is for me the purest aesthetic.

Good luck to all of you!

David

Thanks from David Glen

2008-02-23T10:14:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone...thanks so much for having me speak to you on Thursday. I thoroughly enjoyed your participation and feedback, and I will be responding to some of your comments over this weekend.

In the meantime, if any of you wish to discuss aesthetics as it relates to photography, or indeed any aspect related to our discussions, please feel free to post comments on the aesthetics blog site.

Many thanks again.

David Glen

Introduction to David Glen

2008-02-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

Hello, Everyone!

I'm David Glen and will be visiting your aesthetics class on Thursday, February 21, and am looking forward to talking with you.

I thought I would give you a little background on who I am before we meet.

I am a documentary photographer and investigative journalist and was born in Kenya, East Africa, in 1953.

I attended a private boarding school in Northern Kenya, and thereafter attended Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the age of fifteen, I went to work as an apprentice in the heavy engineering division of the Iron and Steel Corporation of South Africa (ISCOR) in Vanderbijlpark, near Johannesburg. I later moved to Cape Town where I found a love for mountaineering and photography.

I first visited the Himalayas in 1973 at the age of twenty, reaching the South Col at 26,000 feet on Mount Everest with just one Sherpa companion. I spent a further five weeks climbing in the vicinity of Cho Oyu and Pumori indulging my love for photography, and developed a long term affection for the region and its Sherpa people. I'm still a frequent visitor to the Himalayas.

I've also spent long periods shooting documentary photography in a variety of countries. I've lived in Saudi Arabia, and have travelled on assignments in Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Yemen, the Gulf States, Egypt, India, Nepal, the remote Kingdom of Mustang (now part of Nepal), Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan, Costa Rica, the great southern ice caps of Chilean Patagonia, Russia, and more recently the Balkan states of Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Romania, and Hungary.

I now devote the majority of my documentary work to the poignant issue of child trafficking and the exploitation of children, increasing awareness of the insidious rise of this pandemic throughout the world. I am currently producing a photo journal entitled “Little People, Big Business” which looks critically at the plight of exploited and endangered children at the start of the 21st Century.

I hope to have an open dialogue with you about the aesthetic value in documentary photography citing three or four of my own icons in this field. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or otherwise post comments either before or after my presentation on Thursday.

I'll also post one or two images in advance to whet your appetite which we can discuss in class.

David Glen

David Glen's Visit Thursday

2008-02-19T11:49:00.000-08:00

Dear Students:

Following David's presentation on Thursday, I want to urge you to respond on this blog with comments so that Dave and I can interact with you. You will find that Dave has posted a couple of photo images so that you can get a sense of the aesthetic direction he wants to move us in. You will discover that Dave's concern as a documentary photographer is to frame a cultural context and content of real lives into a rich aesthetically compelling image. One of the points that I believe we will learn from Dave's presentation on Thursday is that fine documentary photography is inevitably aesthetically potent. In fact, I would go so far so to say that the best photography is always a powerful combination of form, theme, and context, and this is true for all of the arts in general.

Please note that Dave has logged in and introduced himself.

Additionally, we have released log in requirements for you so that you may log in without a user name and password. This may have prevented some students from logging in before.

Bill

One's most valued object

2008-02-14T10:27:00.000-08:00

Today in Aesthetics class the question was raised--why do we value art objects? The observation that practically speaking, works of art have little utilitarian use was brought to the table for discussion. The partner presentation by Ben Faubion and Bahador Shojapour explored in class some of the complex reasons we put an economic value on art objects that have little to offer in terms of doing something like transporting one or feeding one or protecting one. Ben and Bahador developed their discussion following the 6 so called "Iron Rules" of art value which appear in the essay in our text by Mark Sagoff, entitled: "On the aesthetic and economic Value of Art."

The class as a whole came to the conclusion that (as Sagoff claimed), the real value of the art is less in its intrinsic or practical qualities and value and more in the cultural and personal connections the object has to offer. The challenge was given to the entire class to imagine what objects they would save and why they would save them, if they could only grab three things out of a burning house after people and pets had been saved.

Then the next question to ask is why did you save those three objects? What personal and cultural value do they hold? What people and places do those objects connect with? This exercise is valuable in the way it helps one to understand why some objects can be priceless because the values they connect to are extremely important to one's personal history and even to one's identity. Now, extend this personal view to a country and one sees that art represents or embodies the cultural and personal heritage of a people.

I encourage all bloggers to share what objects have the most cultural and personal heritage and why they are important to you.

New essays

2008-02-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

This coming week we will be examining several important essays in the history of aesthetic thought. In a general way these readings will center around John Dewey's idea that art and aesthetic experience grow directly out of everyday life experiences. Other essays presented next week in class will relate to Dewey's views so that we will look for instance into writings by Okakura on the Japanese tea house as a place for important aesthetic insight. Other reflections by Tanizaki on the subtle power of Asian architectural design will broaden insights from the tea house and apply them to all of nature.

Developing a broad aesthetic view is challenging for an art student because there is a tendency to explore specific kinds of expression and media in art school. This is a natural tendency to stay in an aesthetic comfort zone because it takes real effort and focus to master a media. But following the mastery, the challenge is to broaden again ones view and remain open to other technical and conceptual approaches which can be added to what the student has already gained in terms of aesthetic awareness and artistic mastery.

Broadly based aesthetic readings can help to keep the student open to more media options and artistic world views and that is for the best because it keeps one vital. And of course John Dewey would more than agree with the need for vital art.

Bill

Welcome to the 2008 LCAD Aesthetics Blog!

2008-02-06T20:32:00.000-08:00

I'm looking forward to the student presentations tomorrow, February 7th. This will be the first time this semester that students in this class will be sharing with their fellow class members the insights that they are getting from reading the essays in their aesthetics text. Already, I have received e-mail messages from students who are working on their class presentations and the concern is to find a way of making the presentations interesting and representative of some solid study of the text.

There is always a tension in an art school, I've discovered, between students who want to make art objects and those who not only enjoy making art objects but are equally interested in reading and reflecting on the thoughts and opinions of other people who are making art objects. The in-class aesthetics presentations are the result of students who have found a way of balancing their desire to make art objects and also to appreciate what others have written about the making of art. The in-class presentations in this class are especially important because for some students it is the first time they are able to see the way in which the studio and the academic complement and overlap one another.

These are some of the reasons why I look forward to these first presentations in the morning. Please feel free to comment on your thoughts about this process. I will be adding entries to the LCAD Aesthetics Blog periodically, and I invite you to interact with me.