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
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
