3. Metaphysical Conceptions of Art Art as beauty From Plato, philosophers have argued that art exists as beauty that elevates the mind, allowing individuals to gain knowledge of the beauty and unchanging nature of the cosmos Compositions were hierarchised – historical, mythological and biblical scenes portraiture & landscape realistic scenes of ‘daily life’ Plato viewed beauty as eternal, absolute and transcendent – a view that is not compatible with modern concepts of beauty

4. Metaphysical Conceptions of Art Art as the imitation of nature A conception of art in which nature exists as the image of perfection and art imitates that perfection – the doctrine of mimesis Reproduction of reality – trompe d’oeil & the doctrine of illusionism (influential during the Renaissance) However, in the same way that ideas of beauty change historically, so to different cultures represent nature differently As the Enlightenment grew in influence, the aforementioned doctrines became less influential and the focus shifted to a humanly subjective understanding of beauty & engagement with art. (see Harrington 2004)

5. Metaphysical Conceptions of Art Art as aesthetic experience Derived from the Greek aisthesis – the study of pleasure in perfection Aesthetics – a branch of philosophy focused on the concepts of beauty and taste – focused on experiencing pleasure in sensory objects – concerned with judgements of taste in relation to ‘works of art’ The Age of Enlightenment and Romanticism – human rationality and emotion The external world engaged in the mind rather than directly through sense perceptions (we know more than the objects around us – value, belief & tradition) Ideas & idealism – search for objective, universal knowledge in human thought (see Grenfell & Hardy 2007; Harrington 2004)

6. Kant: Aesthetics & Art Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) – The Critique of Judgement (1790) Can we have knowledge of art that is prior to experience? Taste & beauty – part of Kant’s wider philosophical system Nature is God’s “unfathomably great art” (Kant 1987: 334) For Kant beauty is a judgment – that is, it is not a fixed concept Taste – individual’s subjective feeling of pleasure of the object – sensory pleasure – judgments of taste are produced by pleasure, unlike moral judgements or judgments of fact

7. Kant: Aesthetics & Art Where Hume sees the experience of beauty as merely subjective, Kant sees it as a logical judgment (this differs from his early discussions of beauty and taste) Exercise of rational judgment Act of sensuous feeling Expression of personal feeling Act of the mind AESTHETIC JUDGEMENT ART

11. Kant: Aesthetics & Art Kant argued that in affirming ‘a judgement of taste’, the individual making the judgement was not making any claim as to the objects value, or its moral worth or practical use He was simply referring to the pleasure it brought to the senses through ‘disinterested contemplation’ Building on Kant, Clive Bell (1914) argues that artistic quality is located in the ‘significant form’ of the art work, rather than any narrative or representational content Greenberg (1986-93) adds historical concept – he states that by continually removing and excluding all links to external conditions and concerns, art can be ‘purified’ – only accessible through the aesthetic beauty of its form

12. Philosophy and Art: Kant Kant has been used to explain the aesthetic value of post-impressionist art, such as the work of Cezanne and Gauguin, where form is emphasised over representational depiction (Bell 1914; Fry 1920) Paul Cezanne - Château Noir (1900-04) Oil on canvas (73.7 x 96.6 cm)

13. Kasimir Malevich – Black Square and Red Square (1915) Oil on canvas (71.4 x 44.4cm) Georges Braque – Woman with a Guitar (1913) Oil and charcoal on canvas (130 x 73 cm)

15. Hegel: The Aesthetic and the End of Art Georg W.F. Hegel (1770-1831) – Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) , Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences (1817) Rather than individual’s response to beauty (Kant), Hegel focused on content and meaning of art works Art operates on the level of sensuous experience and reveals comprehensive truth of position of humanity – like religion & philosophy Art is externalised human self consciousness Focuses on artistic beauty as above natural beauty – it can be philosophised Hegel’s aesthetics provide the ‘cornerstone of the discipline of art history’ (Geczy 2008: 107)

16. Hegel: The Aesthetic and the End of Art For Hegel, the human spirit manifested in art in an evolutionary manner The history of art represented of the history of man Art identified the progression of the human spirit towards self-awareness Art, therefore, was teleologically progressive – working towards an endpoint where man would fully know himself as the true nature of the spirit was revealed Productive tension in the idea and form of the art work –– each can be inadequate in themselves and in relation to each other

17. Hegel: The Aesthetic and the End of Art Early civilisations – symbolic art – tension between idea and form (distorted representations of God) – form did not fulfil idea Classical (Greek) – unity of idea and form – the idea represented through the idealised human form – unity of religious awareness and artistic expression – highest level of art

19. Hegel: The Aesthetic and the End of Art For Hegel, art has been overtaken by religion and philosophy in terms of being able to articulate and examine human existence – art is no longer seen as divine revelation Art now something that philosophy can examine and explain (see Cheetham 2001; Gaiger 2002)

20. Hegel: The Aesthetic and the End of Art Art is seen as a representation of human self understanding – it is a stage prior to philosophy Art is the product of its age and the ideas of that age Hegel linked art to historical context for the first time through philosophical discussion Showed the historically located nature of the production and appreciation of art works In contrast to Kant, Hegel identifies the importance of content and form (rather than just form) and identifies the historically located nature of art (against the concept of historical aesthetic beauty) Both influential in the emergence of art history as a discipline and also in sociology’s engagement with art