Art
Product Description
In this little book I have tried to develop a complete theory of visual art. I have put forward an hypothesis by reference to which the respectability, though not the validity, of all aesthetic judgments can be tested, in the light of which the history of art from palaeolithic days to the present becomes intelligible, by adopting which we give intellectual backing to an almost universal and immemorial conviction. Everyone in his heart believes that there is a real distinction between works of art and all other objects; this belief my hypothesis justifies. We all feel that art is immensely important; my hypothesis affords reason for thinking it so. In fact, the great merit of this hypothesis of mine is that it seems to explain what we know to be true. Anyone who is curious to discover why we call a Persian carpet or a fresco by Piero della Francesca a work of art, and a portrait-bust of Hadrian or a popular problem-picture rubbish, will here find satisfacti… More >>
Filed under: Books
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Bell wrote this when he was very young. In the preface he even hints at embarrassment over its overambitious breadth. His later “What Is Painting?” is MUCH better.
Rating: 2 / 5
This book was better than I expected for one that has been written so long ago. Great theory never goes out of fashion.
Rating: 5 / 5
The book was written ninety years ago. People who repond instantly to art may not be capable of talking about it. One must start with the personal experience, a peculiar emotion. It is possible for theories of aesthetics to have general validity.
How quaint to be discussing Landseer, Frith, Alma Tadema. What is primitive tends to move people. For appreciation we need only a sense of form and color. The aesthetically challenged will remember paintings by their subjects. People are more humble about appreciating music than the visual arts.
Clive Bell says that significant form moves him. He claims there are only two kinds of art–good and bad. He sees Post Impressionism as a return to first principles. The artist has got to feel the necessity of making his work right.
Religion like art is concerned with the world of emotional reality. There is a connection of religion and art and it is history. The moral justification for art may be considered to be linked to pleasure, goodness, beauty, utility. It may be a matter of valuation. If art produces a good state of mind, and it does, it is ethical.
Greek civilization was sick by the time of sack of Corinth. Materialism infected the ages of Marcus Aurelius and Queen Victoria. The paintings in the catacombs are classical. Bell seeks to identify eras of enthusiasm. One has to think of what has survived successfully. Every artist sacrifices form to substance.
Bell calls Giotto a peak. Afterwards there was a long decline. It is claimed that all of the artists of the nineteenth century are ominous. Modern artists owe a debt to Cezanne. He showed a method. Humans need to be freed from erudition and well-meaning efforts to induce art appreciation.
Rating: 5 / 5