2. art as information in a (large) nutshell

Starter• Think of a specific play, book, poem that is

representative. What is good about it?

• …what would Aristotle say?

Art informs us

“We value art

because it informs us”

Gut feeling: does Art represent?• In other words, is there

representative or informative art that aesthetics should explain?

• Representative art has been made for thousands of years: the caves of Lascaux contain over 2,000 paintings, some dating from 30,000 years ago. Visual art has an extensive history and is highly valued as a cultural product.

• We do value representation in art. ‘What’s it of?’ or ‘What’s it about?’ is a key initial question of much art.

• We value truth to life in plays and films, and in representative art or photography – examples abound! E.g. Arthur Miller, Martin Scorcese, Flemish still-lives, such as Heda’s ‘Still life with lobster (1650-9)

Gut feeling: does Art represent?

• In fact, for much art, if we cannot identify the object represented, then we can conclude that the art has failed. (Consider novels with protagonists who aren’t psychologically plausible, or bad paintings…)

• The ability to portray objects or situations authentically is one we value.– Visual artists spend years perfecting their technical skills– Dancers spend years training their bodies…– Method Actors embed themselves in the roles that they depict…

Daniel Day Lewis once spent three years learning to be a cobbler…

• Certain real events, such as the Holocaust, or objects, such as bodies mutilated by torture, can seem ‘off-limits’ for art…the representation of such things in art would be too horrifying or powerful to be represented…

This book is available from Amazon. Should it be?

Representational theories in history

• Plato’s account in Book X of his ‘Republic’:– Plato’s metaphysics: the ultimate reality is the Forms. Particular things

or objects are simply an imperfect ‘copy’ of the Forms. – because art represents particular things, it is merely a ‘copy of a copy’.– Mimesis or copying is therefore deceptive and untruthful.– So it would be banned in an ideal society.

• Aristotle: disagrees. For him, art had the capacity to: – Be morally educative (Homer, Greek Tragedy reinforce our view of the

virtues– Represent reality (and truths about it) in a way that other mediums could

not (the ability to reveal universals, confront us with timeless beauty etc.)

– It thus fulfilled an essential, educative role (remember: the widespread illiteracy of the Athenian demos, who could learn only by listening to Homer, the drama etc)

What does the syllabus mean?

• Knowledge and Understanding: Art informs us by– illuminating our experience – revealing ‘truths’– articulating a ‘vision’ – being epiphanic– portraying authentically – imitating or representing its subject

convincingly or faithfully

Art as information – the syllabus

• Knowledge and Understanding: Art informs us by– illuminating our experience (allowing us to see what was not

visible before)– revealing ‘truths’ (in a fashion that other media cannot) – articulating a ‘vision’ (an ideal or highly individual view of how

man/society could or should be) – being epiphanic (showing us immediately the whole of an entity,

making possible a flash of ‘spiritual insight’)– portraying authentically (being a genuine representation)– imitating or representing its subject convincingly or faithfully

(taking the viewer in, standing in for something real)

What do all these elements share?

• the value of art lies, not with any ‘aesthetic’ qualities of the artwork itself (perceptual richness, natural beauty etc.)

• nor with any ‘formal’ features the work possesses (the intrinsic properties of ‘form’, ‘balance’, ‘harmony’ etc.)

• nor with the emotions the work evokes or possesses intrinsically.

• but rather with what a work of art can teach us. • This could be termed cognitivism: a work of art is about

thoughts.• Now: each variant of aesthetic cognitivism in more

detail…

Homework

• Outline and illustrate the view that we value art because it informs us, giving specific examples of ways in which it might do so.

• (This is the first part of a b)-question essay)

Art informs us by ‘illuminating our experience’:

• light is shone on a mutual experience: we notice something that we did not notice before about an experience we share with the artist

• so our view of a shared experience is changed in a ‘transformation of the commonplace’;

• we re-examine our own experience ‘in a new light’; • our eyes come to see our world more clearly.• (But is art the only or the best way this might happen?

Don’t we best share insights through language of a transactional kind? (Consider: being instructed…))

Art informs us ‘by revealing truths’

• in ways other media can’t– Moral truths (e.g. Homer’s heroes in the Iliad and Odyssey reveal moral

truths about traits the virtuous character must cultivate (bravery and cunning);

– Universal/timeless truths (Michelangelo’s ‘David’ as portraying eternal youth, the timeless and universal beauty and perfection of the human ‘form’, revealing the universal in the particular);

– Psychological truths (Hamlets ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy as confronting the question of whether existence is preferable to non-existence);

– Religious truths (Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’ as revealing the truth of genesis and creationism; Dante’s depiction of the inferno, purgatorio and paradiso);

– Practical truths (cave-painting as a a means for communicating hunting skills)

• (But isn’t truth a quality of propositions, and so best expressed in propositions? i.e. in statements, in language?)

• (Yet language is spoken and written – and in the past, many could not read…)

Art informs us because it reveals a ‘vision’

• It shows us a version of the world that is particular to the artist, unique to them, but which we can ourselves appreciate.

• We see the world anew through another’s eyes.

• What if, though, this vision is so unusual we cannot appreciate it?

• What if we can only see the world through our own eyes?

Art informs us because it is ‘epiphanic’

• Great art is revelatory. It shows, it manifests. It does not explain.

• Great art shows us all of a thing in its essence, and our perception of that thing is immediate and total (Joyce).

• Hopkin’s ‘instress’ and ‘inscape’ are relevant ideas here.

• But what exactly is being conveyed in an epiphany? • A conceptual insight? (Why not put it in words,

concepts, then?)• Some other kind of insight? (Does a non-conceptual

insight make sense?)• So can we (always) communicate what an

epiphany is?

Art = ‘a convincing or faithful imitation’…some issues…

Pere Borrell del Caso, Escaping Criticism (1874)

• Plato’s metaphysical arguments aside, is all art an imitation?

• (An imitation = an attempt to deceive…)• In most paintings, excepting ‘trompe l’oeil’ works, the artist is not trying to fool us or take us in. • (And ‘fool-the-eye’ paintings are not art until we realise the deceit…)

• Actors do not imitate the characters they play, they ‘become’ them temporarily

• e.g. Ion is ‘possessed’

Art = a convincing or faithful copy…some issues

• Is all art a copy?

• Copying presupposes an original.• Is there an original, for all art?• Or for any art? Conceptual schema = there is no world without conditioning or interpretation…no original to be imitated…

• A successful copy accurately resembles the original.

• Can this always be determined?• No original, lost original?

Issues with both imitation and copy

Matisse’s "Pastorale, Nymphe et Faune" 1906 Constable’s ‘Hay Wain’, 1821

• Should we talk, instead, of ‘better’ and ‘worse’ resemblances?

• Which of the two paintings opposite is a better resemblance?

• A ‘good resemblance’ could be entirely invented/made up of individual perceptual elements. • Can we always tell if a resemblance is authentic or genuine, or not?

Issues with both imitation and copy

Claude’s ‘Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba (1648) and Turner’s ‘The Scarlet Sunset’ (1830-40).

• Is a good copy or resemblance the same as good art?

• Compare the two sunsets. Which is best?

• In judging artistic quality, is accuracy or the degree of resemblance to a sunset the point?

• Both are stylised depictions... • So arguably a picture’s lack of resemblance or verisimilitude has no bearing on its power.

Issues with both imitation and copy• If resemblance is the main reason we value art, then wouldn't photography always be best?

• Does copying actually involve the creative imagination?

• A good forgery is a perfect copy…but - a good work of art? art at all?

• Is all art imitative? • In the visual arts there is at least the possibility that the artist is copying from reality. • But what about music or poetry or literature? Here, is the artist copying anything at all?

Guido Reni, Saint Sebastian, 1615-16 and Tim Hetherington, Injured marine at Restrepo Base, Afghanistan, 2008

Art informs us by representing authentically.

• Great art portrays authentically …convincingly or faithfully.

• But what is ‘authenticity’, ‘fidelity’?

• = a certain realism?• But what is realism…?

• Truth to experience? (Whose experience? Isn’t most experience dull?)• Isn’t art better than life sometimes?• Is only realistic art worthwhile?

• Are the images that follow ‘authentic’? How do you know? Woman in blue reading a letter, Johannes

Vermeer, 1662-1665

Tom Hunter, Woman reading a respossession order, 1998

Jerusha West, Zizzy reading a book, 2011

Starter

Look at the preceding slides and your note sheet.

May 2012

05 Explain and illustrate two criticisms of the view that art is supposed to represent reality. (15 marks)

Interpretation, Analysis, Application – general issues with mimetic theories

• How is art supposed to stand for reality?• through convention?

• consider e.g. perspective since the Renaissance• consider e.g. keys in music being happy or sad

• does all art make use of this convention of realism/illusion/representation?

• how are these conventions established?• how essential are they?

• through intrinsic qualities?• is there agreement about what qualities art might intrinsically possess in order to represent?• would everyone know how e.g. to look at a picture?

General issues: are all arts equally concerned with representing?

Kurt Schwitters, ‘Das Undbild’, 1919

• The majority of visual art does seem to be informative. • Religious art in particular performed an educative role

• hell, heaven etc• most were illiterate

• Cave painting • ‘how-to’ paintings…• (can we be sure of this?)

• But some art seems non-representational: ‘primitive’ art, Bach fugues; modern Abstract art • Perhaps mimetic theories of art only work for art from some places and at some points in time…

Abstract Art

• ‘Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.’ [Wikipedia]

• In abstract art, representation disappears.

• There is still an art work, and an artist.

Mark Rothko, ‘Orange, Tan and Purple’, 1954

Barnett Newman (1905-1970), Onement 1, 1948

• Can abstract art represent?• Consider Schwitters’ collage. It is 2D, but some shapes are in front of others. • So it represents 3D space.• Does representation need to represent anything recognizable?• Surely it is still representation?

• But some abstract art – Newman, Rothko – doesn’t even seem to portray in 3D.• Can we even talk about ‘authentic’ representation in abstract art? • And much art – e.g. music without words – the sequence of sounds is not representational.

Are all arts equally concerned with representing?

Even if art informs us, is that why we value it as art?

• utility is not enough: if we value art only because it informs us then the qualities of the artwork itself are lost

• e.g. ‘perceptually rich’ or ‘abhorrent’ aesthetic qualities; • e.g. the intrinsic features of ‘harmony’ and ‘balance’, • e.g. the emotions only art can make us feel.

•the ‘syringe’ argument: if art only informs us, any work of art could be substituted for any other that conveyed the same information without loss of value.

• surely we value art for more than just information?• maybe the kind of information or the way in which it gives it to us is important? (Art is condensed life?)• are we really saying that the ‘vessel’ of the ideas is irrelevant?

Is art especially informative?

• ‘Art teaches us in a way no other medium can. In this respect it is unique.’ Do you agree?

• Aren’t there other media which are as informative, or even more so? (Such as?)

• Art just collapses into politics once its ‘aura’ of distinctiveness has gone (Walter Benjamin’s view)

What could we mean by ‘truth’ in art?

• Can we even make sense of such a view given that the majority of characters etc portrayed in artworks are themselves fictitious (King Lear, Othello, Oedipus etc)?

• Isn’t ‘Truth’ normally only a property of propositions?

• Wouldn’t this make art simply a vehicle for these truths…? So art is disposable – just a list of statements?

• And can’t art be both ‘realistic’ and entirely implausible?

Necessary? Sufficient?

•As for all the theories we are considering: is it a necessary feature of the value of art that it should be informative?

• any example of art with a non-informative element is enough to suggest that it is not…

•Is it a sufficient one? • There are many instances of non-art that have an informative function

• textbooks• instruction manual• maps

• So some other quality must be needed in art.

Art (Critique) Gallery

• These criticisms are stuck up around the room in order.

• Choose the one you find most convincing.

• You’ll be asked to stand by it in a moment.

• This will give us a visual survey of our views.

Assessment and Evaluation

For

• the majority of art is informative. • a few counter-examples don’t rebut this view.• allows us to argue that modern art ain’t art…

Assessment and Evaluation

The Middle Way

• the idea of Explanatory Power• counter examples do rule out the necessity and the sufficiency of the view that we value art only because of its informative qualities. • nevertheless, the majority of art clearly does have informative qualities.

Assessment and Evaluation

Against:

• Valuing art only in terms of its cognitive value disregards the artwork’s

• aesthetic • formal • emotional qualities

• Yet to explain adequately why we value art, these are exactly the qualities that must be explained!• ‘All Art aspires to the condition of music’, or ‘Art for art’s sake’!

a) questions

• Outline and illustrate two reasons for holding the view that art informs us (15 marks)

b) question

• ‘We value an art work because it is an authentic representation.’ Discuss this claim concerning art.