Defining art, creating the canon: artistic value in an era of doubt

What is art; why should we value it; and what allows us to say that one workis better than another? Paul Crowther uses a philosophical approach to argue that there is such a thing as distinctively artistic value based on aesthetic criteria. He exposes flaws in the arguments of sceptics for whom there can be no such thing as objectively good art. What is art; why should we value it; and what allows us to say that one work is better than another?Traditional answers have emphasized aesthetic form. But this has been challenged by institutional definitions of art and postmodern critique. The idea of distinctively artistic value based on aesthetic criteria is at best doubted, and at worst, rejected. This book, however, champions the traditional notions. It restores the mimetic definition of art on the basis of factors which traditional answers neglect, namely the conceptual link between art's aesthetic valueand 'non-exhibited'epistemological and historical relations.These factors converge on an expanded notion of the artistic image (a notion which can even encompass music, abstract art, and some conceptual idioms). Theimage's style serves to interpret its subject-matter. If this style is original (in comparative historical terms) it can manifest that special kind of aesthetic unity which we call art. Appreciation of this involves a heightened interaction of capacities (such as imagination and understanding) which are basic to knowledge and personalidentity. By negotiating these factors, it is possible to define art and its canonic dimensions objectively, and to show that aforementioned sceptical alternatives are incomplete and self-contradictory. INDICE: Introduction: Normative Aesthetics and Artistic Value Part One: Culture and Artistic Value Cultural Exclusion and the Definition of Art Defining Art, Defending the Canon, Contesting Culture Part Two: The Aesthetic and theArtistic From Beauty to Art; Developing Kant's Aesthetics The Scope and Valueof the Artistic Image Part Three: Distinctive Modes of Imaging Twofoldness: Pictorial Art and the Imagination Between Language and Perception: Literary Metaphor Musical Meaning and Value Eternalizing the Moment: Artistic Projections of Time Conclusion - The Status and Future of Art

• ISBN: 978-0-19-969858-5
• Editorial: Oxford University
• Encuadernacion: Rústica
• Páginas: 276
• Fecha Publicación: 24/11/2011
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés