Do Great Works Survive Because They Are Great - Article Example

Download file to see previous pages What is aesthetic philosophy? Will these philosophies stand the Test of Time? Aesthetic philosophy wants to explain or cause understanding of, aesthetics. To some, aesthetics is thought to be a study of critical language or criticism of works of art. In critiquing works of art, it is suggested that a better question than ‘Is it Art?’ would be ‘Is it important or ‘Does it matter’ (Burke, et al. 1993). According to An Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “criticism, and aesthetics, involve a sort of arduous thinking that isn’t usually asked of people, and is produced normally only by artists . . .”.

The values irrevocably linked to works of art, as well as the choices that have to be made (Burke, et al. 1993) help us to understand how works of art travel through time to reach our eyes and ears. Understanding the values creates more understanding about the choices that have been made in the art’s history. A painting by Rembrandt may be set aside or even discarded if it doesn’t measure up to the values of the artist’s body of work, or the times in which they are shown. Once that choice is made, the history of the artwork changes completely.

Values are also about the ‘norms’, implied or not, of the art world. As in any part of human endeavor, trying to achieve the norm, the standard, often becomes only successful in achieving mediocrity. Values are the guidelines that great works of art must step outside to achieve greatness. History has watched art that has found great popularity and success become invisible when it becomes the ‘norm’ or is standardized. It becomes wallpaper. So what makes art last? Is it beautiful?

What is beauty? In Webster’s dictionary, aesthetic is defined as an appreciation of beauty. It is the only definition of aesthetic. In philosophy, aesthetic has no definition, only description., many descriptions. As for beauty, it is, of course, in the eye of the beholder. But this does not stop critics from deciding what is beautiful and what is not, which helps some to feel the security of those boundaries while infuriating others who are imprisoned by them. For who hasn’t stood at a window on a gray, rainy day and appreciated the dim, dreary landscape as beautiful in its way? Yet there are many who will look out the window and simply say, “I don’t like rain.”

Interpretation of art is different from evaluation, critique and judgments. Interpretation involves explanations of things that are not obvious to the viewer, or listener. Evaluation is more objective and might be thought of as having more to do with the actual piece of art and its explicit components. Critique and judgments are the defining remarks that are based on many factors, which include interpretation, evaluation, personal taste, historical reference, and many others. ...Download file to see next pages Read More