Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
de
Niverville
1
Barbara
Safran
de
Niverville
Jan
Avgikos,
Faculty
Advisor
6
May
2013
Thoughts
of
Beauty
Several
years
ago,
in
Parma,
Italy
I
came
upon
a
dim
room
in
the
Galleria
Nazionale
where
a
small,
but
exquisite
painting
glowed
angelically
from
within.
The
canvas
commanded
such
presence
that
it
dominated
my
experience
of
the
gallery.
Only
9.7
inches
by
8.3
inches
in
dimension,
its
memory
has
remained
with
me.
La
Scapigliata
by
Leonardo
da
Vinci,
was
extraordinary
in
its
ethereal,
immeasurable
qualities
and
superseded
other
works
by
da
Vinci
that
I
had
already
seen
in
person.
How
does
one
analyze
or
quantify
such
beauty?1
Since
my
visit
to
Parma,
I
have
come
to
the
daring
and
perhaps
unpopular
realization
that
I
aspire
to
capture
a
glimpse
of
beauty
in
my
artwork.
Compared
to
La
Scapigliata,
this
can
only
be
a
humble
attempt
at
suggesting
a
small
part
of
beautys
potential;
contemplation
in
an
elastic
moment
of
time,
stretched
out
and
extended,
a
pause
in
the
face
of
noise
and
chaos.
It
is
perhaps
a
study
of
strength
and
tenacity,
finesse
and
delicacy,
grace
and
fullness
of
form
in
infinite
variety.
It
is
about
the
beautiful
observed
in
nature2,
with
its
controversies
and
vagaries.
1
Beauty:
The
quality
or
aggregate
of
qualities
in
a
person
or
thing
that
gives
pleasure
to
the
senses
or
pleasurably
exalts
the
mind
or
spirit.
Merriam-Webster
Collegiate
Dictionary,
Eleventh
edition.
p.
108.
2
Nature:
that
Safran de Niverville 2 My interest in natural elements has led me through a labyrinth of traditions and western aesthetics from the Classics, Medieval and Renaissance Europe, the Enlightenment, and Romanticism, all of which need to be recognized, but not belabored. The challenge remains the creation of work that addresses beauty, but maintains a contemporary context. This has propelled me through a period of intense experimentation in interpreting the vigor, delicacy and entropy of plant life in my immediate surroundings. It has led me to confront the marvelous in nature and in art. William Shakespeare wrote in Loves Labours Lost, Act 2, Scene 1, Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye. But what is beauty as an aesthetic experience? Is beauty valid in contemporary culture or is it somehow derelict or indecent? (Danto 28) Theodor Adorno wrote: Beauty cannot be defined, but neither can the concept of beauty be dispensed with altogether. . .The image of the beautiful as being a unique entity emerges simultaneously with the process of mans emancipation from his fear of omnipotent oneness and homogeneity of nature. . .The shaping spirit of art allows only those elements to pass into the art work which it grasps or which it can hope to assimilate. (qtd. in Beech 78-79)3 3 Extract from sthetische Theorie (1970) (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1973); trans. C. Lenhardt, Aesthetic Theory (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984) 75-9.
Safran de Niverville 3 I find myself attempting to comprehend what is amorphous and enigmatic. Beauty and nature are both notions, which become more ambiguous the more one tries to pin them down. However, the shaping spirit of art attempts to interpret and envision their portrayal. In his book discussing aesthetic judgments about natural objects, Natural Beauty: A Theory of Aesthetics Beyond the Arts, Ronald Moore states: Aesthetic experience is obviously contingent in many ways on social and cultural contexts. And yet it remains anchored to individual response. . . . In this respect, our appreciation of natural aesthetic qualities mirrors our appreciation of artificial aesthetic qualities. . . . What is established in our historical, culturally-conditioned awareness of natural things supplies a base. Reflective natural beauty judgment entails appropriate appreciation of this base coupled with an expectation that each new contribution of aesthetic attention alters the base. (80) Thus, beauty may be subjective, malleable according to individual preferences and the cultural background of each individual. A shifting backdrop of memory and imagination is activated by what is perceived as beautiful, whether the appreciated object is a work of art or an object in nature. Beauty gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit, according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.4 It is also an elusive discourse which fell out of favor during postmodernism, as anti-aesthetic forms of 4 Eleventh Edition. p. 108.
Safran de Niverville 4 expression came to the fore. While outrage at injustice held sway in the art world at large, I felt that I had to apologize for my fascination with nature. I resisted defining the beautiful for myself, although I had become discontented with the pretty.5 In the midst of post-modernism, my work was sometimes read as regressive and out of step with the contemporary scene. In discussing the disappearance of beauty from the avant-garde of the twentieth century, Arthur C. Danto commented that the philosophical conception of aesthetics in the eighteenth century was . . .almost entirely dominated by the idea of beauty. . . when apart from the sublime, the beautiful was the only aesthetic quality considered by artists and thinkers. And yet beauty has almost entirely disappeared from artistic reality in the twentieth century, as if attractiveness was somehow a stigma, with its crass commercial implications. (7) Frederic Jameson added in 1995: . . . the last remaining enclaves the Unconscious and Nature, or cultural and aesthetic production and agriculture - have been assimilated into commodity production. . .what characterizes
5 The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary differentiates between pretty and beautiful noting that pretty is conventional, pleasing, and nice, but lacking strength, while the beautiful excites the keenest of pleasure to the senses and stirs the emotions.
Safran
de
Niverville
5
postmodernity
in
the
cultural
area
is
the
suppression
of
everything
outside
of
commercial
culture.
.
.
(qtd.
in
Beech
107)6
Beauty
became
associated
with
marketing
and
consumerism,
rather
than
with
aesthetic
experience.
Dave
Hickey
remarked
in
his
essay
Enter
the
Dragon:
On
the
Vernacular
of
Beauty,
that
mentioning
the
issue
of
beauty
in
1988
would
ignite
a
discussion
of
the
corruption
of
the
art
market
and
the
complaint
that
beauty
sells.
However,
after
considering
the
controversy
over
the
exhibition
of
Robert
Mapplethorpes
erotic
photographs
in
1989,
he
concluded,
the
vernacular
of
beauty,
in
its
democratic
appeal,
remains
a
potent
instrument
for
change.
(qtd.
in
Beech
23-25,
30)7
This
note
of
hope
for
beauty
began
to
receive
more
attention
in
the
1990s.
Kathleen
Marie
Higgins
wrote,
Beauty
makes
the
world
seem
worthwhile
again.
.
.
.
It
is
the
bridge
to
a
sense
that
reality
is
lovable.
.
.
.
Beauty
renders
disparate
materials
into
a
coherent
whole,
with
the
elements
as
interdependent
as
an
organic
body.
(282)
It
is
a
moment
of
calm,
the
inner
peace
of
reflection,
and
a
fascination
with
natural
forms,
which
I
offer
in
my
artwork.
In
my
view,
images
that
awaken
serenity
in
the
individual
and
celebrate
the
splendid
have
as
much
validity
in
our
culture
as
6
Extract
from
Transformations
of
the
Image
in
Postmodernity
(1995);
first
published
in
English
in
Frederic
James,
The
Cultural
Turn:
Selected
Writings
on
the
Postmodern
1983-1998
(London
and
New
York:
Verso,
1998)
134-5.
7
From
The
Invisible
Dragon:
Four
Essays
on
Beauty
(Los
Angeles:
Art
Issues
Press,
1993) 15-24.
Safran de Niverville 6 those, which critique, challenge and shock. I agree with David Rothenbergs belief that . . . the most beautiful art is that which makes the world appear richer, deeper, and more meaningful, making nature seem ever more intricate, interesting, and deserving of our attention and love. There is meaning in nature far beyond use; there is form and beauty far beyond function. (34) I cannot yet claim to have portrayed the pleasing, the fascinating and the delightful in nature, as I am able to envision it. However, there is much yet to read, to observe, and to create along the way and it is an absorbing and fascinating project.
Safran de Niverville 7 Works Cited Beauty. Def. 1. Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition. 2007. Print. ---. Beautiful. Synonyms. Adorno, Theodor. On the Concept of the Beautiful/1970. Ed. David Beech. Beauty Documents of Contemporary Art. Cambridge, MA: Whitechapel Gallery and The MIT Press. 2009. Print. Craig, Hardin and David Bevington, ed. The Complete works of Shakespeare. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company. 1973. Print. Danto, Arthur C. The Abuse of Beauty: Aesthetics and the Concept of Art. Peru, IL: Carus Publishing Company. 2003. Print. da Vinci, Leonardo. La Scapigliata. c. 1508. Oil on canvas. Galleria Nazionale, Parma Italy. <http://www.italy360.it/italia/parma/galleria-nazionale/ leonardo-da-vinci-la-scapigliata.html> Hickey, Dave. Enter the Dragon: On the Vernacular of Beauty/1993. Ed. David Beech. Beauty: Documents of Contemporary Art. Cambridge, MA: Whitechapel Gallery and The MIT Press. 2009. Print. Higgins, Kathleen Marie. "Whatever Happened To Beauty? A Response To Danto." The Journal Of Aesthetics And Art Criticism 54. (1996): 281-284. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 2 May 2013. Jameson, Fredric. Transformations of the Image in Postmodernity/1995. Ed. David Beech. Beauty: Documents of Contemporary Art. Cambridge, MA: Whitechapel Gallery and The MIT Press. 2009. Print. Rothenberg, David. Survival of the Beautiful: Art, Science, and Evolution. New York:
Safran de Niverville 8 Bloomsbury Press. 2011. Print. Soper, Kate. What is Nature? Culture, Politics and the non-Human. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1995. Print.