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Coming from a science background, I’ve often considered how theoretical constructs could be applied to art. It seems, to me, that, in the case of art theory, the major and most relevant questions are: “What is art?” and “Why is art valued?”
Because of this, the blurb from the book jacket of Cynthia Freedman’s But is it art? (Oxford University Press, 30 illustrations, 8 color plates, $16.95) immediately caught my eye.
In part, it read:
"In today's art world many strange, even shocking, things qualify as art. In this book, Cynthia Freeland explains why innovation and controversy are valued in the arts, weaving together philosophy and art theory with many fascinating examples. She discusses blood, beauty, culture, money, museums, sex, and politics, clarifying contemporary and historical accounts of the nature, function, and interpretation of the arts. Freeland also propels us into the future by surveying cutting-edge web sites, along with the latest research on the brain's role in perceiving art. This clear, provocative book engages with the big debates surrounding our responses to art and will prove an invaluable introduction to anyone interested in thinking about art.”
This book is an excellent introduction to art theory especially for someone, like myself, who has not spent the years of formal study necessary to establish conventional academic credentials. Comprehensive in scope, the book covers all the major theories and provides a jumping off point for those who wish more information. The author provides an historical framework of how philosophers and critics have approached the questions, with which I began this section.
The book examines both the business and politics of art with examples of good practice supported by extensive references. The author also shows how ‘cultural biases’ can be intervening variables in both the framing of the initial questions and the answers. For example, Freedman points out that the complex symbolic gardens of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France have few parallels in the West today.
She sets the stage for discussing contemporary art by pointing out where some of the classical art theories can't quite explain some of the art we see being created today. In the first chapter, she describs the use of blood in contemporary art but asserts that this use of blood in art in modern urban First World does have the same meaning it does in primitive rituals nor does its use promote the experience of aesthetic qualities like beauty and form. She suggests that other explanations and new art theories are needed to deal with this approach to media.
Because I am greatly interested in the juncture of neurobiology and art, I particularly enjoyed the section on mind, brain and art. Freedman connects the theories of Freud who saw art of expression, the pragmatist view of art developed by Nelson Goodman who wrote the Language of Art in 1968, with contemporary cognitive psychology. She does not delve into neuroscience but does report that Semir Zeki, a professor of neuroesthetics at University College in London, writes that he believes “that artists are in some sense neurologists, studying the brain with techniques that are unique to them but studying unknowingly the brain and its organization nevertheless.” I have followed a lot of Professor Zeki’s work, and my feeling is that he is referring to things like the way artists discovered that effect of simultaneous contrast in creating art without knowing the neuroscience that is behind the perception.
The author’s reasoned conclusion is the investigation of art theory, like scientific exploration, often leads to more questions than are answered.
Cynthia A. Freeland is the Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Houston and is also the author of Portraits & Persons, The Naked and the Undead: Evil and the Appeal of Horror and was the editor of Feminist Interpretations of Aristotle. But is it art? has been translated into 14 languages including both traditional and “simple” Chinese and Tamil and is also available as Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Her personal website is at http://www.uh.edu/~cfreelan/ShortC-V.html.
I’m a big believer in self-education throughout one’s life. Between the Palm Beach libraries, the Paperback Book Swap website and my Nook, I’m getting a pretty good art theory education.
