Art as representation

This powerpoint presentation discusses about ART AS REPRESENTATION. This was a topic in my philosophy class. Other aspects of this topic were: Art as Beauty, Art as Abstract, etc but this topic was the one I picked.

1. Issues On The “Beautiful”: Art as Representation Presented by: Shaina Mavreen D. Villaroza Philosophy 1N

2. What Is Representational Art? The word " representational ," means that the work depicts something easily recognized by most people . 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. B ut rather with what a work of art can teach us. This could be termed cognitivism : a work of art is about thoughts .

3. Art informs us by: illuminating our experience  revealing truths’ in ways other media can’t 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 representing authentically. 

4. To represent authentically, perhaps art must have a certain realism. Consider the next three pictures.

5. Example of Representational Ar t Leon Dolice   - Third Avenue, depicts a street scene in New York City. You can see a street, an automobile and lots of buildings - one of which is only found in New York City.

6. Third Avenue by Leon Dolice This etching is representational art.

7. Abstract (non-representational) Franz Kline ( Abstract Expressionist artist) -   New York, New York . It's not a scene of New York City. There are no identifiable objects or people within. In fact, one is left free to interpret whatever one wishes about this piece.

8. Franz Kline, New York, N.Y. This painting is entirely non-representational.

9. Origin/History of Representational Art S tarted many millennia ago with Late Paleolithic figurines and carvings.  Example: Venus of Willendorf - while not too terribly realistic, is clearly meant to show the figure of a woman.

10. Venus of Willendorf She was created around 25,000 years ago, and is here mentioned as an excellent example of early representational art. Origin/History of Representational Art

11. Throughout our history as art-creating humans,  most  art has been representational . Even when art was symbolic, or non-figurative, it was usually representative of something. Abstract (non-representational) art is a relatively recent invention, and didn't evolve until the early 20th-century. Origin/History of Representational Art

12. Present Status of Representational Art Thriving More viewer-friendly to the vast majority of people than abstract or conceptual art This is not to say that abstract art isn't a thing of beauty We humans are compelled to  understand  things and use words in an attempt to do so

13. Overview   Modernism  promoted originality, & experimentation, anti-realism, individualism and a stress on the cerebral rather than emotive aspects.    Postmodernism renounces mimesis altogether. free-wheeling creations constructed of a language that largely points to itself 

14. Representational theories in history Plato and Reality Plato’s account in Book X of his ‘Republic’ because art was merely a ‘copy of a copy’ (represented a reality which was itself only a pale representation of the true reality of Forms), it could not be regarded as ‘truth-functional’ and thus had no place in a ‘well run’ society. Platonic view: art merely ‘copies’ ( mimesis ) the world badly.

15. Representational theories in history Aristotle and Mimesis 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.)

16. Even if art informs us, is that why we value it as art? Valuing art in terms of its cognitive value means that the artwork itself – both its aesthetic and its formal and its emotional qualities – must be disregarded. Yet this is unacceptable, since if we are going to provide an adequate account of why we value art, we need to explain aesthetic, formal and emotional qualities. ‘All Art aspires to the condition of music’, or ‘Art for art’s sake’!

17. END.