Theories of
Art
Mimetic theories: art as imitation or a
representation of nature.
Mime is a basic theoretical principle in the creation of
art. The word is Greek and means "imitation" (though in the sense of
"re-presentation" rather than of "copying"). Plato and
Aristotle spoke of mimesis as the re-presentation of nature. According to
Plato, all artistic creation is a form of imitation: that which really exists
(in the "world of ideas") is a type created by God; the concrete
things man perceives in his existence are shadowy representations of this ideal
type. Therefore, the painter, the tragedian, and the musician are imitators of
an imitation, twice removed from the truth. Aristotle, speaking of tragedy,
stressed the point that it was an "imitation of an action"--that of a
man falling from a higher to a lower estate. Shakespeare, in Hamlet's speech to
the actors, referred to the purpose of playing as being "
. . . to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to
nature." Thus, an artist, by skilfully selecting and presenting his
material, may purposefully seek to "imitate" the action of life.
Aestheticism: is a late 19th century European
movement based on the idea that art exists for the sake of its beauty alone.
The movement began in reaction to prevailing utilitarian
social philosophies and to what was perceived as the ugliness and philistinism
of the industrial age. Its philosophical foundations were laid in the 18th
century by Immanuel Kant, who postulated the autonomy of aesthetic standards
from morality, utility, or pleasure. This idea was amplified by J.W. von
Goethe, J.L. Tieck, and others in
In
Contemporary critics of Aestheticism included William Morris
and John Ruskin and, in
Organic Theories: the piece of artwork has an
internal nature that grows into its own form somewhat like a seed maturing into
a tree.
Organic unity calls for internally consistent thematic and
dramatic development, analogous to biological growth. In literature for
example, the action of a narrative or drama must be presented as "a
complete whole, with its several incidents so closely connected that the transposal or withdrawal of any one of them will disjoin
and dislocate the whole." The principle is opposed to the concept of
literary genres--standard and conventionalized forms that art must be fitted
into. It assumes that art grows from a germ and seeks its own form and that the
artist should not interfere with its natural growth by adding ornament, wit,
love interest, or some other conventionally expected element.
Pragmatism: Art exists to serve a function and
is described in terms of its effects on its audience, and in terms of the
purposes it is design to accomplish such as the creation of specific shared
experiences.
Possible experiences are, a means of enhancing experience
and thought; a means of escape from, or consolation for, reality; a means of
perceiving a higher, more perfect, or ideal reality; a source of pleasure or
delight; a means of promoting cultural and historical community or continuity;
something instructive, didactic, or propagandistic; something therapeutic or a
means of communication
Procedural theories: have specific criteria that a
piece of art has to fulfil in order for a piece of art to belong to them. Examples
of procedural theories include abstraction, expressionism, formalism, mimesis,
minimalism, naturalism, romanticism and symbolism
Expressive theories: art viewed as a representation or
manifestation of the inner state of the artist
Processional theories: the making of works of art because
the creative process is an inherently self-contained, self-justifying process.
Adapated from http://retiary.org/art_theories/theories_of_art.html