more on this theme | more from this text
Full Idea
One cannot really know, or be conscious of, what it is that one is going to express, and then set about expressing it; indeed if one is genuinely conscious of it then one has already expressed it.
Gist of Idea
We don't already know what to express, and then seek means of expressing it
Source
Gary Kemp (Croce and Collingwood [2012], 1)
Book Ref
'Key Thinkers in Aesthetics', ed/tr. Giovannelli,Alessandro [Continuum 2012], p.102
A Reaction
That pretty conclusively demolishes the idea that art is expression. I picture Schubert composing at the piano: he doesn't feel an emotion, and then hunt for its expression on the keyboard; he seeks out expressive phrases by playing.
Related Idea
Idea 20418 The horror expressed in some works of art could equallly be expressed by other means [Kemp]
| 20416 | By 1790 aestheticians were mainly trying to explain individual artistic genius [Kemp] |
| 20417 | Expression can be either necessary for art, or sufficient for art (or even both) [Kemp] |
| 20418 | The horror expressed in some works of art could equallly be expressed by other means [Kemp] |
| 20419 | We don't already know what to express, and then seek means of expressing it [Kemp] |