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Single Idea 20434
[filed under theme 21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 2. Art as Form
]
Full Idea
By 'form' Bell means the relations of lines, colours and shapes. Forms are 'significant' when the relationships of lines and so on move us aesthetically. If something is art it must have, to at least a minimum extent, significant form.
Gist of Idea
'Form' is visual relations, and it is 'significant' if it moves us aesthetically; art needs both
Source
report of Clive Bell (Art [1913], p.17) by Susan Feagin - Roger Fry and Clive Bell 3
Book Ref
'Key Thinkers in Aesthetics', ed/tr. Giovannelli,Alessandro [Continuum 2012], p.119
A Reaction
So art has two necessary conditions - that it move us aesthetically, and that it does so by means of its form. The obvious problem is to explain which forms are 'significant' without mentioning the aesthetic feeling they have to invoke.
The
18 ideas
from Clive Bell
8115
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Only artists can discern significant form; other people must look to art to find it
[Bell,C, by Gardner]
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23922
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The word 'beauty' leads to confusion, because it denotes distinct emotions
[Bell,C]
|
23921
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Our feeling for natural beauty is different from the aesthetic emotion of art
[Bell,C]
|
23923
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Visual form can create a sublime mental state
[Bell,C]
|
23925
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Mere copies of pictures are not significant - unless the copies are very exact
[Bell,C]
|
23926
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Art is distinguished by its aesthetic emotion, which produces appropriate form
[Bell,C]
|
23927
|
Aestheticism invites artist to create beauty, but with no indication of how to do it
[Bell,C]
|
23928
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Good art produces exaltation and detachment
[Bell,C]
|
23924
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Maybe significant form gives us a feeling for ultimate reality
[Bell,C]
|
23929
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We only see landscapes as artistic if we ignore their instrumental value
[Bell,C]
|
23930
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Religion sees infinite value in some things, and irrelevance in the rest
[Bell,C]
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23931
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Significant form is the essence of art, which I believe expresses an emotion about reality
[Bell,C]
|
23932
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Art is the expression of an emotion for ultimate reality
[Bell,C]
|
22691
|
Only artistic qualities matter in art, because they also have the highest moral value
[Bell,C]
|
23933
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Aesthetic contemplation is the best and most intense mental state
[Bell,C]
|
23934
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The only expression art could have is the emotion resulting from pure form
[Bell,C]
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23935
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Aesthetic experience is an exaltation which increases the possibilities of life
[Bell,C]
|
20434
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'Form' is visual relations, and it is 'significant' if it moves us aesthetically; art needs both
[Bell,C, by Feagin]
|