Single Idea 8115

[catalogued under 21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 2. Art as Form]

Full Idea

Bell thinks that only artists can discern significant form directly in the natural world, and that all others must look to art for significant form.

Gist of Idea

Only artists can discern significant form; other people must look to art to find it

Source

report of Clive Bell (Art [1913]) by Sebastian Gardner - Aesthetics 3.3

Book Reference

'Philosophy: a Guide Through the Subject', ed/tr. Grayling,A.C. [OUP 1995], p.615


A Reaction

I have a horrible feeling that 'significant' form will turn out to be the sort of form that artists can see. Presumably the form spotted by geologists won't be quite so 'significant'. Not a promising theory.