Aesthetics: Definition, Meaning 26/09/2023, 10:36

Aesthetics
Definition, Meaning of Beauty/Art
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Aesthetics: Definition & Meaning

Whether we like/dislike a work of art is
determined by our sense of aesthetics -
that is, what makes something beautiful.

Deriving from the Greek word for perception (aisthesis), and first used in the
18th century by the German philosopher Alexander Baumgarten, the term
"aesthetics" (also known as æsthetics or esthetics) refers to those principles
governing the nature and appreciation of beauty, especially in visual art.
Academically speaking, aesthetics refers to the branch of philosophy which
deals with issues of beauty and artistic taste.

Put simply, aesthetics covers questions like:

• What is beauty?
• What makes something beautiful?
• What is art?
• What is the difference between good art and bad art?
• What is the value of art?
• Who is qualified to decide what is art?
• What is the difference between art and (say) entertainment?
• What is the difference between fine art and applied art?
AESTHETICISM
This was the name given to
a European movement of the
19th century, that championed the
idea that art exists for the sake of
its beauty alone. It arose as a
reaction against Utilitarianism
and the perceived ugliness and
lack of taste of the Industrial Age.
Advocates of Aestheticism included
the painters Dante Gabriel Rossetti
and Edward Burne-Jones, the Pre-
Raphaelites, the illustrator Aubrey
Beardsley, and the artist Whistler.
Critics, who disliked the idea that
art could be disconnected from
morality, included John Ruskin
and William Morris.

HISTORY OF VISUAL ARTS

See: History of Art.

WHAT IS ART?
See: Art Definition, Meaning.

HOW TO EVALUATE ART The Definition and Meaning of Art

Read our articles for students and
teachers on practical aesthetics, see
Art Evaluation: How to Appreciate Art • The word "art" stems from the Latin word ars, which means roughly "skill" or
and How To Appreciate Paintings.
For two essays on sculpture "craft". This doesn't get us very far.
appreciation, please see:
How to Appreciate Sculpture, and
How to Appreciate Modern Sculpture. • One Encyclopedia defines art as "the use of skill and imagination in the
creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared
TYPES OF ART with others". Unfortunately this definition ignores the attitude of the audience,
For artworks made out of
salvaged materials, see:
which we think is unhelpful.
Junk Art.
For painting/sculpture made • We say that art is created when an artist creates a beautiful object, or
by artists outside mainstream,
see: Outsider Art. produces a stimulating experience that is considered by his audience to have
For works by mental patients artistic merit. This is still extremely vague, but we think it covers all the main
see: Art Brut.
issues. (See also: Types of Art.)
WORLD'S BEST ART
For a list of the best examples of

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Aesthetics: Definition, Meaning 26/09/2023, 10:36

oils, watercolours, mixed The Intrinsic Subjectivity of Art

media from 1300-present, see:
Greatest Paintings Ever.
For the top 3-D artworks, see: Beauty is not a subject which attracts uniformity of opinion. Each of us appears
Greatest Sculptures Ever.
to have a different viewpoint about what is, and what is not, beautiful. As a
result, it is almost impossible to establish an agreed definition of art.

This problem is nothing new. Art critics, curators and historians have argued
about it for centuries. However, over recent decades, exponents of
contemporary art - such as Jeff Koons (b.1955), Tracey Emin (b.1963), and
Damien Hirst (b.1965), among others - have produced a number of new works
which bear little resemblance to traditional examples of fine art. This raises the
question: what are the limits of art? See also: Primitivism/Primitive art.

Defining the Boundaries of Art

Obviously not everything can be art. But how do we set limits? For example,
how can we tell the difference between (say) a piece of magic and a work of
performance art? Or, what is the difference between a scientific experiment and
an artistic installation? Or, when does a film documentary become a work of
art?

Proceduralism Provides an Answer

The Proceduralist approach, which defines art according to the procedure

involved in its creation, may help to determine what is art. It works like this:
(1) If Jack the artist applies several coats of red paint to a large rectangular
piece of wood, which he intends to exhibit as a painting at his local art gallery,
then it is truly a work of art. (2) If, on the other hand, Bob the interior
decorator applies several coats of red paint to a similar piece of wood which he
then installs as a front door at a customer's house, then it is a door, not a work
of art. To put it simply, if I intend something to be art, it's art; if not, it's not.

Is Bad Art Still Art?

Just a moment - what do I mean when I use the expression "bad art?"
Probably, "I don't like it!" In other words, it's not an objective judgment but a
personal one - a purely subjective view. (I may not like a sculpture by (say)
Picasso, but I'd probably agree it was still art.)

Truth is, while the proceduralist approach helps us to separate art from non-
art, it doesn't help us to distinguish good from bad.

The last set of European aesthetics that was able to distinguish good art from
bad art was that used by the Nazi government to identify "degenerate art"
(entartete kunst). At the same time, Stalin and Andrei Zhdanov were using
"Socialist Realist" aesthetics to set guidelines for artists in Soviet Russia. Both
examples illustrate the dangers of a powerful elitist minority group trying to
impose aesthetic standards on the rest of society.

Basically, unless we intend to reintroduce the "art police", we need to accept

that bad art is here to stay. In fact, from a practical as well as a philosophical
viewpoint, we need bad paintings, bad plastic art and bad installations to
highlight the good stuff!

The Value of Applied Art

Among the many issues of beauty and aesthetics covered by the philosophy of
art, is the question: what is the difference between arts and crafts (between
fine art and decorative art)? Even today these two areas are separated by a
huge gulf: separate colleges, separate professions, separate funding systems,

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Aesthetics: Definition, Meaning 26/09/2023, 10:36

separate exhibitions, and so on. Is all this justified? The answer is, it depends
on your value system. If you think that drawing and painting is somehow more
elevated or intellectual than creating a stunning design for a new motor car - or
a piece of stained glass, a tapestry, a lacquered ebony box, or a pair of
earrings - then you might answer Yes. On the other hand if you feel that all
these activities are capable of being equally creative, you will answer No.
Historically, drawing, painting and sculpture have long been classified as "fine
arts" - a noble type of "art for art's sake" - whereas crafts, along with their
modern cousin "applied art" (largely, design) are regarded as lesser disciplines.
Fortunately, this is changing in the 21st century.

Ironically, Impressionism - the world's most famous art movement,

led by Claude Monet - benefited enormously from a redesigned
paint tube in 1841, invented by American painter John Rand, which
greatly facilitated plein-air painting.

What Makes a Good Painting?

This is another key issue of aesthetics - one which curators and exhibition
selection-committees around the world are constantly obliged to face. For
example, how much of a painting's artistic value derives from its visual impact,
and how much from its intellectual content? Are realist or naturalist paintings
better than abstract ones? Not surprisingly, these questions have innumerable
answers!

Popular Versus Good Art

Almost every year there's a major fashion trend or style. Lots of consumers
follow it, but after a time they dump it as it becomes superceded by the next
big style. Is art heading the same way as the fashion industry?

Take the art museum industry, for instance. When planning an exhibition,
should curators select paintings, sculptures, installations and other
contemporary artworks because they represent top-quality art, or because they
will attract visitors to the museum?

Should the Turner Prize jury select a shortlist of artists based on artistic talent,
or because they will attract attention to the competition and its exhibition?
(See also Turner Prize Winners).

These questions highlight an important issue. Museums are seen as fairly

boring places, so having a shocking or highly controversial work of art in an
exhibition may help to draw crowds. In the same way, the Turner Prize needs
publicity to survive and prosper. In both cases, organizers may respond by
choosing works of art which they feel will entertain the public, even if their
artistic standards fall below those of other works. Although it has clear short-
term benefits, does this strategy make sense in the long term?

For example, what happens when art students begin to appreciate that in order
to succeed in the art world - rather than develop a set of specific creative skills
- they need to invent some whacky, controversial attention-grabbing idea?
Answer: they search for an attention-grabbing idea and so become
entertainers. Unfortunately, as we all know, the sort of techniques used to
attract people's attention involve violence, bad language and other similar
methods. It might be popular, but will it be art?

• For more about the meaning of art terms, see: Homepage.

Art Glossary
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ART EDUCATION

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