I've never read Worringer, But will. Of hand, i would say that art
symbolizes
nature and nature justs sits there with an Mona Lisa smile at all of us.
mando
On Jun 25, 2009, at 12:29 PM, Michael Brady wrote:
Kate, I'm working on a reply to your inquiry about "Bewty," but
this morning, I reread Worringer's 1908 essay, "Abstraction and
Empathy," and found a lot in there that we might want to mull over.
In a very short capsule, Worringer says that the familiar art in
the Greco-Roman and Renaissance tradition of naturalistic accuracy
and fidelity was an art of "empathy," one where the viewer felt
connected to the people and scenes depicted--empathy--in contrast
to other cultural traditions that produced flat, often
geometrically abstracted images. The latter, he writes, were
inspired by a fear of the natural world, and the geometricizing and
abstracting of the shapes represented a way for people to hold the
fear-inspiring world at a distance and subordinate it.
I had read this 30+ years ago, and then reread it about 20 years
ago. Without realizing it, I think that some parts of his thesis is
infused in my own assertion that, as I've put it, "Art moralizes
nature, and Nature demoralizes art."
Anyone interested in going a few rounds with Worringer?
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Michael Brady
[email protected]
http://considerthepreposition.blogspot.com/
