There indeed was a time when an aesthetic ideal was exemplified by particular practices, an ideal practice. The 19C Beaux-Arts Style (where the word style meant a particular way of composing) is a good example. The 'Style' was actually a fairly close imitation of Raphael whose mode greatly streamlined (to use a 20thC term) natural form. There have been deep studies of Raphael's mode of composition. One way to see it is to lay a tracing paper over a good reproduction of a multi-figured Raphael and trace off the main lines of bodies. You will see how they run into one another, flowing together quite gracefully. This is a highly artificial formalism. Raphael learned it from his teacher, Perugino, but he took it to much greater heights because he was, well, so gifted. Even today, art schools teach design principles in much the same way, probably without ever mentioning Raphael and certainly not the Beaux-Arts Style.
Traditions die by little degrees and traces remain long after their origins are forgotten. I can send email images of Beaux-Arts ideals, a before (showing a model as is) and after (showing the same pose in Raphael-ist mode). So, the ideal in art practice was, at times, spelled out rather explicitly -- from ancient Egypt to 19C Beaux-Arts Style. wc ----- Original Message ---- From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sat, September 29, 2012 6:00:14 PM Subject: Re: Aesthetic Ideal In a message dated 9/29/12 6:48:43 PM, [email protected] writes: > Should an aesthetic ideal eschew exaggeration? > There's something about this wording that suggests by "aesthetic ideal" you mean some sort of guiding principle for a creator. I'd be pleased to see some examples. I hope they're examples from different genres, and not so general as to be vacuous -- e.g. "Always seek the truth," or "Always make skill the servant of the content."
