ALso from the current Massachusetts weather forecast on the approaching gale:FOCUSING ON LITERARY WORKS AND CLIMATOLOGICAL ANALYSIS...THERE IS A DEPENDENCY ON WHETHER SANDY REMAINS TROPICAL OR EVOLVES INTO A POST- TROPICAL SYSTEM. THIS IS ANOTHER MAJOR UNCERTAINTY. MENTIONED IN YESTERDAYS DISCUSSION..
Literary works? You see-the results of individual creative initiative. Kate Sullivan -----Original Message----- From: Michael Brady <[email protected]> To: aesthetics-l <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, Oct 25, 2012 4:55 pm Subject: Re: "The problem with Hegelbs aesthetics is the assumption that the truth of a work of art emerges completely via its conceptual On Oct 25, 2012, at 4:20 PM, Tom McCormack <[email protected]> wrote:
Picasso may have had fierce thoughts when he was painting "Guernica",
but what
thoughts the painting occasions in millions of other contemplators
will depend
on their own receiving apparatuses (some may be color blind) and experience-memories.
That's not a problem! Guernica is monochrome (black, white, and gray). And 1937 was a long time ago. Your comments raise a related idea. Works of representation created with the purpose of evoking strong emotions associated with the depcited scene (e.g., The Third of May, The Raft of the Medusa, Guernica, Massacre of Chios, The Burhers of Calais etc.) tend to lose their political or social intensity after the importance of the event recedes into history. (Or more accurately, viewers feel the emotional intensity signified in the work less strongly.) Religious images continue to evoke more of the feelings associated with the depictions because the religious practices and habits continue to be held in esteem by many people. What is left of a political work of art after the political "meaning" wanes is the formal qualities of depiction and expression. Michelangelo's David is an elegant, gigantic nude young man, Ben Shawn's Sacco and Vanzetti is a striking pen drawing, etc. The political signification is not strongly present in the viewer any more, as a religious feeling is. There is an interesting story on The UK Guardian website about a suspect statue of Buddha. (The headline of the story itself is great!. Different experts in old Asian art dispute its provenance. The ethnologist who discovered it said that it dated to the 11th century, but others dispute it and think it was made between 1910 and 1970. Note in the photo of the statue that the figure is wearing a hakenkreuz design on its waistband. It's an old Hindu symbol, also known as a broken-or bent-arm cross or swastika. Nowadays, no one can see a swastika without immediately associating it with Nazi Germany. The ethnologist was a Nazi, btw. Here is the link to the story: http://snipurl.com/25eoe8l | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Michael Brady
