[coberst]

Empathy in Art

Wilhelm Worringer’s book “Abstraction and Empathy”, first published in 1908, is considered by many to be a landmark interpretation of modern art. Worringer speaks of two forms of aesthetics, i.e. appreciation of beauty. There is the appreciation of beauty in nature and there is an appreciation of the plastic arts.

Worringer limits his study to the plastic arts; and he begins his analysis by presupposing “that the work of art, as an autonomous organism, stands beside nature on equal terms and, in its deepest and innermost essence, devoid of any connection with it, in so far as by nature is understood the visible surface of things.”

Modern aesthetics has moved from the consideration of aesthetics as an objective study to a subjective object of study. The focus is upon the contemplating subject and thus develops a theory of empathy, which is only one pole of modern aesthetics with abstraction being the opposite pole.

Empathy, as a pre-assumption of an aesthetic experience, finds beauty in the organic whereas the pre-assumption of the urge to abstraction “finds its beauty in the life-denying inorganic…in all abstract law and necessity.”

“Aesthetic enjoyment is objectified self-enjoyment…To enjoy aesthetically means to enjoy myself in a sensuous object diverse from myself, to empathize myself into it.”

Worringer is informing us that whereas earlier forms of aesthetics focused on pleasure and its opposite--un-pleasure, his concentration is upon the inner life and self-activation of the viewing subject. “The presupposition of the act of empathy is the general apperceptive activity.”

Worringer is also focusing on the fact that, while generally unrecognized by the philosophical objectivism view, each sensuous object is always the product of both that sensation which is given and my apperceptive activity.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('coberst', '
')“Aesthetic enjoyment is objectified self-enjoyment…To enjoy aesthetically means to enjoy myself in a sensuous object diverse from myself, to empathize myself into it.”

Worringer is informing us that whereas earlier forms of aesthetics focused on pleasure and its opposite--un-pleasure, his concentration is upon the inner life and self-activation of the viewing subject. “The presupposition of the act of empathy is the general apperceptive activity.”

Worringer is also focusing on the fact that, while generally unrecognized by the philosophical objectivism view, each sensuous object is always the product of both that sensation which is given and my apperceptive activity.

[PenultimateManStanding]

I could continue in this vein for hours, but let me summarize: the reification of the insubstantial implied by aesthetics, whether classical or modern, produces a quasi transvaluation wherein the subjective becomes objective and vice versa, with all that that entails. As John Lennon put it so succinctly, "Your outside is in and your inside is out so come on." Ersatz aesthetics, the reification of moribund and corrupted language, the kind of language George Orwell warned of, engenders a kind of step-ladder ascent to semiotic heuristic mayhem, an end to discourse. How appropriate to these sad days of the demise of Civilization.

[PenultimateManStanding]

"Does she, or doesn't she?" was a brilliant ad campaign by Clairol way back in the day. Ostensibly about whether she colors her hair or not. But it was really about if she "puts out." Or if she doesn't. Let's talk about Art.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Art isn't about abstract theories, Art is about what the hell was Heironymous Bosch up to? What's up with these huge red rats?



Art is about sh-t and money, as Piero Manzoni pointed out.

[ivanillich]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('coberst', '
')Modern aesthetics has moved from the consideration of aesthetics as an objective study to a subjective object of study. The focus is upon the contemplating subject and thus develops a theory of empathy, which is only one pole of modern aesthetics with abstraction being the opposite pole.

Empathy, as a pre-assumption of an aesthetic experience, finds beauty in the organic whereas the pre-assumption of the urge to abstraction “finds its beauty in the life-denying inorganic…in all abstract law and necessity.”

[firestarter]

The Case Against Art...Period!

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')...Art turns the subject into object, into symbol. The shaman's role was to objectify reality; this happened to outer nature and to subjectivity alike because alienated life demanded it. Art provided the medium of conceptual transformation by which the individual was separated from nature and dominated, at the deepest level, socially. Art's ability to symbolize and direct human emotion accomplished both ends. What we were led to accept as necessity, in order to keep ourselves oriented in nature and society, was at base the invention of the symbolic world, the Fall of Man.

The world must be mediated by art (and human communication by language, and being by time) due to division of labor, as seen in the nature of ritual. The real object, its particularity, does not appear in ritual; instead, an abstract one is used, so that the terms of ceremonial expression are open to substitution. The conventions needed in division of labor, with its standardization and loss of the unique, are those of ritual, of symbolization. The process is at base identical, based on equivalence. Production of goods, as the hunter-gatherer mode is gradually liquidated in favor of agriculture (historical production) and religion (full symbolic production), is also ritual production....

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ivanillich', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('coberst', '
')Modern aesthetics has moved from the consideration of aesthetics as an objective study to a subjective object of study. The focus is upon the contemplating subject and thus develops a theory of empathy, which is only one pole of modern aesthetics with abstraction being the opposite pole.

Empathy, as a pre-assumption of an aesthetic experience, finds beauty in the organic whereas the pre-assumption of the urge to abstraction “finds its beauty in the life-denying inorganic…in all abstract law and necessity.”

[PenultimateManStanding]

Btw, Coberst, I rescued your thread from oblivion. It was about to slip onto page two. Out of sight, out of mind. So if you want to talk about art, let's get it a little more down to Earth, please. Say, what do you think of Norman Rockwell?

[Dreamtwister]

[ivanillich]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '
')Of course, but the objective reification of sensory pleasure implies the disintegration of aesthetic verisimilitude. This is the alienation I referred to. It is sometimes described in humorous terms as "Kant can't dance."

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ivanillich', '
')Not sure if you're referring to me, but I'm teaching an aesthetics class in the fall, and any suggestions are welcome.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Tell them about the Mannerists who held up in their attic, crazy bi-polar, who were intimidated by the Renaissance painters. Tell them about Maurice Utrillo who fell asleep drunk in the gutters of Montemartre and traded his paintings for a bottle of wine only to become the highest priced artist in the world, surpassing Picasso. Give 'em the good stuff, the stuff they will enjoy hearing about.

[PenultimateManStanding]

It wouldn't hurt to add the story of how Maurice got into trouble flashing his little Mauricio at the ladies in the Paris subways. And how that got him under house arrest upstairs and how the local enterprising grocer made a fortune sending him wine on a rope in exchange for paintings sent down by the same rope. See what I mean? The real stories are much more interesting than abstract theory.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Ah, then there's Modigliani. Where do you start with him? He got drunk with Utrillo and made a spectacle of himself. Smoked hash and drank loads of bourbon every day. Got famous and died shortly thereafter. Now he's in every museum around the world. Sort of a turn-of-the-century Jim Morrison wouldn't you say?

[PenultimateManStanding]

How about Vincent, Coberst, do you have empathy for him? Cut off his own ear and gave it to a whore. It's pretty obvious what happened to Art. How anyone could seriously teach aesthetics in this era is beyond me. Just look at the putrid green shadows, the schizophrenic swirls behind him. Van Gogh is the most popular artist in the world. Granted, he did create some amazing beauty.

[PenultimateManStanding]

The historical end of painting as a serious art form was Jackson Pollack. He rammed it into a tree. Since then we've had Warhol and Kincaid. It's over.

[firestarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'T')he historical end of painting as a serious art form was Jackson Pollack. He rammed it into a tree. Since then we've had Warhol and Kincaid. It's over.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GASMON', '
')
What a load of verbal diarrhoea.