Aesthetic Theory Debate

Sarah Costa

Art is the application of creative skill and imagination created to be appreciated and judged. One way to judge art is through aesthetics. Aesthetics studies the philosophical foundation of the arts through different theories such as formalism and romanticism. Formalism is the belief that the purpose of art is to represent the ideals that make up reality, and that also guide our behavior and actions. In formalism, the observer of the art appreciates formal beauty in an abstract manner through an aesthetic sense or disinterested emotion to experience a rational type of pleasure. However, romanticism is the belief that art is not limited to rational emotions as a significant part of the function of art is to also show non-rational emotions in order to allow us to get in touch with a transcendent reality. Romantics believe that rational beauty is too narrow of an aesthetic standard and that it needs to supplemented with something large and powerful.

I side with romanticism as the more plausible explanation of judging artwork because I feel that when creating a piece of art, an artist has the ability to look past the physical world and get in touch with a deeper reality through their feelings that can inspire their work. Looking back on some artists of the past and present, such as Mark Rothko from the 1900's and present-day A. Andrew Gonzalez, we can see that in history, and today, many artists have been inspired by a deeper reality that they feel in touch with through their feelings or emotions. Mark Rothko is a perfect example of this. He created very simple, though ambiguous, paintings, such as shapes with faded out edges, and used them to exemplify revelatory power and spirituality. Rothko purposely created his pieces with revelatory power in mind, meaning that he believed that he could see a deeper reality which he implemented into his work. He called himself the prophet of modern art and used his work to convey the message of what he saw to his audience. Similarly, A. Andrew Gonzalez is another artist who is heavily inspired by revelatory power and what he feels from the deeper reality he sees. Gonzalez describes his work as being first inspired by his experiences and vivid dreams as a child where he had out-of-body experiences which lead him to question our common perceptions of reality. Both of these artists use their relationship with their insight into this deeper reality and use it to create art work that shows not only a physical piece of art, but also non-traditional emotions that allow us to understand the transcendent reality that they see or feel when they create their art. This shows romanticism because it demonstrates how artists are able to contact to their artwork through rational and non-rational emotions, showing the practicalities of the painting as well as the deep reality within it as well.

Formalism has more explanatory breadth than romanticism does because it can explain more works of art than romanticism can. Though there are many artists, such as Rothko and Gonzalez, who do create their pieces with emotion and revelations due to a deeper reality in mind, there are many more artists who create their work with just rationality in mind. Many artists create their pieces wanting their audience to appreciate it for what it is, and to see a rational meaning or insight behind it. More artists do not include non-rational emotions than those who do because they focus more on creating their art to represent structural forms of reality that will guide our behavior and our opinion about the piece.

Romanticism has more explanatory depth than formalism does because it can explain different aspects of pieces of artwork in more ways. Formalism only believes in rational elements, whereas romanticism believes in rational elements as well as non-rational emotions. When judging artwork with formalism, the artist created it with rational elements only which can guide your opinion a certain direction. But with romanticism, the pieces are created with rational and non-rational ideas so you are able to take emotions and a deeper reality into consideration as well. Romanticism could explain artwork with both, rational and non-rational aspects, where as formalism could only explain artwork that is solely based on rational elements. For example, "The Weeping Woman" by Pablo Picasso from 1937 shows a crying women from one of Picasso's epic paintings. Picasso insisted that people look into her eyes and imagine themselves there, saying he wanted the painting to express a deep reality which was that the vision of the painting had forced itself upon him and that he felt it showed that women are suffering machines. This painting not only shows an image from a character of one of Picasso's corresponding pieces of art, but it also reveals the deep emotional meaning behind his feeling toward women, which meant he used rational and non-rational elements and emotions. Formalism would have a hard time explaining both ideas of this painting because it does not use the non-rational emotions that Picasso and romanticism have.

Formalism is more simplistic than romanticism because it only uses rational elements that structure reality and our beliefs and behavior when creating and judging art, whereas romanticism uses rational elements and non-rational emotions. There is less room for error with formalism because there is only one ideal whereas with romanticism there are two. Romanticism is more abstract and therefore less simplistic than formalism is.

Romanticism is more conservative than formalism because many people when viewing art like to believe that it is created with a deeper meaning that what meets the eye. Romanticism is much more current with our common beliefs because people like to implement emotion into their creation and opinion of art. People like to interpret art based on their own emotion and feeling that comes from what the artist was feeling at the time of creation, whereas with formalism the painting is created in such a way to guide our behavior on how we feel and view the piece of art.

1. Romanticism and formalism are the most plausible explanations of judging art through aesthetics.
2. Romanticism has much more explanatory depth and conservatism, whereas formalism has a little more explanatory breadth and simplicity.
3. Therefore, romanticism is the best explanation of judging art through aesthetics.