Freeland: Chapters 6, 7 & Conclusion

Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Cynthia Freeland

Cognition, Creation, and Comprehension

According to the Expression and Cognitive theories of art, feelings and emotions or ideas and thoughts are communicated through art. Interpretation is the key to understanding how art does this. Dewey believed that art provided a window into another culture while Arthur Danto saw it as strictly in the context of the "artworld." Danto's artworld consisted of the museums, galleries, and other institutions which connected art to the public. 

Willem de Kooning, Woman I, 1950–52

Interpretations are most accurate when they factor in both style and content. One can't merely rely on biography and other areas of context, but they can't be ignored, either. Art can be understood as nuanced and complex like language under the cognitive theory or simply emotive in the expression school of thought. In the nudes of Willem De Kooning, it's fairly evident that the artist saw women as both alluring and terrifying. Mark Rothko's dark canvases portray a sense of depression and despair. These meanings may be a result of how the work is composed rather than the emotions of the artist at the time. After all, a work of art is not simply a snapshot of time but the result of many months, sometimes, years, of effort.

Mark Rothko, No. 61 (Rust and Blue), 1953

Sigmund Freud postulated that art communicated unconscious and universal desires. He saw art as a substitute for other satisfactions we all seek. Suzanne Langer, a proponent of the expression theory, maintained that art's "symbolic presentation of subjective reality for contemplation is not only tentatively beyond the words we have; it is impossible in the essential frame of language." Art can express more than mere words can ever do. R.G. Collingwood, another member of the expression theory's school, felt that as viewers experienced art, they also became part of the process of self-discovery. 

More recently, the role of the artist has been downplayed by theorists such as Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault. They argue that the artist's intended meaning is irrelevant and that what the observer discerns is of utmost importance. 

Digitizing and Disseminating

Mass reproduction has robbed art of much of its mystic, a development that philosopher Walter Benjamin finds welcome. He believed this had made art more democratic and accessible. Even so, there's nothing quite like standing in front of an art masterpiece, in my view. Seeing evidence of the artist's hand is an awe-inspiring, almost reverent experience. 

French philosopher, Jean Baudrillard, often called the "high priest of post-modernism," felt that by the 1980s, artists had been reduced to merely repeating themselves at ever-increasing rates. It seems to me that while art may return again and again to the same themes, there are always new ways to approach these topics. Baudrillard does seem prophetic in his vision of a world sitting in front of computer screens that has been so overwhelmed by information that it short-circuited and lost its critical defenses. 

Freeland closes the book with a look at how the artists of the present seek to expand our awareness with attempts to shock the viewer or explorations of gender, race, and sexual orientation. Art's not done yet, and there is still fresh work being done which requires the continued efforts of art theorists to help explain and interpret.