scholarly journals Neuroaesthetics: Maladies and Remedies

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Kubovy
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
General System ◽  
Laboratory Findings ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Affective Value

Some neuroaestheticians have adopted a strongly reductionistic view of the arts and sought to supplant scholarship about the arts with an understanding of their evolutionary and neuropsychological underpinnings. I use the work of several neuroaestheticians to provide examples of four problematic tendencies that beset this approach: (1) assume that a domain-general system encodes the affective value of works of art; (2) oversimplify or disregard art history and scholarship about the arts; (3) apply laboratory findings to explain unique works of art, and (4) use widespread preferences to account for works of art. I then diagnose the ailment underlying these tendencies: the denial of autonomous standing to the production and interpretation of the arts, and suggest remedies. I end with an example of research that shows how neuroscientific research can successfully addresses an important and long-standing aesthetic question.

scholarly journals Neuroaesthetics: Maladies and Remedies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Kubovy
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
General System ◽  
Laboratory Findings ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Affective Value

[In press, Art & Perception] Some neuroaestheticians have adopted a strongly reductionistic view of the arts and sought to supplant scholarship about the arts with an understanding of their evolutionary and neuropsy- chological underpinnings. I use the work of several neuroaestheticians to provide examples of four problematic tendencies that beset this approach: (1) assume that a domain-general system encodes the affective value of works of art; (2) oversimplify or disregard art history and scholarship about the arts; (3) apply laboratory findings to explain unique works of art, and (4) use widespread preferences to account for works of art. I then diagnose the ailment underlying these tendencies: the denial of autonomous standing to the production and inter- pretation of the arts, and suggest remedies. I end with an example of research that shows how neuroscientific research can successfully addresses an important and long-standing aesthetic question.

An Iskandarnāma of Nizami Produced for Ibrahim Sultan

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lâle Uluç
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Visual Data ◽  
Military Leader ◽  
Basic Task ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
The Way

This paper introduces a copy of the Iskandarnāma of Nizami dated 1435 and dedicated to the Timurid prince Ibrahim Sultan, grandson of the eponymous founder of the Timurid dynasty. It discusses the various features of the manuscript together with comparable examples from the same period, and also focuses on Abu al-Fath Ibrahim Sultan ibn Shah Rukh and his role as both a military leader and a patron of the arts during his tenure as the governor of the provinces of Fars, Kirman, and Luristan (1414–35). Utilizing the visual data together with the historical context of the period, this essay interprets one of the illustrations of the Iskandarnāma, hoping to fulfill what David Summers called “the most basic task of art history,” which he says “is to explain why works of art look the way they look.” The addition of this Iskandarnāma manuscript to the surviving corpus of works that can be connected to Ibrahim Sultan will provide a further insight into the important patronage of this Timurid prince.

The Commitment to Form; or, Still Crazy after All These Years

PMLA ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. T. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
Measuring Line ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Cultural Forms ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Chicago Press

Having counted the adjectives, and weighed the lines, and measured the rhythms, a Formalist either stops silent with the expression of a man who does not know what to do with himself, or throws out an unexpected generalization which contains five per cent of Formalism and ninety-five per cent of the most uncritical intuition.—Trotsky, Literature and Revolution (ch. 5)Bring out number weight & measure in a year of dearth.—Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (35)Everyone knows that the concept of form has outlived its usefulness in discussions of literature, the arts, and media. The word does not appear in the recent handbooks of critical terms in art history and literary studies issued by the University of Chicago Press (Nelson and Shiff; Lentricchia and McLaughlin), and it appears in Raymond Williams's classic glossary, Keywords, only in its derivative (and mainly pejorative) form as an “-ism,” as in the phrase “mere formalism.” Formalists, as we know, are harmless drudges who spend their days counting syllables, measuring line lengths, and weighing emphases (Trotsky), or they are decadent aesthetes who waste their time celebrating beauty and other ineffable, indefinable qualities of works of art. If form has any afterlife in the study of literature, its role has been completely overtaken by the concept of structure, which rightly emphasizes the artificial, constructed character of cultural forms and defuses the idealist and organicist overtones that surround the concept of form.

Radikale Reflexion–Phänomenologie der Kunst bei Merleau-Ponty

2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-125
Author(s):  
Frank Ruda
Keyword(s):  
Works Of Art ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Phenomenology Of Perception

Der Beitrag untersucht Merleau-Pontys Phänomenologie der Wahrnehmung als eine Phänomenologie der Kunst. Die dominante Rolle, die Beispiele aus den Künsten in dem Text einnehmen, läßt sich zunächst daraus erklären, daß Kunstwerke eben diejenige Dynamik und Verfaßtheit eines Reflexionsgeschehens zeigen, die das phänomenologische Projekt als solches zu entfalten sucht. Darüber hinaus wird es durch die Konfrontation mit künstlerischen Werken über sich selbst hinaus – oder besser: zu einer Reflexion seiner selbst getrieben. Dieser von der Kunst ausgehend entwickelte »neue Stil« der Reflexivität wird als »ästhetische Inkorporation« diskutiert.<br><br>The paper discusses Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception as a phenomenology of art. The prevalence of examples from the arts in his text indicates that works of art possess the very same dynamic of reflexivity that the phenomenological project as a whole seeks to develop. Furthermore, by way of confrontation with works of art, the project is driven to transcend itself – or more precisely: to reflect itself. This »new style« of reflexivity may be discussed as »aesthetic incorporation.«

scholarly journals The rediscovery of an Adoration of the Shepherds by Jacques Jordaens: a multidisciplinary approach combining dendroarchaeology and art history

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Edvardsson ◽  
Andrea Seim ◽  
Justin Davies ◽  
Joost Vander Auwera
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Traditional Art ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Oak Trees ◽  
Dendrochronological Analysis ◽  
Religious Paintings ◽  
Production Period ◽  
Panel Paintings

AbstractThe implementation of multidisciplinary research approaches is an essential prerequisite to obtain comprehensive insights into the life and works of the old masters and their timeline in the production of the arts. In this study, traditional art history, cultural heritage, and natural science methods were combined to shed light on an Adoration of the Shepherds painting by Jacques Jordaens (1593–1678), which until now had been considered as a copy. From dendrochronological analysis of the wooden support, it was concluded that the planks in the panel painting were made from Baltic oak trees felled after 1608. An independent dating based on the panel maker’s mark, and the guild’s quality control marks suggests a production period of the panel between 1617 and 1627. Furthermore, the size of the panel corresponds to the dimension known as salvator, which was commonly used for religious paintings during the period 1615 to 1621. Finally, the interpretation of the stylistic elements of the painting suggests that it was made by Jordaens between 1616 and 1618. To conclude, from the synthesis of: (i) dendrochronological analysis, (ii) panel makers’ punch mark and Antwerp Guild brand marks, (iii) re-examination of secondary sources, and (iv) stylistic comparisons to other Jordaens paintings, we suggest that the examined Adoration of the Shepherds should be considered as an original by Jordaens and likely painted in the period 1617–1618. The study is a striking example of the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary approach to investigate panel paintings.

Religious Art and Architecture in 18th-Century Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean DeLouche
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Religious Art ◽  
Spiritual Power ◽  
Grand Tour ◽  
Gothic Revival ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Art And Architecture

The 18th century was an era of transition for the arts and religion. Monarchs continued to commission religious art and architecture for a variety of reasons, including fulfillment of vows, expressions of faith and piety, and celebrations of dynastic power. The period saw simultaneous trends toward sumptuous decoration and sober display, as well as the rise of new artistic styles, including the Rococo, Neoclassicism, and the Gothic Revival. The Grand Tour brought many northern European Protestants to the seat of Catholicism. Protestant attitudes toward “popish” art softened in the 18th century, due in part to the increasing contact between Catholic and Protestant culture in Rome and to the perception that Catholicism was no longer a plausible threat. As the temporal and spiritual power of Rome declined in the 18th century, the papacy sought to reestablish itself as a cultural authority. The papacy embellished Rome with a number of archaeological and architectural initiatives, linking the popes with classical civilization and casting themselves as the custodians of the shared Western cultural tradition. With a growing art market and the consumer revolution, the populace had expanding access to religious imagery, from fine religious canvases collected by Catholic and Protestant elites, to reproducible prints that were available to nearly every member of society. However, the Enlightenment brought a profound questioning of religion. Religious works of art faced a loss of context in private displays and in the official Salon exhibitions, where they were intermixed with secular and erotic subjects and judged not on the efficacy of their Christian message or function but rather on aesthetic terms in relation to other works. The century ended with the French Revolution and brought violent waves of de-Christianization and iconoclasm. In order to save France’s Christian heritage, religious works of art had to be stripped of their associations with church and crown.

Breaking through the Ordinary: The Arts and Future Possibility

1980 ◽  
Vol 162 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxine Greene
Keyword(s):  
Vantage Point ◽  
Musical Piece ◽  
Future Possibility ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Common Action

Informed and active engagements with works of art make new experimential openings visible as they turn attention to the concreteness of the world. The ordinary and the taken-for-granted must be bracketed out if a poem or a painting or a musical piece is to be achieved. Viewed within the brackets and from an unfamiliar vantage point, reality may become questionable, in need of interpretation, perhaps in need of repair. If learners are provided opportunities for understanding their part in realizing illusioned worlds, they may come to confront their contributions to the construction of their social realities. Teachers who create situations that permit this to happen will be opening up their classrooms, not only to a new sense of the totality, but to a consciousness of what might be, what is not yet. And this, in turn, may provide a ground for common action, for desired change.

scholarly journals Neurological and Neuropsychiatric Diseases through the Lens of Roman Sculpture

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Fadda
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Clinical Signs ◽  
Medical Diagnoses ◽  
Republican Period ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Diseases ◽  
Physical Features ◽  
As If

Roman sculpture has often given the impression that it provides such a precise simulacrum of the bodies of ancient Romans that their statues can be studied autoptically as if they were a patient. Specialists in medicine and art-history have studied Roman sculptures to the point of producing real medical diagnoses, generating a research niche which, while controversial, has led to some interesting discoveries. However, scholars had sometimes misunderstand certain elements of ancient sculptures, interpreting aesthetic choices as clinical signs. In the article several works of art from the Republican period to the Tetrarchic age will be observed, to assess if the diagnoses made on them are due to actual physical features of the individuals portrayed or not. This article analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the study of ancient pathologies through Roman sculpture to delineate the limits and the possibilities of such approach.

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