Art: Theories, Function, and Affects

A number of scholars have asked the question "what is art?" and attempted to identify the theories underpinning a definition

of art, its function, and its effect on our perception of life. Helen Gardner (1952) suggests that the essential nature of the mysterious, intangible, and indefinable something called art baffles even art historians and artists. Understanding art requires a recognition that art objects are inherently complex and that art may be human experiences translated into forms apprehended through the senses.

Gardner (1952) defines a work of art with respect to its chief facets. It is a form created by some artist with a cultural or time context, a content or subject matter, and often a function or a use. Gardner (1952) considers form to be the most essential idea encompassed in any definition of art and uses the term in a wider sense as a total organic structure, a synthesis of all the elements of which the structure is constructed, and the manner in which these elements are related and united to create its distinctive character.

H.W. Janson (1986) considers imagination, creativity, originality, and aesthetics to be the key theoretical underpinnings of art. It is his belief that art functions as a mirror of the world and as an expression of the human perception of that world. What art "means" according to Janson (1986), is the artifact of the intent of the artist and the perception of the beholder. What art

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t than Michelangelo's "Pieta" or Leonardo's "Mona Lisa," or even Picasso's "Guernica." What these examples serve to illustrate is that the approach to art and the theory of form and technique underpinning that approach changes with time, culture, and technology, Art affects our perception of life, says Gardner (1952), because it defines what we value and how we see the world. Every age has its own attitudes and modes of thinking which, considered alongside contemporary social, political, economic, and religious forces, determine both subject matter and artistic style. The environment in which artists and their audiences live is not static, and therefore no single or static or universal definition of art is possible. What is Beauty? Beauty, or aesthetics, is integral to art. Janson (1986) makes the point that art is an aesthetic object meant to be looked at and appreciated for its intrinsic value. The special qualities that art contains set it apart so that many precious examples have been placed away from every day life in museums, in churches, or in caves. Janson (1986) defines aesthetics as that which concerns the beautiful, but also points out that not all art is beautiful to the human eye. The issues that are ra
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Approximate Word count = 1619
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)