Stephen's Aesthetic
Theory
Two chief principles (from Thomas
Aquinas):
-
Those things are beautiful the perception
of which pleases.
-
The good is that toward which the appetite
tends
-
The creative artist is concerned only
with the creation of the beautiful
-
The productive artist is concerned
with the productions of the good.
Other major principals:
-
Art must produce a stasis in
the observer; that is, it seeks no end by the satisfaction of an aesthetic
sense
-
Art should not be kinetic; that
is, it should not product an emotion such as desire or loathing.
If it does it assumes the function of a useful art, such as rhetoric.
-
Three things are necessary for the
perception of the beautiful:
-
wholeness or integrity
-
harmony or proportion
-
clarity or radiance
Using the example of a basket, Stephen
elaborates on the three things necessary for the perception of the beautiful.
-
First, one sees the basket as one
thing (wholeness)
-
Then one perceives it as a thing with
parts (harmony)
-
Finally, one sees it as that thing
and no other (clarity)
Stephen explains to Lynch that beauty
and truth produce stasis in the mind of the observer. He quotes
Plato: "Beauty is the splendor of the truth."
As they proceed on their walk, Stephen
divides art into a progression of three forms:
-
Lyrical: the image is presented
in immediate relation to the artist himself.
-
Epic: the image is presented
in immediate relation to the artist and to others (not purely personal).
-
Dramatic: the image is presented
in immediate relation to others. The artist's personality is refined
out of existence (impersonal)
http://www.utm.edu/~lalexand/brnovel/jjart.htm
Lynn Alexander, May 2001
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