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Art as Experience
- ISBN13: 9780399531972
- Condition: New
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Product Description
Based on John Dewey’s lectures on esthetics, delivered as the first William James Lecturer at Harvard in 1932, Art as Experience has grown to be considered internationally as the most distinguished work ever written by an American on the formal structure and characteristic effects of all the arts: architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and literature…. More >>
Price : $7.39 –
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about 1 year ago
if you are an artist this book will blow your mind.
it is pretty theoretical, but if you can get through the first 20 pages.. and get into his vibe.. it’s BEAUTIFUL.. (yum).
This is probably the most important book i’ve ever read. You trust katie, you! you buy! you buy!!
Rating: 5 / 5
about 1 year ago
This book was part of the assigned reading for a university seminar entitled “Art and Society.” I was given to understand that although it was written 70 years ago, it is still considered to be ‘the word’ on the subject.
The evolution of the arts, and the increased access to them by ordinary people since this book was written make some of it irrelevant today. Then, there’s the 1930s acadamese language. I think most of the seminar attendees (these included doctors, lawyers, a judge, a diplomat, and many university-level educators) found it a difficult read. As one put it, unless your passion is philosophy, discussing philosophy is a lot more fun and rewarding than reading it.
I am a practicing studio artist and arts advocate of several decades experience, and a voracious reader.
Rating: 3 / 5
about 1 year ago
I read this book for a graduate seminar on the philosophy of art. John Dewey in his book “Art as Experience,” proves to be a modern day Aristotle. He questions the modern model of aesthetics. He situates art in the wider context; art is not a separate sphere of culture. Aristotle said art imitates or impersonates natural power of nature, thus, a technç which means something crafted by humans. Dewey says art is experience, not fundamentally different from other human experiences. Fine art is continuous of our past in culture and natural to human experiences. The capacity for technç is a natural capacity for humans. Imitation is natural. Art is embedded in natural capacity, not a special sphere. Dewey recognizes that the historical artworld model, is important and all part of the art phenomena.
Thus, Dewey refuses to isolate art as aesthetic appreciation or only as art. Art is not a separate sphere of experience. For example, the Parthenon is in situ in life of the Athenians, religion, and culture, and is not just an artistic work. Experience is shaping of a meaning. Greek works functioned as zones of reality for Dewey. Even for Plato or Aristotle did Mythos=myth never mean something false for the Greeks. To understand how myth operated in the Greek world is to understand their culture, it is not a fiction. Dewey says experience is an ordering of other experiences, sort of a plot or continuities.
Dewey’s key philosophical issue is in his reaction against certain contemporary modern conceptions of art. When thinking about the Greeks Dewey calls the ancient experience a detour. Thus, in order to get over the prejudices of the modern conceptions of art we have to take what Dewey calls a “detour” to look at earlier modes, not to simply return to them, but to try to see them differently. Thus, Dewey’s idea of “experience,” which had a practical meaning and not just a theoretical or cognitive base, so he wants to use these ideas to reorient how we would be thinking about art and artworks. Again, a key target in this is subjectivity. The modern emphasis on subjectivity, that art is an experience of the subject. However, that idea screens out the responsiveness of the self to a world. As Martin Heidegger would put it ancient works are world disclosive, they are not simply subjective appreciations or experiences. Thus, what I like about Dewey is that he gets down to this very hardscrabble concrete reality on how art all ties in with the early “experiences,” whether it is early cultures or early childhood.
Dewy makes an interesting point that art in modern times has become this refined precious tier, “art is put on a pedestal,” out of its cultural context. Dewey is very astute when he says, “this is capitalism” that differentiates art and sets the standard. Thus, Dewey sees that the common people wind up turning to movies, jazz, and comics as art. Dewey observes that capitalism is the modern turn to subjectivity. Dewey looks for a common thread between practical arts and crafts and fine art. One he sees is technical mastery for both is essential. Art as an experience is an accomplishment. Not bothered by fundamental gap between art and craft. A craft work can have aesthetic features, therefore you can experience a pot as art, and it is useful as well. The question then becomes, “what is the difference? This interpretation is the model of multiple ways of seeing. Therefore, it is possible to simply shift within one object to do a shift between an artworks utility and its aesthetic qualities. Now whether or not the craftwork that has aesthetic qualities could rise to the level of a fine artwork that is another question. However, it certainly is the case that you can have one in the same object with both technical and utilitarian features, and artistic qualities. Dewey points out that this is the reason why we tend to value most of these found objects from ancient cultures, because they are interesting and not just because they are old. We do this in our homes, we don’t just buy a table, we buy one that looks interesting.
Dewey defines experience. “Experience is the result, the sign, and the reward of that interaction of organism and environment, which when it is carried to the full, is a transformation of interaction into participation and communication.” This is a very Aristotelian thought.
I recommend this work for anyone interested in philosophy, and philosophy of art.
Rating: 5 / 5
about 1 year ago
Dewey is the inspiration behind my PhD so as an owner of his collected works in print and electronic form I can offer a few words on Art as Experience. The 1934 first edition is a handsome object in itself. Written by a mature Dewey, this book is about art in its broadest sense, and experience in its particular sense as our primary way of engaging the world. It is a book about the wonder of experiencing life in context. And that is what makes it as relevant today as it was in 1934 – both eras are marked by significant socio-cultural development, received at such a pace it is hard to keep pace or pause to reflect. When was the last time you stopped think about the meaning of experiences in your life? Have you ever thought of yourself and the people near you as the shape and form of expression in this world?
This book by Dewey will take you to many places well worth travelling to in print and in person. Read it alongside Wayne Booth’s ‘Writing as Thinking: Thinking as Writing’ The Harper and Row Rhetoric: Writing as Thinking, Thinking as Writing and let Dewey, through his journey with Vernon Lee’s ideas on page 101-102, in the chapter entitled ‘The Expressive Object’ inspire you to explore the rich writing of Violet Paget (aka Vernon Lee, The Beautiful). The high point of the book is the discussion of empathy. Here is Dewey quoting Lee, which is in tune with the sense Dewey is talking about in his book The Beautiful: An Introduction to Psychological Aesthetics (Classic Reprint):
“The various and variously combined dramas enacted by the lines and curves and angles take place not in the marble or pigment embodying the contemplated shapes, but solely in ourselves…”
Rating: 5 / 5
about 1 year ago
I read this book for a graduate seminar on the philosophy of art. John Dewey in his book “Art as Experience,” proves to be a modern day Aristotle. He questions the modern model of aesthetics. He situates art in the wider context; art is not a separate sphere of culture. Aristotle said art imitates or impersonates natural power of nature, thus, a technç which means something crafted by humans. Dewey says art is experience, not fundamentally different from other human experiences. Fine art is continuous of our past in culture and natural to human experiences. The capacity for technç is a natural capacity for humans. Imitation is natural. Art is embedded in natural capacity, not a special sphere. Dewey recognizes that the historical artworld model, is important and all part of the art phenomena.
Thus, Dewey refuses to isolate art as aesthetic appreciation or only as art. Art is not a separate sphere of experience. For example, the Parthenon is in situ in life of the Athenians, religion, and culture, and is not just an artistic work. Experience is shaping of a meaning. Greek works functioned as zones of reality for Dewey. Even for Plato or Aristotle did Mythos=myth never mean something false for the Greeks. To understand how myth operated in the Greek world is to understand their culture, it is not a fiction. Dewey says experience is an ordering of other experiences, sort of a plot or continuities.
Dewey’s key philosophical issue is in his reaction against certain contemporary modern conceptions of art. When thinking about the Greeks Dewey calls the ancient experience a detour. Thus, in order to get over the prejudices of the modern conceptions of art we have to take what Dewey calls a “detour” to look at earlier modes, not to simply return to them, but to try to see them differently. Thus, Dewey’s idea of “experience,” which had a practical meaning and not just a theoretical or cognitive base, so he wants to use these ideas to reorient how we would be thinking about art and artworks. Again, a key target in this is subjectivity. The modern emphasis on subjectivity, that art is an experience of the subject. However, that idea screens out the responsiveness of the self to a world. As Martin Heidegger would put it ancient works are world disclosive, they are not simply subjective appreciations or experiences. Thus, what I like about Dewey is that he gets down to this very hardscrabble concrete reality on how art all ties in with the early “experiences,” whether it is early cultures or early childhood.
Dewy makes an interesting point that art in modern times has become this refined precious tier, “art is put on a pedestal,” out of its cultural context. Dewey is very astute when he says, “this is capitalism” that differentiates art and sets the standard. Thus, Dewey sees that the common people wind up turning to movies, jazz, and comics as art. Dewey observes that capitalism is the modern turn to subjectivity. Dewey looks for a common thread between practical arts and crafts and fine art. One he sees is technical mastery for both is essential. Art as an experience is an accomplishment. Not bothered by fundamental gap between art and craft. A craft work can have aesthetic features, therefore you can experience a pot as art, and it is useful as well. The question then becomes, “what is the difference? This interpretation is the model of multiple ways of seeing. Therefore, it is possible to simply shift within one object to do a shift between an artworks utility and its aesthetic qualities. Now whether or not the craftwork that has aesthetic qualities could rise to the level of a fine artwork that is another question. However, it certainly is the case that you can have one in the same object with both technical and utilitarian features, and artistic qualities. Dewey points out that this is the reason why we tend to value most of these found objects from ancient cultures, because they are interesting and not just because they are old. We do this in our homes, we don’t just buy a table, we buy one that looks interesting.
Dewey defines experience. “Experience is the result, the sign, and the reward of that interaction of organism and environment, which when it is carried to the full, is a transformation of interaction into participation and communication.” This is a very Aristotelian thought.
I recommend this work for anyone interested in philosophy, and philosophy of art.
Rating: 5 / 5