In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Leonardo, Vol. 13, pp. 153-156. Pergamon Press 1980. Printed in Great Britain AESTHETICS FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS Elmer H. Duncan Readers are invited to draw attention to articles on aesthetics appearing in English languagejournals that are ofspecial interest to studio artists andart teachers,for review by Elmer H. Duncan, Dept. of Philosophy, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76703, U.S.A. D. G. Allen, Aesthetic Perception in Dufrenne's Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience, Philosophy Today 22, 50 (1978). M. Dufrenne's Phenomenologie de /'experience esthetique was published in two volumes in 1953.In this essay, Allen notes that this means it dates from the same period as S. Langer's Feeling and Form (1953)and R. Arnheim's Art and Visual Perception (1954). From the first, it was regarded as a major work-perhaps the verybest to date-in aesthetics from the phenomenological point of view. And yet, even today, the book is not well known in the U.S.A. Why did not the book fare as wellas those by Langer and Arnheim? Allen suggests several possible answers to the question . For one thing, the book has only been recently translated (in 1973)into English. Further, Dufrenne's writing style is difficult. His own philosophy is technical, and he borrows from philosophers-past and present-whose work is also technical. 'He ranges over a wide field of disparate thinkers (Husser!, Heidegger, Hume, Kant, Merleau-Ponty, etc.) using a style which is sometimes dense and articulate but more often rambling and repetitive' (p. 50). At any rate, Allen seeks to remedy these defects by explaining Dufrenne's work as clearly as possible. Dufrenne's aesthetic is based on his analysis of perception. He distinguishes three perceptual planes; these 'are "presence", "representation" and "feeling" (p. 51). The first, presence, is based on the work of M. Merleau-Ponty; the second, representation, is based on the work of 1. Kant. Somehow, the imagination is able to link the two together; one of Allen's criticisms is that the link seems to be 'a weak one' (p. 62). In a subtle argument, based largely on a priori considerations, Dufrenne moves on to 'feeling'. 'Feeling' leads to deeper comprehension of the aesthetic experience. Allen has done an impressive job of summarizing a large and difficultbook in 15-pages.But Dufrenne's work istoo complex to be further condensed; readers are therefore referred to Allen's paper for further details. J. Altabe, A Living Wall in a Stone Environ, Stained Glass 74, 120 (1979). How are art works to be evaluated? Philosophers often ask the question and attempt to answer it, but, unfortunately , they do not give much attention to what artists themselves have to say. In her essay, Altabe explains what she tried to do in designing 'six stained glass windows for the building facade of the sephardic congregation of Long Beach, New York ....' (p. 120). First she sought 'to design a virtual wall of moving light, counterpart to the solid stone setting' (p. 120).The windows are intended to illustrate the six days of the creation story, and, while there is counterpart (noted above), there is also 'harmony and unity so that the six works can be viewed as one integral statement' (p. 120). The designs of the windows use arabesque elements, arranged to blend their reflected light with the patterns of the Spanish tile floor, because 'There are about one hundred families in the congregation who are descendants of Spanish Jews expelled during the Inquisition and emigres to Turkey, Greece and Morocco' (p. 121).As a final touch, the windows are 153 made to be 'read', as the creation story unfolds, from right to left (as in Hebrew) when seen from within the building but from left to right when seen by the gentile world outside. Philosophers might be tempted to ask 'Why should this sort of thing count toward aesthetic goodness?' But if such considerations-in designing windows for a Jewish synagogue- > as these are not relevant, then what more could be required? A more significant philosophical question might be: 'If it is granted that the considerations discussed above are relevant toward the evaluation of stained glass windows, can any more general...

pdf

Share