Toward Improving the Objective Status of Aesthetics: On Style and Content of Figurative Pictorial Art

The author points out that many find unsatisfactory the analyses of visual art by aestheticians of the speculative philosophical tradition. He then considers ways in which the development of a viable theory might be pursued more successfully. H. Wölfflin’s hypothesis and the assumptions on which it is based are discussed. Its shortcomings are pointed out, and an attempt is made to overcome them. In particular, the author defends the assumption that the formal structure of a picture as regards its viewing station point used for the depiction of objects is relevant for the analysis of the meaning of a picture’s content. Wölfflin’s assumption that there are only two such station points that reflect a world view of a historical period (orthogonal (Renaissance) and nonorthogonal (Baroque) to the frontal plane of an object) is extended to include bird’s-eye and worm’s-eye view station points to accommodate other styles of figurative pictures.

Attention is drawn to the opinion of F. Burger that a station point involves spatial and time factors in the sense of impending developments and changes in a culture’s world view.