On Difficulty, Elitism, and Friendship in Art

Many artworks, some would say certainly the best artworks, are difficult, in a cognitive and empathetic sense, to understand and to appreciate. So suggests David Hume, and so says Bernard Bosanquet and George Steiner. First, I argue that art educators need to understand specifically what these difficulties are, as well as understand that art and art appreciation, in their fullest senses, are practiced mostly among aesthetic elites, that is, "elites" in a nonpejorative respect. Second, I spell out how Hume's, Bosanquet's, and Steiner's intuitions are supported by current neuroscientific and cognitive psychological claims. Ultimately, I draw out the implications for art education, suggesting Aristotle's idea of friendship as an art education's ideal.