Clive Bells Essay on Art essays

Clive Bell's Essay on Art essays In his essay, entitled "Art," Clive Bell proposes that there is one element that coheres all works of art considered great in the world. "There must be some one quality without which a work of art cannot exist; possessing which, in the least degree, no work is altogether worthless. What is this quality'" In other words, Bell accepts that there must be some aesthetic standards by which to judge all works of art. However, Bell acknowledges that the body of art produced in and by the world's artists is multifaceted in its character, depending on the era when it was produced, the artist who produced it, and the medium in which it was produced. Early on in his essay, Bell states that to define the core query behind all of art criticism is to ask, "What quality is shared by all objects that provoke our aesthetic emotions'" It is not enough to say that adherence to reality or beauty is the standard, otherwise a functional Persian bowl might be ranked above a masterpiece of fruit in a bowl painted by Czanne. Bell states, "only one answer seems possible - significant form. In each, lines and colors combined in a particular way, certain forms and relations of forms, stir our aesthetic emotions." Thus, although the use of the term significant form' might on its surface to suggest that the standards Bell judges works of art by are quite standardized. But really, what "significant form" means is the visceral yet aesthetic impression that a work of art is apt to have upon a gazer. This is why, for Bell, "people who respond immediately and surely to works of artin my judgment, [are] more enviable than men of massive intellect [who are] are often quite as incapable of talking sense about aesthetics." Bell defends the common gazer, in essence, who looks upon a piece of art and intuitively responds to its construction. For instance, Bell might say that the p...