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Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation

Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation. From Colin Lyas. Chap. 3, “Nature’s Mirror.” Aesthetics. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1997. Representation remains commonplace Why are representative images so powerful? 1. Inadequate senses of representation

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Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation

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  1. Closing reflections on mimeticism:Colin Lyas on representation • From Colin Lyas. Chap. 3, “Nature’s Mirror.” Aesthetics. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1997. • Representation remains commonplace • Why are representative images so powerful? • 1. Inadequate senses of representation • (1) Representation as imitating • What does Lyas mean by imitation? Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 1

  2. Closing reflections on mimeticism:Colin Lyas on representation • Lyas’s objection to representation as imitation: little of art is mere imitation • trompe l’oeil • Unswept Dining Room Floor • Ken Davies, The Ken Davies Trompe • anamorphosis • Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors • - detail Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 2

  3. Closing reflections on mimeticism:Colin Lyas on representation • (2) Representation as copying • How does Lyas distinguish between imitating and copying? • Any position which holds that the copy is an exact replica assumes a view from nowhere (39). • Comment: but does it? Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 3

  4. Closing reflections on mimeticism:Colin Lyas on representation • Ernst Gombrich & Nelson Goodman’s critique of the copying model • The creation of works of art is always as much making as it is re-presenting Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 4

  5. Closing reflections on mimeticism:Colin Lyas on representation • Lyas’s first conclusion: Representation in art is not principally about imitating & definitely not about copying. • 2. Can the mimetic theory fit all art? • Abstract art, much of music & dance? • Response: But even non-representational art has some representational elements. Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 5

  6. Closing reflections on mimeticism:Colin Lyas on representation • And what about photography? • Roger Scruton’s suggestion • What about fiction? • Lyas’s “as if” suggestion Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 6

  7. Closing reflections on mimeticism:Colin Lyas on representation • 3. Other critiques of representational art • Clive Bell’s critique of representational art • In works of art, representation is always irrelevant; form is all that counts • Lyas’s response to Bell • We often see form through representation Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 7

  8. Closing reflections on mimeticism:Colin Lyas on representation • Form & representation are intertwined. • But Bell’s critique of representational has some value • It proposes that we should not look at works of art as surrogates for the real thing; when art is representational, it must have some other function. Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 8

  9. Closing reflections on mimeticism:Colin Lyas on representation • 4. Lyas’s position on the value of representation in art. Is he saying that this is what representational art is really about? • delight in the act of imitating itself • Our attention in a representational work of art is [should be] on the act of imitating itself--the skill & the imagination which it requires (53). Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 9

  10. Closing reflections on mimeticism:Colin Lyas on representation • Delight in the wit & cleverness of imitation • Rene Magritte’s Cette n’est pas une pipe CHECK • trompe l’oeil • An effective way of expressing emotions Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 10

  11. Closing reflections on mimeticism:Colin Lyas on representation • Comments • Is Lyas an essentialist with respect to constructing a theory of art? (See Lyas 103-104) • Does Lyas reject representation as the essence of art? Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 11

  12. Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas • Virtues of representation • delight in skill • vehicle for expressing feelings & emotions Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 12

  13. Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas • The Aesthetic Movement • Wilde’s position on the autonomy of art reflects an intellectual movement in 19th century France & England called Aestheticism or the Aesthetic Movement • Roots in France in the 1820s - Théophile Gautier, Baudelaire, and later Flaubert. Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 13

  14. Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas • Earliest & most uncompromising version • Works of art should be judged only by internal standards • Any external purpose or function which art may serve should be counted as a defect Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 14

  15. Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas • And art is the cause, the substratum, of all else (Walter Pater & Wilde’s version) • For Walter Pater, aesthetic values are primary and override all other value, even moral ones. • The aesthetic quest is the highest way of life a human can follow Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 15

  16. Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas • Wilde - “People will give mup war when they consider it to be vulgar instead of wicked.” • Wilde - it is better to be beautiful than to be good. Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 16

  17. Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas • More moderate version • Although art of an earlier time may have been utilitarian, these works may today be taken as pure aesthetic objects • A work of art should be valued for its purely internal & aesthetic qualities & not for its relationship to anything external Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 17

  18. Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas • What are some of these internal qualities? Elegance, grace, balance, harmony, expressiveness, depth, atmostphere. • Critique • Aestheticisms position on the evaluation & appreciation of art is too restrictive • E.g., Appreciating a Gothic cathedral Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 18

  19. Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas • What justification is there for making the aesthetic the basic causal factor and evaluative standard for everything else? Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 19

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