Art as Form

There are two ways to understand. First the plain understanding, What determines whether or not a work is art is its possession of significant form. That is, a painting is art if and only if it has a salient design/form. Secondly, in more formalistic manner, an art must possesses a form that is of its own, not seen before. Art must not imitate anything else. Art is celebration of forms, new forms. A painting is "a coloured surface, in which the various tones and various degrees of light are placed with a certain choice; that is its intimate being.” - Hippolyte Taine, The Philosophy of Art (1865).

Study the PDF below

(to be used for academic purposes only)

Art as Form PDF

L’art pour l’art, meaning, Art for art’s sake. The intrinsic value of art, and the only 'true' art, is divorced from any didactic, moral, political, or utilitarian function. Art is autotelic (complete in itself). Art is "inner-directed" or "self-motivated”. Victor Cousin (used this phrase first, 1800s), Theophile Gautier used it to defend his novel (1835), and a number of visual artists promoted the idea that art existed solely for its own sake, and should not serve any social or moral purpose.

Don’t look through Art, instead look at Art. Formalism proposes that everything necessary to comprehending a work of art is contained within the work of art.

What is not there is not important to that particular work of art. The context of the work, the reason for its creation, the historical background, and the life of the artist, are considered to be external to the artistic medium itself, and therefore of secondary importance.

Formalism gravitates toward abstraction. Their aim is not to capture the perceptual appearances of the world, but often to make images noteworthy for their visual organization, form, and arresting design.

Art is devoid of any meaning. It is meaningless. Formalist artist rejected the premise that art must make sense. Art is an autonomous sphere of human creation.

Defamiliarisation: Looking at familiar things and seeing unfamiliar forms. Seeing an object in a totally different light. It is seeing something completely new.

It was a quest for pure art. They rejected obvious subject matter in art. The formalists were freeing art from the narrowness of topics.

Art as Form, Art theories, Formalism, What is art?

Art as formalism

Comments

Visual Analysis: INTRODUCTION

Visual analysis is a systematic and scientific examination of visual materials that explores their communicative meaning, aesthetic qualities, and functional impact. As Susan Sontag noted, humans tend to linger in "mere images of the truth," making it crucial to develop a deeper understanding of visual interpretation. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) Introduction to Visual Analysis PDF The Nature of Seeing: The process of seeing is not as spontaneous or natural as commonly believed. According to John Berger, our way of seeing art has historically been influenced by privileged minorities to maintain social and economic dominance. Visual perception requires conscious effort and is heavily influenced by habits and conventions. The visual faculty consumes approximately two-third of a person’s used energy, highlighting its significance in human experience. The Framework of Visual Analysis: Visual analysis could be traced back to communication models, for example, Har...

Visual Analysis: SEMIOTICS

Visual analysis is a systematic and scientific approach to examining visual materials that goes far beyond casual observation. In our visually saturated world, images have become a inescapable universal language that shapes our perceptions, attitudes, and experiences. From the artworks adorning gallery walls to the advertisements lining city streets, visuals communicate narratives, evoke emotions, and reflect sociocultural ideologies. However, the process of seeing and interpreting visuals is not as spontaneous or natural as we often assume. As John Berger notably stated, "seeing is an active decision," suggesting that the process of interpreting visuals is neither spontaneous nor natural, but rather requires conscious effort and critical thinking. The way we perceive and interpret visual content is heavily influenced by habits, conventions, and our individual perspectives. Serious visual analyses requires conscious effort and critical analysis to unravel the laye...

Visual Analysis: LANGUAGE, ELEMENTS, AND GRAMMAR

Visual communication plays a powerful role in shaping our understanding of the world. Like written and spoken language, visuals employ a complex grammar and system of meaning. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) Visual language, elements, and grammar PDF At its core, visual grammar is comprised of fundamental elements like line, shape, colour, texture, space, and typography. These are the basic building blocks that visual creators assemble and organise using principles like emphasis, contrast, composition, size, proportion, balance, and lighting. Just as words are assembled following the syntactical rules of language, visuals are constructed by purposefully arranging and relating these elemental units. Lines, for instance, can convey a range of associations through their orientation and qualities. Horizontal lines suggest stability and calm, verticals impart a sense of strength and authority, while diagonals imbue dynamism and movement. The weight and curvature of lines fu...

Visual Analysis: WHAT ARE VISUALS?

Visuals are images/collection of images that are made to be seen. There is a continuum of images in which people live; and visual is a paused/frozen moment from them. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) What Are Visuals? PDF People/artists/designers capture/construct/make images/visuals for others to see. Therefore we only see the image/visual/frame that is given to us to see. For John Berger, a visual is a sight which has been recreated or reproduced ... which has been detached from the place and time in which it first made its appearance. Art: Traditional art, the oldest form of visual expression, represents humanity's first attempts to interpret and document the world. From prehistoric cave paintings to Renaissance masterpieces and contemporary installations, art has evolved beyond mere representation to become a vehicle for emotional, philosophical, and social commentary. Artists manipulate colour, form, texture, and space to create works that challen...

The Brown Sisters: A Four-Decade Portrait of Time and Sisterhood

Nicholas Nixon's "The Brown Sisters" stands as one of photography's most compelling longitudinal portrait studies, documenting four decades of sisterhood through annual black-and-white photographs taken from 1975 to 2014. Using an 8×10 inch view camera, Nixon captured his wife Bebe and her three sisters—Heather, Mimi, and Laurie Brown—in the same order each year, creating a remarkable visual meditation on time, aging, and familial bonds. For the full set of images see the PDF below (for academic use only) Forty Portraits in Forty Years PDF What began as a spontaneous family photograph in 1975 evolved into a profound artistic documentation of human transformation. The project's strength lies in its methodological consistency: the sisters maintain their positions, with the sequence remaining unchanged throughout the series. This rigid framework paradoxically highlights the subtle changes that occur year by year, creating a powerful commentary on the passage of time...

A Critical Visual Analysis of Jan Banning's ‘Bureaucratics’

Jan Banning's photographic series Bureaucratics offers a remarkable anthropological study of civil servants across eight countries, revealing how power, hierarchy, and cultural identity manifest in governmental spaces. Through meticulously composed photographs taken from a citizen's perspective, Banning unveils the theatre of bureaucracy the most immediate visual impact comes from Banning's consistent methodology: each photograph is taken from the same height and distance, positioning the viewer in the role of a citizen approaching the bureaucrat's desk. The bureaucrats are photographed in their natural habitat – their offices – which become stages where power dynamics and cultural values are performed daily. Make visual analysis of Bureaucratics by Jan Banning given below. Bureaucratics by Jan Banning PDF (for academic use only) In examining the spatial arrangements, a clear pattern emerges: the desk serves as both barrier and symbol of authority. In many image...

2025 Must Create Its Own Art

Tonight’s art becomes inadequate and useless when the sun rises in the morning. The mistake lies not in creating art for tonight, but in assuming tonight’s answers will serve tomorrow’s questions. Louise Bourgeois, a French American artist, reflected, “art is a guaranty of sanity;” but that guarantee must be renewed with each dawn, each cultural shift, and each evolution of human consciousness. If some art endures through generations, it is only because of its capacity to speak, its ability to demand fresh interpretations that test and challenge the new. To guarantee sanity in the coming year, 2025 must create its own art. Why create art? Why watch art? Why read literature? True art, in the words of Sunil P Ilayidam, shakes that which is rigid and unchangeable. Art serves as humanity’s persistent earthquake, destabilising comfortable certainties and creating space for new ways of seeing, thinking, and being in the world. An artist’s duty is to reflect the times, and we see this in...

photo.graph.art.design

Search This Blog