Countless proffered definitions of art are not definitions at all but are theories about the nature of art that presuppose that the ability to identify certain things in the world as works of art already exists. Most of them are highly unsatisfactory even as theories. “Art is an exploration of reality through a sensuous presentation”—but in what way is it an exploration? Is it always concerned with reality (how is music concerned with reality, for example)? “Art is a re-creation of reality”—but is all art re-creation, even music? (It would seem likely that music is the creation of something, namely, a new set of tonal relationships, but not that it is the re-creation of anything at all.) “Art is an expression of feeling through a medium”—but is it always an expression (see below Art as expression) and is it always feeling that is expressed? And so on. It appears more certain that Shakespeare’s King Lear is a work of art than that these theories are true. All that seems to be required for identifying something as a work of art in the wide sense is that it be not a natural object but something made or transformed by a human being, and all that is required for identifying it as art (not as good art but as art) in the narrower sense is that it function aesthetically in human experience, either wholly (fine art) or in part (useful art); it is not even necessary, as has been shown, that it be intended by its creator to function in this way. The interpretation of art
Works of art present problems of both interpretation and evaluation. Evaluation is not the concern of this article (see aesthetics), but one problem about interpretation deserves to be mentioned. Works of art are often difficult, and how to interpret them properly is far from obvious. The question then arises as to what factors should guide efforts at interpretation.
At one extreme lies the view known as isolationism, according to which a knowledge of the artist’s biography, historical background, and other factors is irrelevant to an appreciation of the work of art and usually is harmful in that it gets in the way, tending to substitute a recital of these facts for the more difficult attempt to come to grips with the work of art itself. If the work of art is not understood on first acquaintance, it should be read (or heard, or viewed) again and yet again. Constant re-exposure to it, so that the recipient is totally absorbed in and permeated by it, is the way to maximum appreciation.
At the other extreme, contextualism holds that the work of art should always be apprehended in its context or setting and that not merely knowledge about it but total appreciation of it is much richer if it is approached with this knowledge. According to the contextualists, not only literature (ordinarily appreciated contextually) but also the other arts, even nonrepresentational painting and music, should be apprehended in this way.
No critic or art lover need hold to either position in its undiluted form: a person could well be an isolationist about some kinds of art, such as music, a contextualist about others, such as historical dramas and religious paintings. It is essential to be more specific, however, about the factors—other than careful and repeated perusal of the work of art itself—that the contextualist holds are either necessary or extremely helpful in the appreciation of works of art:
1. Other works of art by the same artist. If the artist has created other works, particularly in the same genre, acquaintance with them may enhance appreciation of the work at hand. Quantity of works has no particular merit in itself, but when, say, one of the piano concertos of the 18th-century Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is heard, the auditor may (often largely unconsciously) compare its mode, thematic material, and method of development and resolution with some of Mozart’s 25 other piano concertos. Knowledge of the entire corpus of his work in a certain genre may heighten enjoyment of a particular work.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, oil on canvas by Barbara Krafft, 1819.Alfredo Dagli Orti—REX/Shutterstock.com
2. Other works of art in the same genre by other artists, particularly in the same style or tradition. Appreciation of the pastoral poem “Lycidas,” by the English poet John Milton, is doubtless enhanced by a study of the pastoral tradition in poetry, with which Milton supposed his readers to be acquainted. To study “Lycidas” in isolation would needlessly deprive the reader of much of the richness of texture of the poem and would even make some of the references in it unintelligible.
3. A study of relevant facts about the artistic medium, such as the instrumental limitations or advantages of pipe organs in the time of the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) or the modes of presentation of ancient Greek tragedies in the Athenian theatre. An acquaintance with the artistic conventions and idioms in which the artist operated often leads to better understanding of certain aspects of the artist’s work and helps to avert misunderstandings of it.
4. A study of the age in which the artist lived—the spirit of the time and its current ideas, the complex influences that molded the artist, even the social, economic, and political conditions of the time and place in which the artist worked. Sometimes such knowledge is of dubious relevance. It can be argued that no aid to the study of the 82 string quartets and 104 symphonies of the 18th-century Austrian composer Joseph Haydn is provided by reading about the political and economic conditions of his day. It is interesting to study the evolution of the string quartet or symphony from its origin through Haydn to the present, but this would appear to be an evolution traceable entirely within the art form and not dependent on factors outside it. This, however, is not always so—particularly in literature, where a study of such exterior factors seems to be of much more relevance. It would seem important to know, for example, that Milton was aware of the new Copernican astronomy but deliberately chose in Paradise Lost to make his cosmos Ptolemaic, the antiquated astronomical system that was already steeped in literature, mythology, and tradition.
5. A study of the artist’s life. Anthologists of literature constantly assume that this is an important consideration, since they supply detailed biographies prior to their selections by each author. It is true, of course, that knowledge of the artist’s life can distract attention from the artist’s work, as with those who cannot hear Ludwig van Beethoven’s late quartets without constantly thinking, “What a pity it was that he was deaf at the time!” Yet such knowledge may also heighten experience of a work; some would say, at any rate, that it helps to know that Milton was blind when he wrote the sonnet “On His Blindness.” It is the relevance of this kind of knowledge to an appreciation of the poem, as a poem, that is in dispute. In every case, however, it should be kept in mind that acquaintance with the artist’s biography is a means toward an end, the enhanced appreciation and understanding of the work of art, and that otherwise it is aesthetically irrelevant. The facts about the artist’s life are the means and the enhanced appreciation the end, not the other way around, as is often found, for example, in psychoanalytic essays attempting to infer from works of art facts about the artist’s subconscious conflicts; in these cases the work is being taken as the means and the study of the artist’s life as the end.
6. A study of the artist’s intentions. When difficulties arise as to what to make of a work of art or when several conflicting interpretations come to mind, how is the difficulty to be resolved? One obvious suggestion is to consult the artist, if that is possible; the artist’s records or memoirs, if any; or the testimony of the artist’s friends, acquaintances, or associates. It is tempting to believe that, whichever way the artist intended it, this is the way the work should be interpreted. For surely artists know their own work better than anyone else does, and for that reason their own word should be law.