Processes of evaluating contemporary painting as applied to the works of three Southern California artists

127 Pages·04.88 MB·English

by  Saucier, George

PROCESSES OF EVALUATING CONTEMPORARY PAINT INC AS APPLIED
TO TEE WORK OF THREE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ARTISTS
A T hesis
Presented to
the F aculty of the Department o f Fine A rts
The U n iversity o f Southern C aliforn ia
In P a rtia l F u lfillm en t
of the Requirements fo r the Degree
M aster o f A rts
by
George Saucier
August 1950
UMI Number: EP57898
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This thesis, written by
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,
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aih approved by all its members, has been
presented to and accepted by the Council on
Graduate Study and Research in partial fulfill­
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I . THE PROBLEM AND ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY . . . X
The problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Statem ent of the problem • • « . • • • « . 3
Method • 4
S ign ifican ce of a e sth e tic s • * • • • • • • 4
O rganization of the rem ainder of the study . 5
I I . THE PROCEDURE FOR TEE STUDY . . . . . . . . . . 6
The method o f selectin g the a r tis t • • . . . 6
The method of selectin g the rep resen tative
work o f each a r tis t • . . . . • • • • • • • 11
I I I . AN EXAMINATION OF THREE PAINTINGS BY THE
PHILOSOPHICAL PROCESS OF ART EVALUATION . . . 15
Art as im itation • 17
Art as pleasure • • • • • • • • • • • • « • • 22
Art as play 26
Art as an escape or an illu sio n 29
Art as communication 32
Art as expression . • • • « . . . . • . • • • 36
Art as experience 40
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
IF. AN EXAMINATION OF THREE PAINTINGS BY THE
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS OF ART EVALUATION . . . 46
Art in structuralism ................................... 48
iii
CmOTR PAGE
Art in behaviorism « . ...................................« • . 51
Art in g esta lt psychology • • • • • • . • • 55
Art in psychoanalysis . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Art in fm n ction alism ..............................• • • • . . 62
Snmmary • . • • • • « • . . • • • • . . . « 66
V. AH EXAMINATION OF THREE PAINTINGS BY THE
FORMALISTIC PROCESS OF ART EVALUATION . . . 69
Art of l i n e • . • 77
Art of m s s « • « • • • • • • • . • • • • • 80
Art in space » . • • • . • • « • 83
Art of lig h t and shade • • .......................... • . • 86
Art of color • • • • « • . • • • . . . . . . 89
Summary 93
71. STJMMAKY AND CONCHJSIONS......................... 97
BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................. 104
APPENDIX . . ..................................................... . . . 114
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE PAGE
1. S t ill L ife w ith D esert Plant by
Henry McFee • • • • • • • • • • • • • » • « 115
2. V ertical Com position by
R ico Lebrun • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 116
3. S ir Women in C assis by
Stanton Maedonald-Wright • • • • • • • • • 117
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND ORGANIZATION OP THE STUDY
Great thinkers of the past and today agree that man
has an inherent a b ility , irrespective of h is in te llec tu a l
standing, to recognize beauty.* This a b ility to recognize
beauty has brought forth speculation as to the quality some­
thing must contain in order to possess beauty. Thought
systems have appeared attempting to explain the b eautiful,
and these theories and standards of value in the realm of
beauty and the arts are called aesth etics. A esthetics is
concerned with man’s se n sitiv ity to the beautiful in art.
"It is that function of sensuous perception which he knows
as the contemplative enjoym ent of beauty,” wrote James
2
Sully. This study is a problem in a esth etics.
Some people, however, give up aesthetic speculation
and take no in terest in discussing the nature of art because
they feel that there is no likelihood of their arriving at
any d efin ite conclusion. A uthorities seem to d iffer widely
in their opinions as to which things are b eau tifu l, or i f
they do agree there is l i t t l e means of knowing what is the
point of agreement.
^ Theodore Greene, The Arts and the Art of Criticism
(Princeton: Princeton U niversity £ress, !$4 0 )', p. 147
2 James Sully, "Aesthetics," Encyclopaedia
Britannica, 11th edition , I, 277.
What, in fa ct, do these men mean by beauty? Vernon
Lee said, "A picture has beauty when i t satisfies*" ^ Kant
wrote, "The beautiful is that which is thought of as the
object of a universal sa tisfa ctio n apart from any concept.
Yet, further in h is w riting, he said that the fin e arts are
art in proportion as they seem at the same time in nature.^
S ch iller wrote, "No error w ill ever be incurred, i f we seek
the ideal of beauty on the same road on which we sa tisfy our
play-im pulse• Tolstoy said, "all beauty is pleasure."7
Hegel, however, supported an escapist theory and said,
"Beauty liv e s in seeming. . . . With John Dewey, beauty
is rooted in the warp and woof of a ll experience.^ Then
Freud w rites that beauty is obtained in a painting when it
*2
Vernon Lee, The Beautiful (Cambridge: The Cambridge
U niversity Press, 1913), p. 2.
^ E. F. C arritt, Philosophies of Beauty (Oxford:
Oxford U niversity Press, 1931), p. 110.
5 Ib id ., p. 118.
^ Nathan Bost, translator, Fredrich S ch iller's
A esthetical and Philosophical Essays (New York: Brainard
Publishing Company, 1902), p. 53.
^ Aylmer Maude, translator, Leo T olstoy* s What is
Art (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell and Company, 1900), p. 40.
8 C arritt, op. c i t ., p. 160.
^ John Dewey, Art as Experience (New York: Minton,
Balch and Company, 1934), p. 355.
3
contains a fu lfillm en t of u n filled wishes.-*^ William James,
in his theory, said beauty is "wholly due to elim ination.
There are those that emphasize form in a esth etics. Walter
Abell said, "Form is the dominating source of aesthetic
value."12 Clive B ell, writing on the b eau tifu l, said, "Line
and colors combined in a particular way, certain forms and
relation s of forms s t ir our aesthetic em otions.w1^
This citation of various authorities merely points up
existin g contradictions in the study of a esth etics. Each
man in his own way has failed to correlate h is theory with
those of his predecessors. The judgments of experts are at
variance with one another, and it seems they are not talking
about the same thing. Ho one explanation seems adequate to
cover such wide differen ces. However, the various theories
may be c la ssifie d in three main divisions for th is study.
Statement of the problem. It was the purpose of this
study (l) to present explanations of the philosophical, the
psychological, and the form alistic processes of evaluating
10 Joan R iviere, translator, Sigmund Freud’s Psycho-
Analysis (Hew York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1935)
p. 327.
^ William James, P rinciples of Psychology (Hew York:
Henry Holt and Company, 1923), I, p. 287.
12 Walter Abell, Representation and Form (Hew York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1936), p. 163.
1^ C arritt, op. c i t ., p. 264.
contemporary painting, and (2) to evaluate a representative
work of each of three Southern C alifornia a r tists by these
systems*
Method* In this investigation , an attempt has been
made to present, in a condensed form, the greater part of
accredited opinion on the subject, and to relate these
various views to three main p osition s from which the theory
of a rt-criticism may proceed*
Significance of aesthetics * There has been consider-
able in terest la te ly in the problems of aesth etics because
of the modern movement in painting* Painting in this
country, u n til the 1920’ s, had been dominated by lif e le s s
academicism and European influence* Existing aesthetic
doctrines seemed su fficien t to explain the beau tifu l. With
a wider knowledge of non-European painting, such as Eastern
and Prim itive art and psychology developing as a science,
new theories developed in aesthetics* The older methods of
approach were found inadequate for some of the aestheticians*
The numerous theories, however, may be c la ssifie d in the
follow ing manner into three groups: philosophical, psycho­
lo g ic a l, and form alistic*