Noël Carroll
Philosophy of Art: A contemporary introduction
(1999)
[SK's snark]
[137]
Part II
What is artistic form?
Excellent question. Perhaps this should be Part I?
Different views of artistic form
Form is an important concept for talking about art. ... However, ... it cannot serve as the
defining feature
of all art ... Formalists and neoformalists ... overplay their hand. ... But much art
possesses form
and that, in large measure, is often why we appreciate it. ...
So, what is artistic form?
Perhaps the most common way of thinking of artistic form is to conceive of it as
one half of a distinction—
the distinction between
form
and
content.
The neoformalist tries to clarify this contrast by turning it into the distinction between
meaning
and
mode of presentation.
However, ... if there are artworks without meanings, ... then this way of conceptualizing form entails that such artworks lack form altogether.
But ... Often "meaningless" artworks—such as works of pure music—are what we typically take to be the greatest exemplars of artistic form. ...
This suggests that one might look for a broader way of crafting the contrast between form and content.
One way
of doing this is to say that
content is
whatever makes up the artwork,
and
form is
the way that
whatever makes up the artwork
is
organized.
Content is the
matter;
form is the
manner.
Form operates on whatever comprises the content. Again, this makes our conception of
the form
of an artwork
dependent on
our conception of
the content
of the artwork. That is, one cannot determine
the manner of its organization,
until one knows
what is being organized.
A problem arises here almost immediately. ...
[138]
the notion of content, as just stated, is
excessively ambiguous,
and this ambiguity is likely to infect whatever we say about artistic form ...
... Imagine a historical painting of St. Francis and a donkey. What
makes up
this artwork? In one sense, ... oil paint. At another level ... lines, colors and closed shapes. ... representational figures that refer to certain subjects or referents, ... which, in turn, may also be expressive of the human quality of kindness. Furthermore, the painting may take a point of view ... It may ... suggest a thesis about St. Francis: ... the painting may even advance a more general theme: ...
... this list could be even longer if our descriptions of these dimensions were more fine-grained.
In other words, criticism can never be fully 'objective' so long as fine-ness of grain is left to the critic themselves to decide upon. The "grain" can always be tailored to critical needs, turning up as much or as little basis for commentary as is needed/desired.
