Chapter

From the North with my cello, or, five propositions on beauty: From Aesthetics to Creativity

January 2018

DOI:10.4324/9781315681566-29

In book: Anthropology and Beauty (pp.449-464)

Authors:

Response to David Howes

Article

May 2022
J MAT CULT

Tim Ingold

About the hearth: Perspectives on the home, hearth and household in the circumpolar north

Book

Jan 2013

Due to changing climates and demographics, questions of policy in the circumpolar north have focused attention on the very structures that people call home. Dwellings lie at the heart of many forms of negotiation. Based on years of in-depth research, this book presents and analyzes how the people of the circumpolar regions conceive, build, memorialize, and live in their dwellings. This book seeks to set a new standard for interdisciplinary work within the humanities and social sciences and includes anthropological work on vernacular architecture, environmental anthropology, household archaeology and demographics. © 2013 David G. Anderson, Robert P. Wishart and Virginie Vaté. All rights reserved.

Article

Neo classic aesthetics and romanticism

September 2006

Michel Brix

Brix's introductory essay exposes the problematic rapport between neoclassicism and Romanticism in the aesthetic commentaries and creative work of early nineteenth-century Romantic writers on which this volume is based. Rather than a simple opposition between neoclassicism as imitation of the Antique and Romanticism as a break with the classical ideal, he shows that the debate on the nature of ... [Show full abstract] beauty takes place within the ranks of the Romantics themselves. Whereas writers like M-me de Stael and Victor Cousin describe their aesthetic ideal in neo-Platonic terms as indissolubly linked to the Good and the True, others like Stendhal or Balzac believe great art is an expression of the passions with no claim to Truth. Tensions between the two positions can be seen in the work of Chenier, Gautier, Nerval, and even Delacroix.

Article

Beautiful Perception and its Object . Mendelssohn’s theory of mixed sentiments reconsidered

June 2018 · Kant-Studien

Anne Pollok

Complex aesthetic perception, according to Mendelssohn's writings between 1755 and 1771, is most alluring if it showcases a breach in the order of perfection. With this, Mendelssohn introduces a shift in our understanding of the artistic act of imitation: Artistic semblance is always lacking, and a painting that does not point to this fact is, in fact, displeasing. This is also the main reason ... [Show full abstract] why we enjoy non-beautiful art: in the artistic rendering of an unpleasant 'object' we focus on the artistic act itself, on its formal features, and its effects on us as the perceiver. Thus, a representation that evokes the mixed feelings of pleasure, appreciation, and rejection is superior to 'pure' beauty, in that it better refers us to higher forms of perfection: the perfection of the perceiving and creative subject (hence, including both artist and audience). It is the nagging, near-painful impression of mixed sentiments that, according to Mendelssohn, guides our self-perfection, the highest aim of all human endeavors.

Article

Women, Beauty, and Justice: Moving Beyond von Balthasar

March 2005 · Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics

Susan A. Ross

IN THIS ESSAY I CONSIDER POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTIONS OF FEMINIST THEOLogy to theological aesthetics and ethics by comparing the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88), the predominant figure in theological aesthetics, with that of Elizabeth Johnson and Sallie McFague. Balthasar's emphasis on contemplation and obedience in response to the unexpected revelation of God's glory contrasts with the ... [Show full abstract] practicality, mutuality, and creativity of feminist theological ethics. On the other hand, feminist theology's emphasis on appropriate language and images for God suggests an implicit aesthetics. The artistic work of contemporary African women in crisis situations sheds further light on both Balthasar and feminist theology and brings into relief the relationship of beauty and justice. Although Balthasar's emphasis on the transcendent glory of God may leave him with an undeveloped ethics, feminist theology's agent-oriented approach could benefit from greater attention to contemplation and a transformed understanding of obedience. These conclusions urge greater appreciation and development of the aesthetic and imaginative dimensions of feminist theological ethics.

Article

Aesthetic Conflict in the Couple

March 2014 · Couple and Family Psychoanalysis

Barbara Bianchini

At the basis of the union between two partners is the aesthetic turmoil that derives from the manifest beauty of the object, which is unknowable internally, and which arouses both love and hate simultaneously. The tension between love, hate, and knowledge stems from their apparent incompatibility. It is almost impossible to sustain this constellation of intense and contradictory emotional ties ... [Show full abstract] with the object; attempting to do so can prove unbearable. This is what Meltzer calls the aesthetic conflict, highlighting that the tragedy of the aesthetic experience lies not in its transience, but in the object's enigmatic quality. The inability to assimilate sufficiently the resulting affective ambivalence means exposing oneself to potentially overwhelming emotions. Trying to erase these emotions deprives one of the vital knowledge and motivation they bring. If, however, the ambiguity of the object is tolerated, the dread of uncertainty of the partner's intentions stimulates psychic growth and creativity, transforming it into compassion for the frailty of human life and all things. I believe that the experience of being in an intimate relationship can be the stage on which these aspects of the aesthetic conflict are played out—crucial aspects for the development of both the couple relationship and the individual. This paper examines and develops aspects of the aesthetic conflict within a couple relationship.

Article

FIVE POINTS: Unweaving the Old Cloth

July 2009 · Architectural Theory Review

Gevork Hartoonian

In this paper I would like to discuss the problematic state of architecture at this new century. The issues I am going to address are the usual suspects underpinning critical discourse today: the intensification of the impact of technology on architecture, and the infusion of electronic technologies in every cultural production activity. These developments not only have changed the content and ... [Show full abstract] form of architecture, it has also given the chance to some architects to reiterate the myth of progress through technological inventions. Thus, the necessity to address the formalistic content of neo-avant-garde architecture by different theoretical means. Do not the expressionistic forms permeating recent architecture speak for the entry of architecture into the aesthetic world of commodity fetishism? Equally important is the state of theory/history at a time when interdisciplinary tendencies subdue the tectonic and reduce architecture to a textual discourse. I intend to make two points by discussing these issues. First, the importance of a semiautonomous understanding of architecture for a critical practice. Second, the gauging of history/theory/criticism not as absolute entities, but for their effectiveness in perpetuating the dialectics between theory and practice at both educational and professional levels.¹ We belong to the future. We must put ourselves into it, each one at his situation. We must not plant ourselves against the new and attempt to retain a beautiful world, one that must perish. Nor must we try to build, with creative fantasy, a new one that claims to be immune to the ravages of becoming. We have to formulate the recent. But that we can only do if we say yes to it; yet with incompatible heart we have to retain our awareness of all that is destructive and inhuman in it. Our time is given to us as a soil on which we stand, as a task that we have to master. Romano Guardini

Article

La psicologizacion del ambito estetico entre mediados del siglo XIX y principios del XX The psycholo...

June 2005

En este trabajo ofrecemos un mapa de las estrategias y categorías discursivas empleadas entre mediados del siglo XIX y principios del XX para traducir la estética al domino psicológico. En él ordenamos las claves manejadas por los psicólogos decimonónicos a la hora de tratar la emergencia de lo estético (en relación con sus orígenes y funciones), las características de su proceso creativo (en su ... [Show full abstract] dimensión individual y colectiva), la sistematización de sus productos artísticos (desde el punto de vista perceptivo y psicogenético) y las condiciones de su proceso receptivo (en relación con lo empático, lo bello, lo sublime, lo cómico y lo feo). Partiendo de esos análisis, en el cierre del trabajo ofrecemos unas reflexiones a propósito del curso seguido por las relaciones entre psicología y estética hasta el momento actual.A map of discursive strategies and categories employed between 1850 and the beginning of the 20th century to import aesthetics into the psychological dominion are discussed in this work. In it we organize 1) the main concepts used by 19th century psychologist to study the emergence of aesthetics (in relation with its origins and functions), 2) the characteristics of its creative process (in its collective and individual dimension), 3) the systematization of its artistic products (from a perceptual and psychogenetic point of view), and 4) the conditions of its reception (regarding concepts such as empathic, beautiful, sublime, comical, and ugly). Based on these analyses, we end with several reflections on the nature of the relationship between psychology and aesthetics up to the present time.

Article

Shedj-her-kek em Maa-aku-neferu“Illuminating Shadows of the African Creative Ideal” of W.E.B. DuBois

May 2009 · Journal of Black Studies

Khonsura A. Wilson

This article examines the findings of a shedj-her-kek analysis of select text in the corpus of DuBois's writings on creative matters. It defines shedj-her-kek — a heuristic concept derived and developed from kemetic lexicon and Dogon episteme—“as a multileveled reading and afrocentric analysis that illuminates and clarifies latent ideas and assumptions within both verbal text and nonverbal ... [Show full abstract] forms.” Using new Africological (Africana) terminology, this article situates DuBois as one of several major African creative—intellectuals (to borrow a term from Harold Cruse) to write on “the truly beautiful and morally effective” in the Africana intellectual tradition. It concludes that DuBois has made significant statements on creative matters that fall under several themes comprising his particular creative ideal and developing portrait of the creative—intellectual thought. Moreover, it finds that DuBois's creative ideal has practical implications and value as a point of theoretical departure and analysis of contemporary Africana creative production.

Article

A Study on Beauty of Traditional Dress Expressed in Korean Fashion Design

January 1993 · Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles

The purpose of this study is to clarify the adaptation of beauty of traditional dress depicted contemporary Korean fashion design. For this purpose, the external form and the internal meaning based on 'the double roots' proposed by Wlfflin were analyzed in Korean traditional dress. Documentary studies and objective studies were done with descriptive and content analytic methods. And homospatial ... [Show full abstract] process was devised in order to develop the traditional identity in contemporary fashion design. The results were as follows: 1. As the external form, H. O. A silhouette, chogori, ch'ima, paji, and po concerning internal type, kaftan, flat form related to structured type were represented. Traditional color sense were love of white, contrasting as well as analogous color harmony shown often in nature phenomena, and temperate achromatic color harmony. Texture were characterized as rough and coarse expressing vividness, fine and smooth expressing delicateness and tenderness. As the internal meaning, the beauty of purity related to nature, tragedy, and symbolism were represented. 2. Since 1980's. Korean fashion designers frequently applied unstructural kaftan form and H silhouette to Korean fashion design, and sought natural and pliable line in whole dress. Use of white and achromatic color harmony as well as use of linnen were prominent. Designers' aesthetic consciousness was pursuit of the beauty of nature. Representative designers who concentrated on expressing traditional beauty were Lee Shinwoo, Sul Yoonhyung, Jin Taiok and others. 3. A homospatial process could be a method in the creative design which enables to express Korean identity in fashion design, and could suggest ideas of new designs full of Korean identity by superimposed and fused imaginery.

Article

Full-text available

Utopian Desire in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Poetry

October 2013 · Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

Parastoo Salavati

This study has considered the Utopian desire in Percy Bysshe Shelley's major poems. It describes Shelley's idealism and Utopian desire based on the creative power of love. Shelley's Utopia is an imaginary land in which love creates, while hatred brings about destruction. Shelley can be considered as the culmination of the Romantic Movement in English literature. He looks at nature primarily as a ... [Show full abstract] realm of overwhelming beauty and aesthetic pleasure. His works deal with the subjective world of ideals that is more real to him than the world of facts. He is a poet of idealism and love, a representative of hope and liberty, who desires to change the world to Eden before the fall of man. His idealism is based on the elimination of all sorts of tyranny and oppression to terminate a liberal and humane world. Since Shelley's Utopia is governed only by justice, love and beauty, good triumphs over evil when love dominates man's heart and society, because according to him, love is a harmonizing power that joins and supports the elements to bring about creation. Shelley’s seclusion from the world of men and his dissatisfaction and failure in the actual life lead him to a higher world that is created by poetry and ruled by love and beauty, a Utopian Land that affords relief from what is unbearable in the social world and is much more beautiful and more perfect than the external world. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p267

Article

Full-text available

Aesthetics as a motivational factor for learning

December 2011 · Revista Interuniversitaria

The philosophical reflection about art, beauty, good, truth, and their ability to produce pleasure in people comes from Platon in our western culture. Considering that education must be understood as an integral phenomenon, encompassing not only the intellectual dimension but also the sensitive, intuitive and rationing dimensions, and imaginative and creative abilities, «knowing to be» is linked ... [Show full abstract] to «know» and «knowing-how». We think the importance of aesthetics as a motivation factor for learning is unquestionable and, through imagination and creativity, innovation in the construction of alternative roads for a more human and pleasant world can be promoted.

Article

Full-text available

Reading Radiantly: Embracing the Power of Picturebooks to Cultivate the Social Imagination

January 2019 · Bookbird A Journal of International Children s Literature

Kelly K. Wissman

In this article, I explore the potential of picturebooks for inspiring the social imagination. Drawing on collaborative inquiries with four elementary teachers in the United States who intentionally incorporated diverse picturebooks, many with global themes, into their teaching, I identify four features of instructional practice with picturebooks that promote what I call “reading radiantly.” ... [Show full abstract] Through illustrative vignettes, I provide a descriptive account of how the teachers placed picturebooks at the center of their curriculum in order to cultivate the social imagination in the following ways: selecting texts that broaden the imaginative landscape; encouraging students to attend to the aesthetic attributes of picturebooks; nurturing reading as an act of creativity; and creating space for agency and activism. Within these complex times, I argue that picturebooks can play vital roles in classrooms to help us attune not only to the beauty in the world, but also to our relationships to others and to our responsibilities in light of social inequalities.

Article

Hands of Beauty, Hands of Horror: Fear and Egyptian Art at the Fin de SiÃ¨cle

January 2008 · Victorian Studies

Aviva Briefel

This essay examines the gothicization of Egyptian manual productions in late-Victorian mummy narratives. These narratives often isolate the mummy's hand as a signifier of craftsmanship, a troubling object for a culture that was mourning the figurative loss of its artisans' hands to mechanized production. Focusing on Bram Stoker's 1903 novel, The Jewel of Seven Stars, I contend that the horror of ... [Show full abstract] the mummy's hand emanates from its ambiguous position as an artifact that is itself a means of production. It displaces Friedrich Engels's conception of the Western hand as a self-creating appendage into the atavistic domain of a long-lost Egyptian tradition, and in doing so, it forces the English observer to recognize the irrecoverable nature of aesthetic craftsmanship. Brought into violent contact with the creative potential of the mummy's hand, the characters in Stoker's novel try to disassociate the mummy from manual production but only succeed in confirming their own status as products of a mechanized age.