Significant form

Significant form refers to an aesthetic theory developed by English art critic Clive Bell which specified a set of criteria for what qualified as a work of art.[1] In his 1914 Book Art, Bell postulated that for an object to be deemed a work of art it required potential to provoke aesthetic emotion in its viewer, a quality he termed "significant form."[2] Bell's definition explicitly separated significant form from beauty; in order to possess significant form, an object need not be attractive as long as it elicits an emotional response.[3]

Clive Bell

As Bell put it succinctly: "The important thing about a picture, however, is not how it is painted, but whether it provokes aesthetic emotion."[4]

References
  1. Tate. "Significant form – Art Term". Tate. Retrieved 2019-03-02.
  2. "Clive Bell | British critic". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  3. Fenner, David E. W. (2003). Introducing Aesthetics. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780275979072.
  4. Text of Art, p. 17. Gutenberg Project

Sources
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.