Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 1 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation 4 From Colin Lyas. Chap. 3, “Nature’s Mirror.” Aesthetics. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, Representation remains commonplace 4 Why are representative images so powerful? 4 1. Inadequate senses of representation –(1) Representation as imitating What does Lyas mean by imitation?

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 2 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation Lyas’s objection to representation as imitation: little of art is mere imitation trompe l’oeil åUnswept Dining Room Floor åKen Davies, The Ken Davies TrompeThe Ken Davies Trompe anamorphosis åHolbein the Younger, The AmbassadorsThe Ambassadors å - detaildetail

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 3 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation –(2) Representation as copying How does Lyas distinguish between imitating and copying? Any position which holds that the copy is an exact replica assumes a view from nowhere (39). Comment: but does it?

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 4 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation Ernst Gombrich & Nelson Goodman’s critique of the copying model åThe creation of works of art is always as much making as it is re- presenting

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 5 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation –Lyas’s first conclusion: Representation in art is not principally about imitating & definitely not about copying Can the mimetic theory fit all art? –Abstract art, much of music & dance? –Response: But even non- representational art has some representational elements.

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 6 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation –And what about photography? Roger Scruton’s suggestion –What about fiction? Lyas’s “as if” suggestion

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 7 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation 4 3. Other critiques of representational art –Clive Bell’s critique of representational art In works of art, representation is always irrelevant; form is all that counts –Lyas’s response to Bell We often see form through representation

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 8 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation Form & representation are intertwined. –But Bell’s critique of representational has some value It proposes that we should not look at works of art as surrogates for the real thing; when art is representational, it must have some other function.

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 9 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation 4 4. Lyas’s position on the value of representation in art. Is he saying that this is what representational art is really about? –delight in the act of imitating itself Our attention in a representational work of art is [should be] on the act of imitating itself--the skill & the imagination which it requires (53).

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 10 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation –Delight in the wit & cleverness of imitation Rene Magritte’s Cette n’est pas une pipe CHECK trompe l’oeil –An effective way of expressing emotions

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 11 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Colin Lyas on representation 4 Comments –Is Lyas an essentialist with respect to constructing a theory of art? (See Lyas ) –Does Lyas reject representation as the essence of art?

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 12 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas –Virtues of representation delight in skill vehicle for expressing feelings & emotions

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 13 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas 4 The Aesthetic Movement –Wilde’s position on the autonomy of art reflects an intellectual movement in 19th century France & England called Aestheticism or the Aesthetic Movement –Roots in France in the 1820s - Théophile Gautier, Baudelaire, and later Flaubert.

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 14 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas –Earliest & most uncompromising version Works of art should be judged only by internal standards Any external purpose or function which art may serve should be counted as a defect

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 15 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas And art is the cause, the substratum, of all else (Walter Pater & Wilde’s version) åFor Walter Pater, aesthetic values are primary and override all other value, even moral ones. åThe aesthetic quest is the highest way of life a human can follow

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 16 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas åWilde - “People will give mup war when they consider it to be vulgar instead of wicked.” åWilde - it is better to be beautiful than to be good.

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 17 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas –More moderate version Although art of an earlier time may have been utilitarian, these works may today be taken as pure aesthetic objects A work of art should be valued for its purely internal & aesthetic qualities & not for its relationship to anything external

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 18 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas What are some of these internal qualities? Elegance, grace, balance, harmony, expressiveness, depth, atmostphere. 4 Critique –Aestheticisms position on the evaluation & appreciation of art is too restrictive E.g., Appreciating a Gothic cathedral

Closing reflections on mimeticism - Lyas - chap. 2 - slide 19 Closing reflections on mimeticism: Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas –What justification is there for making the aesthetic the basic causal factor and evaluative standard for everything else?