He selects material with a view to expression, and the picture is expressive to the degree that he succeeds. The description of the actual act of experiencing is drawn heavily from the biological/psychological theories Dewey expounded in his development of functional psychology. “They gesticulate, tumble and roll, each pretty much on his own account, with little reference to what others are doing.” This is contrasted with the “well-constructed and well-executed” play. Having an Experience Dewey: Page lw.10.42 Experience occurs continuously, because the interaction of …

Conversely, theories that simply focus on the act of expressing tend to see expression merely in terms of personal discharge. Art intensifies the sense of immediate living, and accentuates what is valuable in enjoyment. First, Richard Rorty turned analytic philosophy on itshead by advocating a return to pragmatism (Rorty 1979, 1982). Volume 10: 1934, Edited by Jo Ann Boydston Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. First Published: in John Dewey, Art as Experience, New York, Capricorn Books, 1939, pp. By contrast, a non-art drawing that simply suggests emotions through arrangements of lines and colors is similar to a signboard that indicates but does not contain meaning: it is only enjoyed because of what they remind people of. For example, the analogy of people seeing a building from a ferry. 581 0 obj <>stream Essentially, rationality alone can neither suffice to understand life completely or ensure an enriched existence.

it was and is a valid conception of a well-researched phenomenon.

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enduringly enacted, we may be sure, in spite of all practical failures, because they were immediate enhancements of the experience of living…delight in the story, in the growth and rendition of a good yarn, played its dominant part then as it does in the growth of popular mythologies today.Art and (aesthetic) mythology, according to Dewey, is an attempt to find light in a great darkness. Without this “intuited enveloping quality, parts are external to one another and mechanically related.” Art as Experience.

h�b``�d``�c`a`8a��π ��@Q�$��$���?uk�w��f����v���}Gh��޿�3�$���{ The Sun, the Moon, the Earth and its contents are material to form greater things, that is, ethereal things- greater things than the Creator himself has made.In Dewey, this statement can be taken several ways: the term 'ethereal' is used in reference to the theorists of idealist aesthetics and other schools that have equated art with elements inaccessible to sense and common experience because of their perceived transcendent, spiritual qualities. This patterning is related to Dewey’s earlier ideas on rhythm. Otherwise they would not be expressive, nor without the common substance could they possess form.” “An experience becomes mystical in the degree which the sense, the feeling, of the unlimited envelope becomes intense – as it may do in the experience of an art object.” Though this mystical quality may not be a common substance of all art objects, the sense of wholeness within the object and its relation to a background are. Dewey, John (1987). Dewey, then, opposes the idea that the meanings of the lines and colors in a painting would completely replace other meanings attached to the scene.

Energy pervades the work of art, and the more that energy is clarified, intensified, and concentrated, the more compelling the work of art should be. he knows as art is relegated to the_!nuseum and gallery, the unconquerable impulse towards experiences enjoyable in themselves finds such outlet as the daily environment provides. The experience may have been something of great or just slight importance. In the final paragraphs, Dewey summarizes the chapter.

Aesthetic experience cannot be sharply marked off from other experiences, but in an aesthetic experience, structure may be immediately felt and recognized, there is completeness and unity and necessarily emotion.

There would be nothing for the artist to be passionate about if she approached the subject matter without interests and attitudes.

A statement gives directions for obtaining an experience, but does not supply an experience. Art as experience.

In other words, the 'earth and its contents' could refer to 'human experience' being used to create art, (the 'ethereal things') which, though derived from the earth and experience, still contains a godly, creative quality not inherent in original creation. This is the philosophy of Shakespeare and Keats.John Dewey distinguishes between experience in general and "an" experience. This sense of wholeness, of all the parts of the work coalescing, can only be intuited.

For Dewey, an artwork clarifies and purifies confused meaning of prior experience.

The final import is intellectual, but the occurrence is emotional as well. Anyone who does his work with care, such as artists, scientists, mechanics, craftsmen, etc., are artistically engaged. And for the concept of time: transition, endurance, and date.

Art as Experience is not a book per se, but rather a rewriting of a series of lectures he gave on the "philosophy of art" at Harvard in 1931. He states that “there can be no distinction drawn, save in reflection, between form and substance.” For Dewey, substance is different from subject. The mere spewing forth of emotion is not artistic expression.


In this chapter Dewey examines several qualities that are common to all works of art. 548 0 obj <> endobj %PDF-1.6 %���� The qualities of order and balance in works of art follow from the selection of significant energy.

The process is essentially the same in scientists and philosophers as well as those conventionally defined as artists.