Yes, I absolutely agree that we ought to take more than an artist’s intention into account when we judge the quality of an art work’s spirit. Here is Wolterstorff from "Art in Action":
"It seems to be a matter of linguistic practice for critics and others to speak only of ‘states of consciousness’, and even more narrowly, only of feelings and emotions, as being what objects are expressive of…But what must then be observed is that the aesthetic character of a work of art may bear relations of fittingness not only to states of consciousness, but to a wide variety of other qualities as well. Some of such fittingness is there by intent on the part of the artist, some not. But in either case, we have here a second way, closely related to the first , in which the artist is a worker in fittingness."
I like Wolterstorff’s way of talking about art in terms of fittingness. You can even apply this to taste. Dan’s parents prefer Keith Green to Marvin Gaye because it fits with their own experiences and outlook on the world. Perhaps what is called "spirit" is also a kind of communal fittingness.
grant
Dec 13 2007
02:21 pm
Yes, I absolutely agree that we ought to take more than an artist’s intention into account when we judge the quality of an art work’s spirit. Here is Wolterstorff from "Art in Action":
"It seems to be a matter of linguistic practice for critics and others to speak only of ‘states of consciousness’, and even more narrowly, only of feelings and emotions, as being what objects are expressive of…But what must then be observed is that the aesthetic character of a work of art may bear relations of fittingness not only to states of consciousness, but to a wide variety of other qualities as well. Some of such fittingness is there by intent on the part of the artist, some not. But in either case, we have here a second way, closely related to the first , in which the artist is a worker in fittingness."
I like Wolterstorff’s way of talking about art in terms of fittingness. You can even apply this to taste. Dan’s parents prefer Keith Green to Marvin Gaye because it fits with their own experiences and outlook on the world. Perhaps what is called "spirit" is also a kind of communal fittingness.