Aesthetic Activity, Aesthetic Activity and Modern Aesthetics, Aesthetic perception, Aesthetic taste, Aesthetic ideal, Aesthetic doctrine, Aesthetic view, Forms of Aesthetic activity, The Laws of Aesthetic Perception, Modern Aesthetics

1. Lecture 03
Aesthetics and Design-I
Part-A
AESTHETIC ACTIVITY
AND
MODERN AESTHETICS

2. Aesthetic Activity
Any human activity considered from the point of view of its
universal significance can be regarded as aesthetic
 The universal form of aesthetic activity is ‘creative work’
according to the laws of beautiful
 Art is the heart of aesthetic activity, but aesthetic is much
broader than art, it embraces labor, everyday life, culture,
….Gardening, landscape design, architectural design,
industrial design….
 Can be practical or artistic, as well as spiritual-cultural,
emotional and intellectual when it shapes aesthetic
impressions, notions, tastes and ideals, and theoretical when it
generates aesthetic doctrines and views

3. AESTHETIC ACTIVITY
levels
• Aesthetic perception
• Aesthetic taste
• Aesthetic ideal
• Aesthetic doctrine
• Aesthetic view
• Individual
• preferences
• standard
• society
• system of concept

4. Aesthetic perception and the formation of aesthetic
notions – means that the individual has understood
and absorbed that which is universally valuable in the real
world
Forms of Aesthetic activity
Aesthetic tastes – add up to a system of aesthetic
preferences and learning based on historically
conditioned aesthetic perceptions and notions
Aesthetic ideal - notion of harmony and perfection in life
and culture, standard and direction towards changing
the world….does not necessarily coincide with reality

5. Forms of Aesthetic activity
Aesthetic doctrine – historical experience of aesthetic activity
of a given society which has been theoretically interpreted
and formulated as a scientific system
Aesthetic views – system of aesthetic concepts
prevalent in a given society or one of its divisions which
determines its future aesthetic and artistic activity

6. • Aesthetic perception is creative activity which is directly proportional
to aesthetic pleasure which in turn is directly proportional to the order
and complexity of the art work, and the balance of diversity and
repetition
• The simpler an art work the less challenge it presents to the
perceiver and the lower the hedonistic potential
• The more complex the art work the greater perceptual challenge it
presents, putting it out of range of more recipients, but on the other
hand the greater effort required to perceive the work enhances the
artistic delight
The Laws of Aesthetic Perception

7. The Laws of Aesthetic Perception
Law by Birkhoff (American mathematician)
M = O/C
Aesthetic measure is
directly proportional to order (O)
inversely proportional to complexity (C)
 Less convincing….fails to cover all the aspects of the complex
phenomenon of aesthetic measure

8. The Laws of Aesthetic Perception
Law by Aysanck
M = O*C
Aesthetic measure is a product, and not a ratio of order and
complexity.
The intensity of perception and the pleasure derived are directly
proportional to the order (O) and
complexity (C) of the art phenomenon.

9. The Laws of Aesthetic Perception
General Futurological Conclusion
First, artistic culture is likely to see the growing trend towards
orderliness and greater complexity as well as simultaneous
increase of the two extremes: diversity and repetition
Second, the deepening of aesthetic impact on the individual will go
hand-in-hand with the broadening influence of art on the masses
covering wider social strata, involving them in the highest and
most complex forms of creative work

10. Two extreme traditions
Normative roleof aesthetics
Boileau, the theorist of neo-classicism – aesthetics is a science dictating to the artist
the norms and rules derived from philosophy and politics
Empirical roleof aesthetics
Hippolyte Taine, the French art critic – aesthetics should trace the facts of art and pin them
down
Both are unacceptable for modern
aesthetics

11. Modern Aesthetics
Vissarion Belinsky, Russian critic – ….not something thought up, an ideal which
can be made real only through aesthetic theory, but should view art as a
phenomenon….
Aesthetic does not exist to act as a check upon creative thought or to issue
prescriptions
For the artist its is like the Law of Archimedes for a sailor…….
Aesthetics is normative in so far as it sums up the laws
evolved by art itself…….laws of art are not absolute
either……can follow…reject…modify…take up
again….

12. Modern Aesthetics
Beethoven’swork is a radical departure from accepted
standards, his music was so unlike anything typical for his time that
contemporaries considered him insane!!

13.  practical activities in art and its
interpretation by history,
 the theory of art and art criticism.
Aesthetics bases its CONCLUSION
Modern Aesthetics

14. Thank you