People have judged art for many years, but the two theories
that stuck out from past centuries until now is formalism and romanticism. The
aesthetic theory of formalism says that people should judge art solely based on
what the critique sees in front of them, the shapes and colors that bring the
piece together. They do not believe that art should be judged based on the
emotion it brings to you or the meaning the artist was trying to bring to life
when he or she did the artwork. On the other hand, the theory of romanticism
says that yes art should be judged on what is the form and rational elements
which the artwork contains but it should also be judged based on the emotion a
person gets when they see or hear a piece of art.
In terms of explanatory breadth, the theory of romanticism is
able to explain many different phenomena unlike formalism. Romantics do not
limit their theory to just one area of how art should be judged, they considers
all aspects of what should truly make something art. While formalists are so
stringent with their regulations of what should make something art, that they only
believe that something should be classified as art solely based on the pleasure
it beings you and how beautiful it is. Formalism pushes aside the fact that
when people hear or see certain things, they feel something; whether it be
happiness or grief, pain or pleasure.
Romanticism elucidates some of the aspects of art in greater
detail than formalism. Romanticism goes deeper in to the true meaning of art. A
work of art should make you feel some form of emotion and it should make you
wonder what they artist wanted you to get out of it. Formalism just want you to
judge a work of art on what you see. But you shouldn't judge a book by its
cover, because it may look like something on the outside but when you open it,
it may mean something totally different.
Formalism has fewer parts to it than Romanticism, therefore
it is has more simplicity to its theory. Formalism only has two way that are
should be judges, while Romanticism has more than two ways. Formalism is more
appeasing to the eyes because of the lack of word content and reasoning in it.
Instead of giving more ways to how art should be judged they just stick with
the simple form while romanticism explains it in full detail.
The generation we live in has become more technology based
and evolved than past generations.Instead of just sitting around for hours on hours getting your picture drawn you could easily take up your phone and take a picture, edit it and call it a day The theory which the romantics bring is more
with our generation because it doesn't just view art as one thing because
nowadays art come in many forms and brings on many emotions to people.
Romanticism is more conservative than formalism. Formalism is just basing their
theory off of what is done with a pencil and paper. Romanticism theory is less based on our current beliefs than formalism
1. Romanticism and Formalism are the
most plausible explanations of how art should be judged.
2. Romanticism has more explanatory
breadth and conservatism, whereas Formalism has more simplicity.
3. Therefore, Romanticism is the best
explanation of how art should be judged.
I do agree that our society has become more technologically orientated; we use cameras to make art work, for example. However, I believe at the Romanticism is more conservative for different reasons. Today, human beings are more or less obsessed with emotions because they are such a big part of our life, including our decision making and thought processes, for example. Since Romanticism explains art work that includes a wide variety of emotions that humans experience daily, I find it to be more conservative. Formalism is less conservative because it lacks the ability to explain art work that depicts emotion. When we view art, we want to be able to connect with what the artist was creating, and formalism has a hard time of doing this since it solely focuses on pleasure and beauty; not all art is pleasurable or beautiful, and nor is life. With that being said, Romanticism is more conservative, in my opinion, because it focuses on a wide variety of emotions that we are able to relate to.
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