Romanticism vs Formalism

For the task of viewing or judging art, art aficionados have come up many ways to judge art. One of way of viewing art comes from the formalism theory, this theory believes that art should be judged purely on form and rationality, art should not be judged on any emotional level, nor any historical or social context. Romanticism, another theory on how we should judge art, believes that art should be viewed as an expression of a feeling or a particular emotion. I personally have to argue with the romanticism theory, I believe it is the more plausible theory.

Explanatory breadth- Romanticism has more explanatory breadth than formalism because romanticism acknowledges the emotional aspect of works of art. They look at how artwork can emotionally affect each individual that views it. Formalism does not look at this aspect because they believe that art work should be judged or viewed solely on form or technique. They do not take into consideration the emotional aspect of works of art.

Explanatory Depth- Romanticism has more explanatory depth than formalism because it delves deeper in to art. Rather than looking at art in an abstract manner, completely rational, they look at art from a more emotional aspect. Romanticism believes that art can appeal to everyone through the emotional effect that an art piece can have on an audience. Each individual reacts differently to a piece of art, for example, some look at Van Gogh’s ‘The starry night’ painting and interpret from it a new life as the sunrises, others may see it as, not being alone in the world with all the stars in the sky. Emotion is an important part of viewing art, yet formalism neglects this emotional aspect of art. Formalism only skims the top part of works of art it does not go in depth to truly understand the importance of somewhat capturing an artist essence and not to look at art in an abstract manner. Romanticism goes into greater detail about the emotional aspect of art and how it important it is to an artwork being judged.

Simplify- Formalism has fewer parts than romanticism. Romanticism believes in emotion and feelings which varies from person to person. Anyone can release a painting or drawing and call it ‘art’ because they believe in the emotional aspect of art. For example a person can poorly draw their handprint on a piece of paper and it art. They might have an emotional attachment to it but can it be really viewed as art? Formalism gives a clear definition of how art should be viewed, in a purely abstract manner, all about form. Romanticism is a bit more complicated because it deals with such a subjective topic as emotion.

Conservatism- Romanticism is more current with our beliefs. Our society today is very much obsessed with emotion, a review of a music album is less about formal beauty or how the album is in an abstract manner but more about how it makes you feel. Same applies with art, most people critique art based upon how the artwork makes them feel versus critiquing it rationally. Formalism is not consistent with our current beliefs because the world of art has evolved so much, no one unless educated in the arts really critique an art purely in an abstract manner.  

1. Romanticism and formalism are the most plausible explanation of judging art.

2. Romanticism has much more explanatory depth and breadth whereas formalism has more simplicity.

3. Therefore, Romanticism is the best explanation of judging art.