| |
| author |
Méa Rose St. Amour
| | title |
Expression Through Depiction: An Analysis of Aesthetic vs. Contextual Qualities
| | abstract |
In this thesis I analyze what it is that makes a work of art expressive, and how this expression can be translated
across art forms. I utilize music, poetry, and the visual arts to explore this. Frank Sibley makes a distinction
between aesthetic and artistic qualities, which I use to analyze expression. I refer to them as aesthetic and
contextual qualities. Aesthetic qualities include the purely sensible components of an artwork, such as line,
rhythm, or movement. The contextual qualities include any surrounding information relevant to the artwork,
such as the title, reference to a historical event, or known symbolism. I have created two collections of
illustrations based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem The Day is Done, and Frédéric Chopin's Prelude
No. 4 in E-minor. These two collections of illustrations explore the ways in which aesthetic and contextual
qualities play a role in translating expression. I place these three art forms on a scale ranging from contextual
to aesthetic, based on the idea that language is our primary form of communication. I consider poetry to be
the most contextual. I place non-lyrical music furthest towards the aesthetic as this is the most abstract or
least literal of these three art forms. Lastly, I place the visual arts in between because of our reliance on visual
symbols as a secondary form of communication. Beyond these classifications I relate what it is like to work
from these sources. While working from the poem I was compelled to depict expression using aesthetic
qualities. Conversely when working from the music I was inclined to use contextual symbols. This suggests
a tendency to create work that relies on contextual qualities when working from an art form that is heavily
aesthetic, such as music, and to make work using aesthetic qualities when working from a highly contextual
piece such as poetry. I draw a parallel between the dependent relation of these two qualities, aesthetic and
contextual, to that of Beauty and Truth, as discussed by both Hans Urs van Balthazar and Leo Tolstoy. I
conclude that the aesthetic and the contextual rely on each other, in the same way that the beautiful and the
true do. For something to be beautiful it must be true. Likewise, truth needs beauty for truth to be embodied
and understood.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2020)
|
| advisor |
Rebecca Soderholm
|
| full text | MRStAmour.pdf |
| |
