Aesthetic Experience
The work and its public
There are objects in my environment. Not all are works of art, but some are. Somehow, my attitude towards the works of art must be appropriate, and if no appropriate attitude from the viewer is to be had, then the work of art suffers.
The Work and Its Performance
My own view of the work of art is perhaps a bit too static. My paradigm work of art is the painting. Now, of course we agree with Dufrenne that "the work must present itself to perception"(19). The various art forms have their different ways of presentation. For Dufrenne, I think the presentation is key to the being of the work of art. In addition, the paradigm of presentation is performance.
Aesthetic Object and Work of Art
We have seen that the aesthetic object is the work of art in proper disguise. That is, an object properly perceived. Dufrenne begins his discussion of the aesthetic object and the work of art by picking an
example. He has already said that he will just rely on the experts in deciding what is a work of art. There is no point to try to deny that there are any.
To me, in starting such a discussion
Introduction
In his introduction Dufrenne begins by consider how to begin. He distinguishes the type of aesthetic experience that is the province of the spectator from that of the creator and says that the aesthetic experience that will form his subject is the former.
Aesthetic Experience
This series will consist of a reading of Mikel Dufrenne's "Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience" and my commentary on that reading. I invite you to join me. You can read along if you have a copy of the book. But you may also participate by raising independent questions and telling us what you think. The book is available at amazon, and maybe some other places as well.
