We humans make music – some of us think it is beautiful –
but this is subjective, and some humans may not find it beautiful. Aliens may
not find it beautiful. What then is beauty? It is an experience. To say
something is beautiful is to say “I experience a feeling of beauty when I see
or hear that “. There is probably even some kind of brain phenomena that could be
measured when someone experiences a feeling of beauty. Can animals sense beauty
as well? Perhaps in some way.
Ellen Terry
Julia Margaret Cameron
Beauty also has a historical context, such as art history exemplifies.
All art we experience is experienced in a frame of reference. To me, all art is
understood against the backdrop of art history. Many abstract works made today
may look like ones made in the 40’s but will not be worth as much money because
it is not part of that historical event though they are appealing.
Art
museums house pieces of art that are historical icons and relics. This is like
a church of sorts.
Is
photography art? It has been considered so. Today we all have cameras in our
pockets and are taking millions of pictures all the time. However, is it not
the camera that is making the image? Surely drawing yourself portrait in front
of the grand canyon is different than taking a selfie with your phone. In the past photography was much harder and
involved negatives, prints, chemicals, lighting…now your phone does it all.
Suffice to say if you had a machine that could paint a painting for you of a
view that you specify, I’m not sure anyone would be impressed with you, but they
would be impressed by the machine. But is the point of art to impress people or
to create something that impresses people?
The
question is loaded: surely most people think today that what “what is art” is
subjective. Many photographers would probably be insulted to have their art
questioned. Suffice to say, photography is visually appealing but it is its own
special form of art and cannot really be compared with other forms of art such
as drawing, painting and sculpture. Photographs are in art museums.
