Delivering art pleasure with Maugham. Art as a source of pleasure
To answer this question, you need to look at where this idea came from, and what came of it.
So, this is the eighteenth century, and hell and cotton candy reign in art. The Baroque, which had already grown on the remains of the Renaissance, began to show a tendency to compensate for the lack of content with excessive decorativeness - but hardly any of its masters foresaw what was coming in the next century, huge, baby-like, in bows and with feathers, sparkles and powder, with cakes in one hand and a bucket of vomit in the other, a fat pink rococo.
Rococo was the main cult in the history of art of empty, senseless excesses for the sake of excess. Which in itself was symptomatic of the existing social system at that time, and the end of which was put not by someone there, but by the French Revolution.
So, against the background of all this, somewhere in Germany, a certain Gothold Ephraim Lessing writes: "The purpose of art is pleasure."
It would seem that the statement was an unequivocal approval of the current order of things - but no, it was thought in opposition, and here's why.
Lessing, as an advocate of rationalism, opposed art to science, which, according to Lessing, is the source of the only truth, and therefore must have a moral carte blanche for everything and everyone, while the ways of art, in order for it to function in the most correct way, can be regulated at a level, it's terrible to say , legislative.
In other words, both of these disciplines are being processed by life-giving utilitarianism, only one for some reason ends up in stocks. One could assume that Lessing was planning to beat the bahnhammer on the rococossy ogiralov, who actually reigns in Europe, for the sake of something a little more noble - but no, according to Lessing, any art that sets itself the goal of producing some additional emotions besides pleasure (like, for example, compassion), will inevitably be "lower" because it distracts from pleasure.
As a result, in fact, the rococo already imprisoned for pleasure is criticized by Lessing as still not enjoying enough, more it is permeated with unnecessary, according to Lessing, influences and conventions. Despite the fact that, in fact, the religious line has been pushed so far that it is not visible behind the curvy forms of the cupids, and the social line has practically not even appeared yet (although only twenty years remain before the Bastille was taken, and all the ingredients are already in place).
And in all this, it turns out, you need to reject conventions and enjoy even more.
Conventions and rejected - some even guillotined. Only art did not follow the tracks that Lessing had hoped for him. While ancient vows, corpses and gray, rainy funerals were depicted in France, the Germans suddenly discovered their own romanticism - the strict, Gothic, romanticism of solitary meditation on the insoluble aspects of life, manifested in nature, personality and in national myth.
The problem is that romanticism as a method is not only irrational, but also quite uncomfortable, since it involves constant tension without resolution. It would seem, according to Lessing, who needs such a fuck - however, German romanticism not only took root, but for the first time since the late Renaissance made the Germans feel that they had finally begun to do something of their own.
What conclusions can be drawn from all this? There are probably two of them. The first one is that the pleasure in art quickly outlasts itself, being refuted primarily by the artists themselves. And, probably, in the same way, epochs that are overly aimed at him are becoming obsolete. The second one is that rationalism and rationalism are no less obsolete when it transcends the framework of its utilitarian applications and begins to try to dictate the conditions of all human existence, thereby diminishing, first of all, human nature itself, capable of more than just seeking pleasure, and thinking more broadly, than just rational.
Which, of course, means something for you and me, but this is already a topic for a completely different question.
(437 words) Art appeared at the same time as man. In ancient times, cavemen painted various animals on the walls of their caves, this is how painting appeared. And such creativity had practical goals - the images were considered magical, attracting real animals. Today, many viewers and readers believe that the only goal of creators is to entertain the recipient. I believe that this is not so, because real art can hardly entertain, for it remains incomprehensible for centuries. Here are some examples to prove my point.
Yakov Matveyevich, the hero of the story by A.P. Chekhov's "Rothschild's Violin", all his life he was engaged in calculating losses, he was carried away by vanity and everyday life, in these little things all the years passed. This is a gloomy, unsociable person who did not harbor warm feelings for anyone. Almost before his death, he played a wonderful melody that not only touched his heart, but also inspired the flutist Rothschild. He inherited a violin from Yakov Matveyevich, began to play it with inspiration and look for that very melody. Music not only brought instant pleasure, but also changed the consciousness of Yakov Matveyevich, showed that life is good if you live in love and harmony. The hero did not understand art throughout his entire existence, he was entertained by completely different things, but at the end of his life, when it became necessary to summarize, he found them in the piercing cry of the violin, filled with meaning that young Yakov would not have been able to understand. Creativity is a very serious and complex thing that not every person understands, and it is not suitable for entertainment.
Another Yakov, the hero of the story by I.S. Turgenev's "Singers" is also distinguished by his musical talent, he sings beautifully. In his song and in his passionate, slightly broken voice, the whole broad Russian soul is visible. Yakov's listeners are visitors to the tavern, where he competes in the art of song with a rower, but they also immediately understand the scale of the music, hear something familiar, familiar and beautiful in it. However, after the end of the competition and the victory of Yakov, the whole company noted this well, and dance, hoarsely performed by the drunken Yakov, provided them no less pleasure. The song, performed with great skill, gives pleasure, but the main thing in it is that it touches the strings of the soul, echoes in it, makes you think about something intimate. That is why the rower lost: he simply amused the audience, but his opponent touched her to the quick. So the purpose of real art is not to meet human needs, but to go against the agenda and human needs, giving people more than just pleasure.
Of course, art causes aesthetic pleasure, but its goals are much deeper and higher than this consumer purpose. The perception of a truly beautiful work of art makes you think, rethink your life, elevates you above the ordinary. That is why it often remains incomprehensible, unnoticed, rejected, in contrast to the joys of life, which are available to absolutely everyone. That which only entertains, is loved and recognized by everyone, but the art that tears the soul is understandable and pleasant only to a select few.
Very often, turning to some work of art, we involuntarily ask ourselves the question: for what? What is this book written for? What did the artist want to say with this painting? Why did this piece of music affect us so much?
What is the purpose of creating a work of art at all? It is known that no other animal species, except Homo sapiens, can be the creator of art. After all, art goes beyond the simply useful, it satisfies other, higher human needs.
Of course, there is no one reason for creating different works of art - there are many reasons, as many interpretations.
According to the purpose of creating, works of art can be divided into motivated and unmotivated.
Unmotivated goals
You can often hear: "The soul sings!", "The words themselves are torn out!" and similar statements. What does this mean?
This means that a person has the need to express yourself, your feelings and thoughts... There are many ways to express. Have you ever seen inscriptions on a tree (bench, wall) with something like this: "Vanya was here" or "Seryozha + Tanya"? Of course you did! The man so wanted to express his feelings! You can, of course, express these same feelings in another way, for example, like this:
I remember a wonderful moment:
You appeared before me ...
But ... By the way, that is why children should be introduced to art from a very early age, so that their ways of self-expression are subsequently more diverse.
Fortunately, there are people with a rich imagination and a deep inner world who can express their feelings and thoughts in such a way that they will captivate other people, and not only carry away, but sometimes make them reconsider their own inner world and their attitudes. Such works of art can be created by people in whose souls there is instinctively harmony, a sense of rhythm, which is akin to nature. But Albert Einstein believed that the purpose of art is pursuit of mystery, the ability to feel their connection with the Universe: “The most beautiful thing that we can experience in life is mystery. She is the source of all real art or science. " Well, it is also impossible not to agree with this.
Leonardo da Vinci "Mona Lisa" ("La Gioconda")
And an example of this is "Mona Lisa" ("La Gioconda") by Leonardo da Vinci, whose mysterious smile can not be solved until now. “Soon it’s four centuries since the Mona Lisa has deprived everyone of their sanity who, having seen enough, begin to talk about her,” he said with a bit of bitter irony at the end of the 19th century. Gruye.
Imagination human is also an unmotivated function of art. What does this mean? It is not always possible to express in words what you feel. The Russian poet F. Tyutchev said it well:
How can the heart express itself?
How can another understand you?
Will he understand how you live?
A spoken thought is a lie.
(F.I. Tyutchev "Silentium!")
There is one more function of art, which is at the same time its goal: opportunity to address the whole world... After all, what is created (music, sculpture, poetry, etc.) is given to people.
Motivated goals
Everything is clear here: the work is created with a predetermined goal. The goal can be different, for example, pay attention to some phenomenon in society... It was for this purpose that the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's "Resurrection".
L.N. Tolstoy
Sometimes an artist creates his work asillustrations for the work of another author... And if he does it very well, then a new, unique work of another kind of art appears. An example is the musical illustrations by G.V. Sviridov to the story by A.S. Pushkin's "Snowstorm".
G.V. Sviridov
Works of art can be created and for fun: eg cartoons. Although, of course, a good cartoon does not just entertain, but necessarily conveys some useful emotions or thoughts to the audience.
At the beginning of the XX century. many unusual works were created, which were called avant-garde art. Several directions are distinguished in it (Dadaism, Surrealism, Constructivism, etc.), which we will discuss in more detail later. So the goal of avant-garde art was provoking political change, this art is assertive, uncompromising. Remember the poetry of V. Mayakovsky.
It turns out that the goal of art may even be health improvement... In any case, this is the opinion of psychotherapists who use music for relaxation, color and colors - to influence the mental state of the individual. After all, it is not for nothing that they say that a word can kill, but you can also save.
There are words - like wounds, words - like judgment, -
They do not surrender with them and do not take prisoners.
Word can kill, word can save
In a word, you can lead the shelves behind you.
In a word, you can sell, and betray, and buy,
The word can be poured into blasting lead.
(V. Shefner "Words")
There is even art for social protest- this is the so-called street art, the most famous variety of which is the art of graffiti.
The main thing in street art is to engage the viewer in dialogue and show your program of seeing the world, thinking. But here you need to be very careful: graffiti can be illegal and a form of vandalism if it is applied to buses, trains, walls of houses, bridges and other visible places without permission.
And finally advertising... Can it be considered art? To some extent, yes, because although it is created with the aim of promoting a commercial product by creating a positive attitude towards it, it can be performed at a high artistic level.
All the above-mentioned functions of art can exist (and exist) in interaction, i.e. you can, for example, entertain and at the same time secretly advertise something.
It should be noted that, unfortunately, one of the characteristic features of postmodern art (after the 1970s) is the growth of utilitarianism, a focus on commercialization, and unmotivated art becomes the lot of the elite. Why "Unfortunately"? Try to answer this question yourself.
By the way, let's talk about art for the elite. Now this expression has slightly changed its meaning. Previously, the "chosen ones" were considered to be people of the upper class, rich, able to buy beautiful and sometimes useless things, prone to luxury. It was for such people that the Versailles Palace or the Hermitage in St. Petersburg was built, with their vast collections collected by the richest monarchs in Europe. Such collections can only be afforded by the very wealthy, governments or organizations. But, to the credit of many of these people, they then transferred the collections they collected to the state.
I. Kramskoy "Portrait of Pavel Tretyakov"
Here we cannot help but remember the Russian merchantPavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, founder of the State Tretyakov Gallery, or president of the regional railway networkJohn Taylor Johnston, whose personal art collection formed the core of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York). At that time, artists strove to ensure that access to works of art was open to everyone: for people of any social status and for children. Now it has become possible, but right now the masses do not really need art, or they only need utilitarian art. In this case, people who are interested in unmotivated art that satisfy, as we said earlier, the highest needs of a person - the needs of the soul, heart and mind, already become "Chosen".
Art is the suggestion of a certain structure of thoughts and feelings, an almost hypnotic effect on the subconscious and on the entire human psyche. Often the work is literally mesmerizing. Suggestion (inspiring influence) was already inherent in primitive art. The Australian tribes on the night before the battle evoked a burst of courage with their songs and dances. Ancient Greek legend tells: the Spartans, exhausted by the long war, turned to the Athenians for help, they mocked the lame and frail musician Tirtheus instead of reinforcements. However, it turned out that this was the most effective help: Tirtaeus raised the morale of the Spartans with his songs, and they defeated the enemies.
Comprehending the experience of the artistic culture of his country, the Indian researcher K.K. Pandey argues that suggestion always dominates art. The main effect of folklore conspiracies, spells, weeping is suggestion.
Gothic temple architecture inspires the viewer with a sacred awe of divine majesty.
The inspirational role of art is clearly manifested in marches designed to instill courage in the marching columns of fighters. In the "hour of courage" (Akhmatova), the inspiring function of art takes on a particularly important role in the life of the people. This was the case during the Great Patriotic War. One of the first foreign performers of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, Koussevitsky, remarked: "Since the time of Beethoven, there has not yet been a composer who could speak with such force of suggestion to the masses." The setting for an inspiring influence is also inherent in the lyrics of this period. Such, for example, is Simonov's popular poem "Wait for me":
Wait for me and I will come back,
Just wait really hard.
Wait for the sadness
Yellow rains
Wait for the snow to sweep
Wait when it's hot
Wait when others are not expected
Forgetting yesterday.
Wait when from distant places
Letters will not come
Wait until you get bored
To everyone who is waiting together.
In twelve lines, the word "wait" is repeated eight times like an incantation. All the semantic meaning of this repetition, all its inspiring magic are formulated in the ending of the poem:
Do not understand those who did not wait for them,
As among the fire
By their expectation
You saved me.
(Simonov. 1979, p. 158).
It expresses a poetic thought that is important for millions of people torn apart by the war. The soldiers sent these poems home or carried them at their hearts in the pocket of their tunic. When Simonov expressed this idea in the screenplay, it turned out to be a mediocre work: the same topical theme sounded in it, but the magic of suggestion was lost.
I remember how Ehrenburg, in a conversation with students of the Literary Institute in 1945, expressed the opinion that the essence of poetry is in a spell. This is, of course, a narrowing of the possibilities of poetry. However, this is a characteristic delusion, dictated by an accurate sense of the tendency in the development of military poetry, which sought immediate effective intervention in spiritual life and therefore relied on folklore forms developed by centuries of artistic experience of the people, such as orders, vows, visions, dreams, conversations with the dead, appeals to rivers, cities. The vocabulary of incantations, vows, blessings, anachronisms of ritual turns of speech sound in the military verses of Tychina, Dolmatovsky, Isakovsky, Surkov. Thus, in the poetic style, the national, domestic character of the war against the invaders was manifested.
Suggestion is a function of art that is close to educational, but does not coincide with it: education is a long process, suggestion is one-step. The suggestive function in tense periods of history plays a large, sometimes even leading role in the general system of functions of art.
10. Specific function - aesthetic
(art as the formation of a creative spirit and value orientations)
Until now, we were talking about the functions of art, which “duplicated” by artistic means what other spheres of human activity do in their own way (science, philosophy, futurology, pedagogy, QMS, hypnosis). Now we will focus on completely specific functions inherent only in art - aesthetic and hedonistic.
Even in antiquity, the significance of the aesthetic function of art was realized. The Indian poet Kalidasa (about the 5th century) identified four goals of art: to arouse the admiration of the gods; create images of the surrounding world and man; to deliver high pleasure with the help of aesthetic feelings (races): comic, love, compassion, fear, horror; serve as a source of pleasure, joy, happiness and beauty. The Indian scientist V. Bahadur believes: the purpose of art is to inspire, purify and ennoble a person, for this it must be beautiful (Bahadur. 1956. P. 17).
The aesthetic function is an irreplaceable specific ability of art:
1) to form artistic tastes, abilities and needs of a person... Before the artistically civilized consciousness, the world appears as aesthetically significant in each of its manifestations. Nature itself appears in the eyes of the poet as an aesthetic value, the universe acquires poetry, becomes a theatrical stage, gallery, artistic creation non finita (unfinished). Art gives people this feeling of the aesthetic significance of the world;
2) value-orientate a person in the world (build a value consciousness, teach to see life through the prism of imagery)... Without value orientations, a person is even worse than without vision - he can neither understand how to relate to something, nor determine the priorities of activity, nor build a hierarchy of phenomena in the surrounding world;
3) awaken the creative spirit of the individual, the desire and ability to create according to the laws of beauty. Art awakens the artist in a person. It is not at all about awakening an addiction to artistic amateur performance, but about human activity, consistent with the inner measure of each object, that is, about mastering the world according to the laws of beauty. Making even purely utilitarian objects (a table, a chandelier, a car), a person cares about benefits, convenience and beauty. Everything that a person produces is created according to the laws of beauty. And he needs a sense of beauty.
Einstein noted the importance of art for spiritual life, and for the very process of scientific creativity. “For me personally, the feeling of supreme happiness is given by works of art. In them I draw such spiritual bliss as in no other field ... If you ask who is of greatest interest to me now, I will answer: Dostoevsky! .. Dostoevsky gives me more than any scientific thinker, more than Gauss! " (see: Moshkovsky. 1922, p. 162).
To awaken in a person an artist who is willing and able to create according to the laws of beauty - this goal of art will grow with the development of society.
The aesthetic function of art (the first essential function) ensures the socialization of the personality, forms its creative activity; permeates all other functions of art.
11. Specific function - hedonistic
(art as delight)
Art gives people pleasure and creates an eye that can enjoy the beauty of colors and shapes, an ear that captures the harmony of sounds. The hedonistic function (the second essential function), like the aesthetic one, permeates all other functions of art. Even the ancient Greeks noted the special, spiritual nature of aesthetic pleasure and distinguished it from carnal pleasures.
Preconditions for the hedonistic function of art (sources of enjoyment of a work of art): 1) the artist freely (= masterfully) owns the material of life and the means of its artistic development; art is the sphere of freedom, mastery of the aesthetic wealth of the world; freedom (= skill) is admirable and delightful; 2) the artist correlates all mastered phenomena with humanity, revealing their aesthetic value; 3) in the work, the harmonious unity of the perfect artistic form and content, artistic creativity gives people the joy of comprehending artistic truth and beauty; 4) artistic reality is ordered and built according to the laws of beauty; 5) the recipient experiences an attachment to the impulses of inspiration, to the poet's work (the joy of co-creation); 6) there is a play aspect in artistic creation (art simulates human activity in a playful way); the play of free forces is another manifestation of freedom in art, which brings extraordinary joy. “The mood of play is detachment and excitement — sacred or simply festive, depending on whether the play is enlightenment or fun. The action itself is accompanied by feelings of uplift and tension and brings with it joy and relaxation. The sphere of play belongs to all methods of poetic shaping: the metric and rhythmic division of the spoken or sung speech, the precise use of rhyme and assonance, the masking of meaning, the skillful construction of the phrase. And the one who, following Paul Valéry, calls poetry a game, a game in which one plays with words and speech, does not resort to metaphor, but grasps the deepest meaning of the word “poetry” itself ”(Huizinga, 1991, p. 80).
The hedonistic function of art is based on the idea of the intrinsic value of the individual. Art gives a person the disinterested joy of aesthetic pleasure. It is the self-valuable person who is ultimately the most socially effective. In other words, the intrinsic value of a person is an essential aspect of her deep socialization, a factor in her creative activity.
The author of this statement believes that art is created for pleasure. Its main task in the emergence of positive emotions, feelings of satisfaction in people. It raises the problem of the hedonistic function of art, as the most important in human life.
K2 Theoretical argument number 1
I find it difficult to agree with the point of view of S. Maugham.
After all, what is art?
And why did it appear?
From the course in social studies, I know that art is a practical human activity aimed at mastering and creating aesthetic values. There are different views on art in society. Some argue that art is just an imitation of nature, while others are sure that it serves the creative self-expression of the individual. The emergence of art is directly related to the performance of many different functions in society. The functions of art are: socially transforming, educational, aesthetic, etc.
Among them is the hedonistic function. She is responsible for giving pleasure.
Mini-total
In other words, art brings pleasure to people, but it is only one of the functions of art.
К3 Fact №1
For example, in the famous essay "On the Norm of Taste" D. Hume seeks to prove that the most important point is his "pleasantness" or the pleasure that we get from him. But this pleasure belongs to our feelings, and not to the essence of art itself, since receiving pleasure will depend on the tastes of the viewer.
Thus, I can conclude that the author's opinion is subjective. Indeed, for some, art is a way of consolation, for others an educational activity, and for some a pleasure.
Updated: 2018-02-19
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