On Art and Artists: An Anthology of Diderot's Aesthetic Thought (eBook)

John S. D. Glaus, Jean Seznec (Herausgeber)

Denis Diderot (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2010 | 2011
VIII, 191 Seiten
Springer Netherland (Verlag)
978-94-007-0062-8 (ISBN)

Infos

Chance ordained that Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was not only a philosopher, playwright and writer, but also a salonnier. In other words, an art critic. In 1759, his friend Grimm entrusted him with a project that forced him to acquire 'thoughtful notions concerning painting and sculpture' and to refine 'art terms, so familiar in his words yet so vague in his mind'.

Diderot wrote artistic reviews of exhibitions - Salons - that were organized bi-annually at the Louvre by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. These reviews, published in the Correspondence Littéraire, were Diderot's unique contribution to art criticism in France. He fulfilled his task of salonnier on nine occasions, despite occasional dips in his enthusiasm and self-confidence.

Compiled and presented by Jean Szenec, this anthology helps the contemporary reader to familiarize himself with Diderot's aesthetic thought in all its greatness. It includes eight illustrations and is followed by texts from Jean Starobinski, Michel Delon, and Arthur Cohen.

'On Art and Artists' is translated by John Glaus, professor of French and an amateur expert of the XVIIIth century.

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Chance ordained that Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was not only a philosopher, playwright and writer, but also a salonnier. In other words, an art critic. In 1759, his friend Grimm entrusted him with a project that forced him to acquire "e;thoughtful notions concerning painting and sculpture"e; and to refine "e;art terms, so familiar in his words yet so vague in his mind"e;.Diderot wrote artistic reviews of exhibitions Salons that were organized bi-annually at the Louvre by the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. These reviews, published in the Correspondence Litteraire, were Diderot s unique contribution to art criticism in France. He fulfilled his task of salonnier on nine occasions, despite occasional dips in his enthusiasm and self-confidence.Compiled and presented by Jean Szenec, this anthology helps the contemporary reader to familiarize himself with Diderot s aesthetic thought in all its greatness. It includes eight illustrations and is followed by texts from Jean Starobinski, Michel Delon, and Arthur Cohen. On Art and Artists is translated by John Glaus, professor of French and an amateur expert of the XVIIIth century.

Inhalt

Contents 6
Introduction 10
Notes 19
Definitions 21
Beauty 21
Beauty Is the Perception of Relations 21
Beauty in Nature and Art 22
God and the Artist 23
Beautiful Nature and the Ideal Model 24
False Art 28
Art and Pantomime 29
The Sublime 30
Style 31
Genius and Inspiration 33
What Is Genius? 33
A Composed Genius 34
Inequalities of Inspiration 35
The Drawing and the Finished Work 36
Views on Sculpture 36
Difficulties of Sculpture 36
Its Limits and Its Merits 37
The Sculptor’s Temperament 39
Views on Architecture 39
Architecture, Mother of the Arts 39
Architecture and Location 41
Architecture and Its Destination 41
The Condition of Art 44
Emulation and the Virtue of Public Exhibitions 44
One Should Institute a Contest 44
On a Same Theme for Artists 44
Luxury 45
Sane Wealth, Which Comes from Agriculture, is the Only One Which Is Useful to the Fine-Arts The Spendthrift Buyer Degrades Them45
The Collectors 48
They Reduce the Artist to Slavery 48
They Keep for Themselves Works That Should Be Displayed for Public Enjoyment and Education and to Inspire Competition 48
They Dispise Taste by Prefering Minor Scenes and Belittling the Great Ones 49
Climate and Costume 50
The Academic Model 50
The Positive Philosophical Intellect 52
The Ruin of the State 54
Criticism 55
Can a Literary Person Be an Art Critic? 55
His Ignorance of the Vocation Appears to Prohibit Him 55
How Diderot Taught Himself, Due to His Functionas a Salonnier 56
Contained Within the “Ideal” Part of Art, Can the Literary Person Be the Better Judge than the Artist Himself 56
The Artist Recognizes Implicitly the Superiority of the Writer on This Point 58
The Idea and the Way to Do It. Diderot Purveyor of Subjects 59
Priority of the Idea 59
Diderot Thinks as a Painter 59
He Also Knows to Conceive as a Sculptor 60
He Can Improve the Artist’s Concept as Well as Guide Him 62
Qualities of a Critic 63
Imagination and Memory 63
Sensibility 64
The Pleasure to Praise 64
Indulgence 65
Frankness and Charity 65
Opinion and Posterity 66
History 69
The Great Style 69
The Sword or Bellone Presenting His Horses’ Reins to Mars 72
Paganism and Christianity 73
Christian Characters Are Lacking and Spiteful However the Great Masters Ennoble Them by Borrowing from Ancient Characters75
Two Summits of Religious Painting of the Eighteenth Century 76
Modern History 80
Why Painters Are Not Amenable to Modern History 80
Diderot Proposes a Subject in Modern History 82
Allegory 82
The Triumph of Justice 83
The Process of Description 84
Comparison 84
Dialogue 85
The Dream 87
Grimm 88
Diderot 88
Grimm 89
Diderot 89
Grimm 89
The Countryside 90
The Qualities of a Landscape Artist 90
The Complete Landscapist 90
The Intelligence of Light 91
A Morning After the Rain 92
Prelude to a Storm at Sunset 92
Artificial Nature: Boucher 93
The Shepherds of the OPÉRA-COMIQUE 93
Another Pastoral Setting 94
Same Grandeur, Same Form and Same Merit as the Preceeding One 94
In Boucher’s Defense 94
Nature and History 96
Praise for Vernet 96
How Poussin Raises a Landscape to the Dignity of History 97
The Picturesque: Loutherbourg 98
Battles, Ruins and Shipwrecks 99
The Painter of Battles Must Be a Poet and Dramatist 99
The “Poetry” of Ruins 100
Moral Associations 100
Romantic Shipwrecks 102
The Portrait 105
The State and Appearance 105
La Tour’s Ideas 105
The Usual Expression 106
Concerning Ones Own Portrait 108
Portraits and Models 108
The Portrait and History 109
The Downfall of the Portrait 110
The Type 112
True Subjects 112
The Russian Baptism 114
Feigned and True Moral Painting 115
Baudoin 115
The Feelings of Love and Nature, Allowing Time for Necessity 115
Greuze 117
The Type and History 120
Anecdotal Necessity 120
The Respective Merits of the Historical Painter and the Scene Painter Their Differences Are Those between Poetry and Prose121
Still Life 124
Chardin 124
Ideal and Technique 126
Diderot in the Painter’s Space 128
The Averted Look: Diderot and the Boundaries of Representation 153
Composition According to Diderot 165
The Ambiguties of Definition Concerning Composition Within the Encyclopédie 167
Planning as Guarantee to Comprehension 170
Planning as Value-Added Interest to a Painting 172
Composition as Unifier 175
Composition as Determinant of the Artist’s “Must” 180
An Enlightened Aesthetic 184
As Conclusion 186
Notes 187

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.12.2010
• Zusatzinfo: VIII, 189 p.
• Verlagsort: Dordrecht
• Sprache: englisch
• Original-Titel: Denis Diderot: Écrits sur l'art et les artistes
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Malerei / Plastik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Geschichte der Philosophie
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Philosophie der Neuzeit
• Schlagworte: Aesthetics • Art criticism • Arts • Diderot • Encyclopédie • Salonnier • Salons
• ISBN-10: 94-007-0062-8 / 9400700628
• ISBN-13: 978-94-007-0062-8 / 9789400700628