On the appreciation of arts

Tintoretto. The Annunciation. From http://www.artunframed.com/

Any architect knows how difficult it is when we like a particular style and our clients want something different. I learnt to respect opinions on aesthetic, and carefully explain to them if something was wrong, from a professional point of view. I came upon with some nice words, from my book ¨Arguing about Art¨, in the article of Allen Carlson, page 155. They made me reflect there are different ways to consider buildings.

¨With art objects there is a straightforward sense in which we know both what and how to aesthetically appreciate. We know what to appreciate in that, first, we can distinguish a work and its parts from that which is not it nor a part of it. And, second, we can distinguish its aesthetically relevant aspects from its aspects without such relevance. We know that we are to appreciate the sound of the piano in the concert hail and not the coughing which interrupts it; we know that we are to appreciate that a painting is graceful, but not that it happens to hang in the Louvre. In a similar vein, we know how to appreciate in what ¨acts of aspection¨ to perform in regard to different works. Ziff says:

Hell. Hieronymus Bosch. From http://mapscroll.blogspot.com/

...to contemplate a painting is to perform one act of aspection; to scan it is to perform another; to study, observe, survey, inspect, examine, scrutinise, etc., are still other acts of aspection.

....I survey a Tintoretto, while I scan an H. Bosch. Thus I step back to look at the Tintoretto, up to look a the Bosch. Differente actions are involved. Do you drink brandy in the way you drink beer?

It is clear that we have such knowledge of what and how to aesthetically appreciate.¨