No Justification Required

Art for art’s sake was coined in the early 19th century by the French philosopher Victor Cousin. This phrase expresses the belief that art needs no justification and that it does not need to have a purpose (Britannica). In How Art Works, Ellen Winner, challenges the reader to consider the questions like “Can This Be Art?” (Winner 6). Other questions to consider are: "What is Art?” and “What do people think art is?" The answers to these questions are subjective. Literally, the definition of art is in the eye of the observer. Mark Rothko expresses that art is more than the object when he says:

"A painting is not a picture of an experience it is an experience" (qtd. Winner 3).

The next logical question is “Who is having the experience?”

The painter has an experience or journey while producing the image. While the observer experiences an emotion - or may like or dislike what they see. This idea that art is the experience can also be applied to music, poetry, and literature as well as the visual arts. The work of Mark Rothko provides an experience. His large swatches of color may cause the observer to ask: “Is this art?” And if it is art, how do we justify it and should we justify it? Rothko’s answer lies in the simplicity of the work:

"... the elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea, and between the idea and the observer".

The observer just needs to respond to the work.

It is possible that we do not need to justify art, except to say that art can be anything. The video, "The Case for Conceptual Art" suggests that the idea behind the art makes the object art. Winner states that "Art is one of the most complicated of human endeavors," and because it is complicated we can expect that the idea behind the art is just as complex. During the 19th Century, the Paris Salon would have rejected conceptual art because it did not reflect the values and attributes assigned to fine art. According to the jury for the Salon in Paris, what is viewed as art by artists like Marcel Duchamp would have been a mockery of the art world. This idea was echoed by British aesthetician Clive Bell when he said

Everyone in his heart believes that there is a real distinction between works of art and all other objects (qtd. Winner 6).

Marcel Duchamp contradicts this idea by taking found or acquired objects to create works of art, such as his sculpture, Bicycle Wheel.

Duchamp believed that any ordinary object could be elevated to the status of an artwork just by an artist choosing the object. The artwork is thus not the actual object by the idea behind it (Winner 7).

The majority of Modern Art would be considered conceptual art. As mentioned above, "the nineteenth-century salon critics (and jury members) reject[ed] works by impressionists", including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Camille Passaro. These artists became the founders of the Anonymous Society of Painters, sculptors, printmakers, etc. (Winner 8). This group of artists pulled together, creating their own exhibitions in competition with the annual Salon exhibition. During the 19th Century, these artists were rejected, however, during the 20th and 21st centuries, these artists have been recognized for their contributions. This includes their contributions to what art may be. If it provokes thoughts, feelings, or questions it may very well be art. All the arts (painting, music & literature) become a way to express the inner workings of both the artist and the observer.

Music has the ability to express emotions as well as the ability to express an idea. According to Susanne Langer:

...music expresses the subtle complexes of feeling that we cannot name [or describe with words] and that music reveals the nature of our emotional life in a far more nuanced and truthful way than language can reveal (Winner 33).

Because language can not fully express emotions, music becomes an important tool for expressing emotions and ideas:

... people can capture in words the emotions they perceive in music, and they agree with one another -- even though the words are just shorthand for the richer experience of the emotion in the music (Winner 34).

Music is powerfully expressive, especially if the musician is able to perform with emotion. It takes many years for a musician who is classically trained to play expressively because the techniques and theory are the focus of the instruction. It is the performer's connection to the music that contributes to how the music is expressed and felt.

References:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Art for art's sake". Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Jan. 2015, https://www.britannica.com/topic/art-for-arts-sake. Accessed 12 September 2021.

TEDxTalks, director. Emotional Responses to Music. Performance by Hauke Egermann, YouTube, YouTube, 2 Sept. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzFgoaZ9-VQ&t=1s.

Winner, Ellen. How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration. Oxford University Press.