Although various aesthetic themes have preoccupied many major philosophers, from Plato to Goodman, the central questions of the philosophy of art have remained ill-defined. This book gives a concise and systematic account of the leading philosophical ideas about art and aesthetics from ancient times to the present day, and goes on to propose a new theory of aesthetic satisfaction and artistic abilities.

In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder organises his discussion of crafts according to the raw materials they utilize. However, scholarly literature has paid little attention to the aspect of materiality, preferring to focus on the biographies and achievements of ancient Greek artists. This collection instead addresses the presentation of artistic processes and their materials in the Natural History. This approach corresponds with current developments in the study of Greco-Roman art, wherein scientific analysis of artistic materials including stones, pigments, and metal alloys, as well as a deeper understanding of workshop practices, has imposed profound changes on the methods used in the study of ancient artefacts.

Presents a theory of art which is at once universal in its general conception and historically-grounded in its attention to aesthetic practices in diverse cultures. Argues that art, especially today, enjoys a special kind of autonomy but that it has, nevertheless, important social and political responsibilities.

Publisher Description

No single factor determined the growth of this book. It may have been that as a novice researcher in Behavioral Psychology I experienced growing discontent with the direction of intellectual activity in which the accent was on methodology and measurement, with a distinct atmosphere of dogmatism, insecurity and defensiveness. The anathema of tender-mindedness was attached to any study of mental manifes tations that avoided laboratory confirmation and statistical significance. Man in his uniqueness and unpredictable potentialities remained un explored. Yet outside the systematic vivisection of variables and their measurement men of originality and genius were studying the mind in its complex yet natural interaction of aspirations, values and creative capacities. It was almost too easy for me to turn to them for the re orientation of my psychological interest, and it was not difficult to find in Freud the most daring and penetrating representant of humanistic psychology. Furthermore, it could have been the fact that Freud's thoughts on creative processes appeared to me at once starkly original and yet incomplete and fragmentary, that led me to reconsider and expand on them. Freud's fascination with culture and creativity, although frank and serious, led him to a peculiar indecisiveness and overcautiousness which was radically different from the dramatic boldness of his thera peutic methods and the depth of his personality theories.

An elderly caretaker at a large outdoor exhibition, called Art in Nature, finds that a couple have lingered on to bicker about the value of a picture; he has a surprising suggestion that will resolve both their row and his own ambivalence about the art market. A draughtsman's obsession with drawing locomotives provides a dark twist to a love story. A cartoonist takes over the work of a colleague who has suffered a nervous breakdown only to discover that his own sanity is in danger. In these witty, sharp, often disquieting stories, Tove Jansson reveals the fault-lines in our relationship with art, both as artists and as consumers. Obsession, ambition, and the discouragement of critics are all brought into focus in these wise and cautionary tales.