Art as imitation, expression or creation
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Flip to reveal answersThe three theories of what art does?
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Question
The three theories of what art does?
Answer
Imitation (copying reality), expression (putting the artist's feeling into a form), creation (making something genuinely new).
Question
Plato on art (imitation)?
Answer
Art is a copy of a copy (mimesis), twice removed from truth — suspect, and it can make lies look beautiful.
Question
Why was Plato suspicious of art?
Answer
It imitates reality without understanding it, and by stirring feeling it can mislead us.
Question
The Romantic / expression view?
Answer
Art expresses the artist's inner feeling rather than copying the outside world.
Question
Tolstoy on art?
Answer
Art is the transmission of feeling: the artist feels something, forms it, and the audience catches the same feeling.
Question
Art as creation?
Answer
Art brings something genuinely new into the world — a form that copies nothing and isn't just the artist's private feeling.
Question
Why does no single theory of art win?
Answer
Each fits some art and misses other art; imitation can't explain music, expression can't explain a cool geometric design.
Question
Plato vs the Romantics — the flip?
Answer
Plato looks OUTWARD at what art copies; the Romantics look INWARD at what the artist feels.
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Full study notes for Art as imitation, expression or creation
Topic 2.1 hub
The nature of art
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