Description
We will read and discuss major contributions to aesthetics and philosophy of art in the phenomenological, hermeneutical and critical theory traditions.
Format
Very brief introductions/questions to/for each session, open discussion of the texts.
Goal
To gain “some” understanding of major 20th Century contributions to art and aesthetics.
Note
These sessions neither can replace a thorough study of the authors discussed nor do they go beyond the surface of their thoughts.
Time
Mondays, 11am-12:30pm, EST, Detroit
Zoom
The Zoom link will be distributed via email.
Texts
Texts will be sent out via email/pdf
Evaluation
Paper, submitted by the end of summer
Schedule (tentative)
Hermeneutics & Phenomenology
May 17, Gadamer
Gadamer, The Relevance of the Beautiful, pp.1-56 (essay)
Voluntary: Lotz, section on formed images in The Art of Gerhard Richter
May 24, Gadamer
Gadamer, The Relevance of the Beautiful, pp.74-83; 92-105; 105-116; 116-131
May 31, Cassirer
Cassirer, Art, in: Essay on Man, 176-217
June 7, Jonas
Jonas, Homo Pictor
June 14, Merleau-Ponty
Merleau-Ponty, Cezanne’s Doubt (in: The Merleau-Ponty Reader)
June 21, Merleau-Ponty
Merleau-Ponty, Eye and Mind (in: The Merleau-Ponty Reader)
Critical Theory
June 28, Benjamin
Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, in Writings, Vol.4
Voluntary: Adorno, Letters to Benjamin & Benjamin, Reply to Adorno (in: Jameson, Aesthetics and Politics)
July 5, Lukacs
Lukacs, Realism in the Balance (in: Jameson, Aesthetics and Politics)
Bloch, Discussing Expressionism (in: Jameson, Aesthetics and Politics)
Voluntary: Adorno, Reconciliation under Duress ( in: Jameson, Aesthetics and Politics)
Voluntary: Lotz, Husserl, Expressionism, and the Eidetic Impulse in Brücke’s Woodcut
July 12, Marcuse
Marcuse, The Aesthetic Dimension
Voluntary: Marcuse, The New Sensibility, in: An Essay on Liberation, ch.2
Voluntary: Marcuse, Letters to Chicago Surrealists, in Art and Liberation. Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse, ch.9
Wrap Up
July 19, Wrap up
Please prepare a 2-page reflection/question paper to be distributed by the end of Saturday, July 17
August 31
Paper due via email
Artists on Art [cancelled sessions]
July 26, BaconBacon, Interviews with Sylvester
Voluntary: Deleuze, Excerpts from Logic of Sensation
Voluntary: Lotz, Representation or Sensation? A Critique of Deleuze’s Philosophy of Painting
Bacon 2021: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/francis-bacon
Aug 2, Beuys
Beuys, What is Art?
Voluntary: Lotz, Art = Capital? Reflections on Joseph Beuys’ Das Kapital Raum 1970-1977
Voluntary: Lotz, Representing Capital? Mimesis, Realism, and Contemporary Photography
Watch Joseph Beuys – wie man dem toten Hasen die Bilder erklärt (Engl. Subs): https://youtu.be/z_VPN8M1SGw and https://youtu.be/oBNZUj1J1fE
Beuys 2021: https://beuys2021.de/en
Christian Lotz 