On the Metaphysics of the Beautiful and Aesthetics by Arthur Schopenhauer

Scarlett Johansson oil painting hyperrealism - Stefan Pabst

On the metaphysics of the beautiful and aesthetics. I'll focus on one of the key ideas put forth by the great German philosopher in this essay. Here's a direct quote at the heart of his thinking:

"The image leads us immediately away from the individual to the mere form. This separating of the form from the matter already brings it that much closer to the Idea....And so it is essential to the work of art that it provide the form alone, without matter, and indeed do so manifestly and conspicuously."

We can immediately see the separation of form from matter in both the hyperrealist painting above and the Renaissance painting below (Sandro Botticelli).

But this whole "form separated from matter" can get a bit murkier when we turn to sculpture. For, as Schopenhauer observes:

"Now here lies the real reason why wax figures make no aesthetic impression and therefore are no artworks (in the aesthetic sense), even though when well made they produce a hundred times the deception of the best picture or statue, and therefore would have to take first place if deceptive imitation of the real were the purpose of art."

Dwayne Johnson and Dwayne Johnson Wax Sculpture

But what of hyperrealist sculpture? Is altering the form (making the human figure larger or smaller) sufficient to separate the form from matter? In other words, is a hyperrealist sculpture artwork in the aesthetic sense? Or, do these hyperrealist creations remain on the non-aesthetic level of wax sculpture? And what of hyperrealist sculpture made where the scale of the work is exactly the same, as in the art of Duane Hanson? Any and all reflections welcome.