Art by Clive Bell

 

Realistic rendering of waves pixelated into line and color

Published in 1914, Art by English art critic and philosopher Clive Bell (1881 – 1964) has been the subject of lively debates and controversy in the field of aesthetics for over 100 years - many point out logical flaws and limitations while many others emphasize its strength in approaching all the visual arts. For the purposes of my review I will hone in on what I see as the very heart of Bell’s theory by the below five quotes and five points:

“The starting point for all systems of aesthetics must be the personal experience of a peculiar emotion. The objects that provoke this emotion we call works of art. Every emotion produces a different emotion. But all these emotions are recognizably the same in kind.”

So, the emotional tone of our viewing each of the three Mark Rothko paintings below will be different, but, according to Clive Bell, each of our emotions share a kind of emotional common denominator, they are all one of a kind, they are what Bell calls our ‘aesthetic emotion’. Thus, we have Bell’s point #1: There is one distinctly aesthetic emotion and this aesthetic emotion is separate from all other types of emotions.



“And if we can discover some quality common and peculiar to all the objects that provoke the aesthetic emotion, we shall have solved what I take to be the central problem of aesthetics.”

Clive Bell’s want to apply rigorously logic, discovering and labeling the one essential quality common to all works of visual art that prompts our aesthetic emotion. He underscores his seriousness on this point when he says, “For either all works of visual art have some common quality, or when we speak of works of art we gibber.” So, point #2: All the visual arts contain one common feature that prompts an aesthetic emotion.

What is this quality? What quality is shared by all objects that provoke our aesthetic emotions? For Clive Bell, only one answer seems possible – ‘Significant Form’.

Point #3: Bell’s answer to what is essential for all works of art is what he terms ‘Significant Form’, meaning "certain forms and relations of forms" as well as "lines and colors combined in a particular way." For example, the composition of forms - the circles, triangles, rectangles - made up of the lines and colors in the below painting by Auguste Herbin would be the painting's Significant Form.



“The objects that provoke aesthetic emotion vary with each individual. Aesthetic judgments are, as the saying goes, matters of taste; and about tastes, as everyone is proud to admit, there is no disputing.”

Point #4: Although true works of art contain ‘Significant Form’, not everybody will have an aesthetic response to every work since, aesthetic judgements are subjective and a matter of taste. For example, I might be deeply moved by the Rothko paintings above while others may be left completely cold.

“A good critic may be able to make me see in a picture that had left me cold things that I had overlooked, till at last, receiving the aesthetic emotion, I recognize it as a work of art.”

Point #5: The good critic attunes our eyes and our feelings toward a work of art so we can see and feel the work’s ‘Significant Form’ for ourselves. Using only concepts and theories to convince us will be ineffective since we cannot be intellectually bullied into an emotional and aesthetic response.



Clive Bell was a big fan of Cezanne. You can see why - the painter was well on the way to transforming a mountain landscape into more abstract lines and colors.

Personally, I find Clive Bell’s ‘Significant Form’ theory appealing since all visual works of art throughout history, every culture, every age, contain both form and color. Although works of art can be appreciated on a number of other levels, color and form is one important aspect of all art. And the more we hone our appreciation for color and form, the richer will be our experience of the visual arts. 

Aboriginal Art - On one level deeply symbolic and religious art and, on another level, a work that can be appreciated for its form and color.