Creating & Understanding Drawings

Aesthetics

In this Art Quest you will have the opportunity to get a better understanding of aesthetics. In learning how the subject, composition, and content of an artwork relate to aesthetics, you will visit various museums, including the National Gallery of Art, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and the Carnegie Museum of Art.

What is aesthetics? Aesthetics is the study of the nature of beauty and art.

What is beautiful?

Is the following piece of art beautiful? Why or why not?
Luminous Tree, 1917
Charles Burchfield

Are the trees in the following work of art beautiful? Explain your answer.
Road and Trees, 1962
Edward Hopper

Is the field in sunlight in the following piece of art beautiful? Why or why not?
Corn Hill (Truro, Cape Cod), 1930
Edward Hopper

Is late afternoon sunlight beautiful? Why or why not?
Sun Glitter, 1945
Charles E. Burchfield

Are the houses in the following pieces of art beautiful? Why or why not?

Railroad Spring, 1933
Charles E. Burchfield

Haskell’s House, 1924
Edward Hopper

Taste is a personal matter. The clothing you like may differ from the clothing that your parents like. This doesn’t make anyone wrong or right. It is simply differences in taste.

When we talk about art, we refer to different “aesthetic views” to talk about these differences in taste. An aesthetic view is an idea or school of thought on what is most important in a work of art.

What do you think is most important in creating a good work of art?

Making it look real, or lifelike?
Successfully using the elements and principles of art?
Having an important idea to communicate?

Subject
When the most important goal in creating an artwork is to make it look very real and convincing, we call that having a subject view. A work’s subject is an image viewers can easily identify.
Look at this painting again:
Haskell's House, 1924
Edward Hopper

What would someone with a subject view think of this painting?

Composition
A second aesthetic view of art is the composition view. In this view, the most important factor in an artwork is its composition. The composition is the way the principles are used to organize the elements of art.

Take another look at this painting:
Railroad in Spring, 1933
Charles E. Burchfield

Look closely. Would you say that the artist had a subject view or a composition view? What facts would you use to support your opinion?

Content
A third aesthetic view is the content view. Content in an artwork refers to the message, idea, or feeling expressed by a work of art. If you believe that expression is most important in an artwork, then you are taking the content view.

Look again at the following painting. Do you think that the artist is trying to express a feeling or idea in it? If so, what? Do you think that content is the most important factor in this painting? Why or why not?

Sun Glitter, 1945
Charles E. Burchfield

Test Yourself!
Go back and look at the paintings by American artists Edward Hopper and Charles Burchfield. See if you can classify each painting according to an aesthetic view. Be ready to support your opinion with your observations of each painting.