Feeling and Form: A theory of art derived from Philosophy in a New Key
Langer, Susanne K. K. Feeling and Form: A Theory of Art. New York: Scribner, 1953. Print.
SummaryEarly in the text, Langer criticizes the pragmatic approach to philosophy for its reduction of the human and aesthetic experience. Langer calls philosophy a systematic study that can be generalized. She characterizes art as the creation of forms symbolic of human feeling (40), and views aesthetic forms as not static, but rather temporal in nature. Langer argues that rhythm is present in all art forms, not only in music. It is “the setting-up of new tensions by the resolution of former ones” (127). The presence of rhythm allows us to “sense a beginning, intent, and consummation, and see in the last stage of one the condition and indeed the rise of another” (127).
She says that every work of art involves abstraction from actuality (which becomes a created realm of illusion), plasticity (the capacity of being manipulated in the interests of expression), and expressiveness (where the symbol became transparent). When an object is completely full of semblance it is then a virtual object, or illusion (49). Langer argues that art form creates a virtual reality in the images of objects it produces. For example, the space in a painting is not the real space of the canvas; it is the virtual/imagined space--the space the viewer sees. The time in a piece of music is not the literal time it takes to hear it, but the virtual time--the time the listener experiences (virtually) while hearing it. Langer concludes by saying that art is an illusion, which is created by something physical, such as sound. ResponseLanger defines art as “the creation of forms symbolic of human feeling.” This means that art, as a form, is much more than a subject matter. Actually, if art is form, it cannot be defined as a subject matter.
If art is a symbol, it must symbolize what it does between it and what it refers to. This is like language. However, art doesn't symbolize objects, like words do. Art symbolizes the form of feelings/emotions--the "rhythm of life." Art is composed of many symbols--symbols that lack conventional meaning. This makes conversations about interpreting art with friends so complex and fascinating. Connections/QuestionsLanger's view that every work of art involves abstraction from actuality (which becomes a created realm of illusion) is intriguing to me, and it reminds me of Heidegger's ideas regarding embracing the abstractedness, or what he calls the "stellar course of mystery" (12). He suggests that instead of fixating on tangible, concrete answers, we should instead embrace the ambiguity and leave our questions open-ended in order to seek the essence of what we are questioning. This seems to be what Langer is getting at regarding how we talk about and view art as form.
While researching the connection between Langer and Cassirer (I noticed she dedicated her book to him), I learned this: "Suzanne Langer had learned from the German philosopher Ernst Cassirer a way of thinking about aesthetic experience that recognized it as conveying meaning through what they called non-discursive symbolism--symbolism that doesn’t depend on the logical discourse of language and the thinking behind it, that is, in conveying its meaning and impact. And they recognized the need to engage in creating non-discursive symbols of that kind--in effect, works of art" (Cahill). Langer calls philosophy "a living venture" (6). This reminds me of Bakhtin's view of living language. |
Key Quotes
“Art is the creation of forms symbolic of human feeling” (40).
"The tonal structures we call 'music' bear a close logical similarity to the forms of human feeling [...] Music is the tonal analogue of emotive life" (27).
"Shall we judge a work of art as an utterance, giving vent to its author's feelings, or as a stimulus, producing sentiments in the spectator?" (18)
"[A] symbol is used to articulate ideas of something we wish to think about, and until we have a fairly adequate symbolism we cannot think about it" (28).
"A complex symbol such as a sentence, or a map [...] is an articulate form. Its characteristic symbolic function is what I call logical expression. It expresses relations; and it may 'mean'--connote or denote--any complex of elements that is of the same articulate form as the symbol, the form which the symbol 'expresses'" (30-31).
"An image is, indeed, a purely virtual 'object.' Its importance lies in the fact that we do not use it to guide us to something tangible and practical, but treat it as a complete entity with only visual attributes and relations" (48).
"Philosophy [...] is the study of the conceptual framework in which all our propositions, true or false, are made" (3).
Philosophy "is a living venture" (6) and philosophical questions function "to increase not out knowledge of nature, but our understanding of what we know" (6).
"A work of art is often a spontaneous expression of feeling, i.e., a symptom of the artist's state of mind" (25).
"The fundamental technique of expression--language--is something we all have to learn by example and practice, i.e., by conscious or unconscious training" (39).
"Every real work of art has a tendency to appear thus dissociated from its mundane environment. The most immediate impression it creates is one of 'otherness' from reality--the impression of an illusion enfolding the thing, action, statement, or flow of sound that constitutes the work" (45).
"[T]he true power of an image lies in the fact that it is an abstraction, a symbol, the bearer of an idea" (47).
"The function of 'semblance' is to give forms a new embodiment in purely qualitative , unreal instances, setting them free from their normal embodiment in real things so that they may be recognized in their own right, and freely conceived and composed in the interest of the artist's ultimate aim--significance, or logical expression" (50).
"In art forms are abstracted only to be made clearly apparent, and are freed from their common uses only to be put to new uses: to act as symbols, to become expressive of human feeling" (51).
"[S]tructures, or forms in the broad sense, must lie in some intellectual dimension in order to be perceived" (55).
"[W]hat art expresses is not actual feeling, but ideas of feeling; as language does not express actual things and events but ideas of them" (59).
"A work of art is far more symbolic than a word" (59).
"A form that exemplifies permanence, such as a fixed line [...], yet symbolizes motion, carries with it the concept of growth, because growth is he normal operation of those two principles conjoined in mutual dependence" (66-67).
"Space as we know it in the practical world has no shape [...] it has a 'logical form'" (71).
"The harmoniously organized space in a picture is nit experiential space, known by sight and touch [...] This purely visual space is an illusion, for our sensory experiences do not agree on it in their report" (71).
"Being only visual, this [visual space] has no continuity with the space in which we live; it is limited by the frame" (72).
"Expressiveness has endless degrees" (79).
Music is "the illusion begotten by sounds" (107).
Musical motion "is something entirely different from physical displacement. It is a semblance, and nothing more" (108).
"Plastic art, like all other art, exhibits an interplay of what artists in very realm call 'tensions.' The relations of masses, the distribution of accents, direction of lines, indeed all elements of composition set up space-tensions in the primary virtual space" (370).
"[B]y virtue of our thought and imagination we have not any feelings, but a life of feeling" (372), which Langer calls, "a stream of tensions and resolutions [...] The symbolic power of music lies in the fact that it creates a pattern of tensions and resolutions" (372).
"The tonal structures we call 'music' bear a close logical similarity to the forms of human feeling [...] Music is the tonal analogue of emotive life" (27).
"Shall we judge a work of art as an utterance, giving vent to its author's feelings, or as a stimulus, producing sentiments in the spectator?" (18)
"[A] symbol is used to articulate ideas of something we wish to think about, and until we have a fairly adequate symbolism we cannot think about it" (28).
"A complex symbol such as a sentence, or a map [...] is an articulate form. Its characteristic symbolic function is what I call logical expression. It expresses relations; and it may 'mean'--connote or denote--any complex of elements that is of the same articulate form as the symbol, the form which the symbol 'expresses'" (30-31).
"An image is, indeed, a purely virtual 'object.' Its importance lies in the fact that we do not use it to guide us to something tangible and practical, but treat it as a complete entity with only visual attributes and relations" (48).
"Philosophy [...] is the study of the conceptual framework in which all our propositions, true or false, are made" (3).
Philosophy "is a living venture" (6) and philosophical questions function "to increase not out knowledge of nature, but our understanding of what we know" (6).
"A work of art is often a spontaneous expression of feeling, i.e., a symptom of the artist's state of mind" (25).
"The fundamental technique of expression--language--is something we all have to learn by example and practice, i.e., by conscious or unconscious training" (39).
"Every real work of art has a tendency to appear thus dissociated from its mundane environment. The most immediate impression it creates is one of 'otherness' from reality--the impression of an illusion enfolding the thing, action, statement, or flow of sound that constitutes the work" (45).
"[T]he true power of an image lies in the fact that it is an abstraction, a symbol, the bearer of an idea" (47).
"The function of 'semblance' is to give forms a new embodiment in purely qualitative , unreal instances, setting them free from their normal embodiment in real things so that they may be recognized in their own right, and freely conceived and composed in the interest of the artist's ultimate aim--significance, or logical expression" (50).
"In art forms are abstracted only to be made clearly apparent, and are freed from their common uses only to be put to new uses: to act as symbols, to become expressive of human feeling" (51).
"[S]tructures, or forms in the broad sense, must lie in some intellectual dimension in order to be perceived" (55).
"[W]hat art expresses is not actual feeling, but ideas of feeling; as language does not express actual things and events but ideas of them" (59).
"A work of art is far more symbolic than a word" (59).
"A form that exemplifies permanence, such as a fixed line [...], yet symbolizes motion, carries with it the concept of growth, because growth is he normal operation of those two principles conjoined in mutual dependence" (66-67).
"Space as we know it in the practical world has no shape [...] it has a 'logical form'" (71).
"The harmoniously organized space in a picture is nit experiential space, known by sight and touch [...] This purely visual space is an illusion, for our sensory experiences do not agree on it in their report" (71).
"Being only visual, this [visual space] has no continuity with the space in which we live; it is limited by the frame" (72).
"Expressiveness has endless degrees" (79).
Music is "the illusion begotten by sounds" (107).
Musical motion "is something entirely different from physical displacement. It is a semblance, and nothing more" (108).
"Plastic art, like all other art, exhibits an interplay of what artists in very realm call 'tensions.' The relations of masses, the distribution of accents, direction of lines, indeed all elements of composition set up space-tensions in the primary virtual space" (370).
"[B]y virtue of our thought and imagination we have not any feelings, but a life of feeling" (372), which Langer calls, "a stream of tensions and resolutions [...] The symbolic power of music lies in the fact that it creates a pattern of tensions and resolutions" (372).