What Is Art? Expressivism in Art

What Is Art? Expressivism in Art A definition of art would help to identify what art is in order for individuals to recognise and appreciate it, but there is controversy as to how to define art or whether art can be defined at all. It will become clear that features of what it takes to be art are not particularly simple to pinpoint. For example, the aestheticist would suggest that good art must look good, but it is not enough to say that something is art if it has the quality of being aesthetically pleasing. Beauty may apply to a large number of things that are not readily accepted as art, or on the contrary, not all art may be aesthetically pleasing at all. Furthermore, the aesthetic standard of art will only please a certain class of people. There are many conceptual definitions of art that attempt to outline the necessary and sufficient conditions required for something to be considered a work of art, though I will focus on the concept of expressivism as it proves to be the most convincing to me. I will set out to define art as understood by the expressivists Tolstoy and Collingwood, through which it will become clear that it takes much more than external features such as beauty to define art. Tolstoy makes some important contributions to the nature of expressivism, but exacerbates his views as he emphasises the significance of religion in defining art. It is here that Collingwood seems to have the edge, and the more appealing definition seems to be a combination of the benefits of both theories. I will therefore argue for the importance of having a definition of art, as although conceptual ones are tricky in themselves, it is equally as troubling to omit the use of a definition altogether. Expressivism largely deals with the fact that art connects with people via their senses. It defines art through the expression of emotion that is entailed by the artist in their artwork and the emotional impact that it has on the audience. To Tolstoy, something is art if it creates an emotional link between the artist and its audience, uniting them insomuch that the emotion portrayed through the artwork affects the viewer. It is true that every man has the capacity to receive, through hearing or sight, another mans emotions and feel those feelings himself, just as each man has the ability to affect another man through his expression of feeling, and Tolstoy infers that this is the heart of which the activity of art is based. But more specifically, the infection is characteristically indirect, in that it begins when one person, the artist, expresses through his artwork his emotion, which is communicated to the viewer through the artwork as a medium. As a simple example, Tolstoy describes a boy who encounters a wolf and feels fear. On experiencing this, he describes the experience to others in such a way as to arouse the fear that he experienced in himself and infect the avid listeners with the particular emotion. This analogy shares with art three distinct characteristics: individuality, clarity and sincerity. It is individual because it focuses specifically on one emotion, creating emphasis and increasing infection. It is clear because the emotion portrayed is pure and communicated without distraction, making it all the more infectious. Lastly, it is sincere because the stronger the artist or storyteller feels when communicating the emotion, the more infectious the feeling will be to the viewer. All three are important contributors to the quality of art, as the stronger the infection, the better is the art as art  [1]  . Tolstoy notes that many inaccurate definitions of art arise from that fact that they consider the pleasure that art gives, rather than the purpose that it serves in life and in humanity. To direct the aim of our endeavours at pleasure and to define it accordingly is like judging food based on the satisfaction of our tastes. Our taste buds are not an accurate basis for what can be universally known as good food, nor is beauty to good art. Hence, Tolstoy maintains that the concept of beauty when looking to define art simply confuses matters, and in order to define art accurately, it is necessary to avoid considering it as a means of pleasure, but rather as one of the conditions of human life that we use to interact and to communicate emotion between one another. So far, these discussions seem plausible as they allow for the objectivity of art and the basis of the definition to be intelligible and clear, rather than plainly aesthetic. Intelligent and clear expression of emotion enables us to grasp what is or is not art and maintains the meaning of art, otherwise any such expression of emotion could be defined as art and the definition steadily loses its meaning until it simply becomes a meaningless concept. But the strength of Tolstoys reasoning seems to falter at the part of the explanation that he deems most fundamental. Central to his argument, Tolstoy criticises the art of his era and infers that art had lost its true meaning to be exchanged for a counterfeit concept of art, which sought only to please those of a certain class. Real art is led by religious perception, which must be accepted in order to influence our understanding of feelings expressed through art. By religion, Tolstoy explicitly means Christianity, and it is declared that the best emotions communicated through art are those that appeal to Christian teachings of mans love for God and neighbour. Anything else, to Tolstoy, was insignificant art which aimed only at giving pleasureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (and) did not deserve such esteem and encouragement  [2]  . He likens the replacement of real art with counterfeit art to worshipping false idols in Gods place. To suggest that art has departed from religious influence and has therefore lost all meaning seems irrational and slightly hypocritical. He accuses counterfeit art of appealing only to a certain class of people, but to place a religious constraint on the value of art does not, as Tolstoy intends, unite the classes, but places exclusivity on art too. The overbearing problem here is that good art doesnt have to be religious, and rather than defining art objectively, Tolstoy seems to have defined it around his own moral and religious perspective. It seems particularly harsh to rule out those who dont conform to his own form of Christianity as being in error and thus cannot appreciate true art. As Tolstoy, Collingwoods conception of art holds that it is essentially an expression of emotion, though perhaps provides a more sophisticated account. So, as Tolstoy does, Collingwood recognises that the expression of emotion is familiar to every artist. The realisation of this emotion, however, is imminent though not discernible. The artist is conscious of feeling something though he may not immediately realise what it is, so he expresses it as a way of not oppressing it. It is not until he has expressed it, that he realises what emotion it is. Further, he lists individualisation as an important factor in the expression of emotion. There are names for the types of emotions that we experience: happiness, anger, sadness and so on, but these emotions also come in many forms. The happiness I may feel right now is different and distinct from the happiness I felt yesterday, or any other time. They are individual and not general. Collingwood illustrates this with the poet, who recognises the peculiarity of his emotions and makes efforts to individualise them by expressing them in terms that set them apart from other feelings of the same kind.  [3]  This distinguishes art from craft, craft being that which has a general aim, and however accurately attempts to describe it may be, will always be defined as the production of a thing having characteristics that could be shared by other things  [4]  . He illustrates this quite succinctly: the joiner could make a table out of specific pieces of wood, with specific measurements th at arent shared by any other table, but those factors could still, in principle, be shared by other tables. So the artist, in contrast, does not make, he creates ex nihilo. He does not aim to create an emotion in his audience but more specifically, an emotion of a certain kind. At this point, Collingwood introduces the third important contributing factor to the definition of art. To create art ex nihilo would suggest that it begins in the mind, as the artist creates the artwork as a means of expressing what he is feeling. Hence, the third factor of art is imagination. Collingwood provides an important account of pinpointing real art, as he necessitates that the role of a true artist is not to instil or arouse emotion in his audience, but to produce an artwork, so if a musician, make a tune. It is easy to think of the music as art, but this is a common mistake. The tune exists perfectly and complete when it is still imaginary in the artists head. It doesnt become real until it is played for its sound to be heard by an audience, but this is where the mistake is made. Collingwood maintains that there are two different and distinct things here and we often mistake the wrong one to be art. The music, or artwork, is not the assortment of noises played out by inst ruments, but rather the tune in the musicians head. As a result of distinguishing art from craft he upholds that expression is an activity of which there can be no technique  [5]  as unlike craft, art has no preconceived end, coinciding with Collingwoods view that the artist doesnt know what emotion he is feeling until he has expressed it. This is possibly the most troubling part of his theory as we often consider art to be a demonstration of great skill. Perhaps Tolstoy can even recognise that the artist is skilful in communicating his emotion to an audience in a way that the ordinary person cant. Good technique is consistent with helping artists express their feelings creatively, as the painter can communicate them much more effectively with the knowledge of different brush strokes to exhibit different visual effects, or the blending of different colours together to instil a variety of different moods in his artworks. It seems absurd to say that it is only thorough absence of technique that produces real art. To conclude, the benefits that we can take from the two expressivists is that art requires a definition in order to retain the meaning of what real art is, and that art serves as a medium for communicating emotions. It is true that we feel certain emotions that artwork seem to convey. It is also true that these emotions can be infectious, for example on listening to a particularly upbeat song, we may suddenly feel a sense of happiness. It is also true that emotions consist of many different forms. Happiness stretches from satisfaction to elation and it is perhaps the individuality of feelings that artists experience that contribute to the individuality and quality of artwork. Collingwoods distinction between art and craft is also quite key to the definition of art, as although both may require a certain level of skill, the artist is very much about expressing emotion through his skill while the craftsman is merely making for the sake of making. So on this basis, a combination of the benefits of both expressivist theories seems to provide a valid definition of art. With omitting the defects of both theories, it would seem easy to suggest that if art really is so difficult to define, then maybe it is a subjective concept, and what it is should be left for people to determine for themselves. But that isnt an adequate conclusion, as it makes for difficulty in talking meaningfully about art, or what one considers being good or bad art, as each will have a different idea of what art is. Further, to say that art is something that which cannot be defined is, in itself, defining it in a particularly unsatisfactory way, as it achieves nothing. It is for this reason that a conceptual definition of art is preferable to not having one at all.

3M Case Study

3M CASE STUDY Q1) Conservative Approach: Three Product Concepts * Mandate from management * Should not risk new process; Dunlop may use â€Å"revolution† against new method * Need to validate method at least once before basing major strategic decisions on it. * Not enough data yet to make such a drastic recommendation * Three concepts appear very promising and are enough of a â€Å"success† already. Radical Approach: New Business Unit Strategy * Team was charged with finding breakthroughs; Medical-Surgical business needs growth * Team is empowered and should report all relevant information. Fits the defiant 3M culture * Fits 3M’s new strategic mission even though Dunlop does not buy into it. Q2) Incrementalism worked well because it†¦ Has allowed for leveraging pre-existing product platforms such as Post-it notes and Scotch brand tape can reduce development costs while exploiting 3M’S pre-existing marketing channels and relationship. . . . Q3) Traditi onal 3M Development Process * Developers, in recent decades, lack direct contact with customers * Developers are not directly accountable for understanding customer’s needs. Marketing research is outsourced to third parties or â€Å"thrown over the wall† * Traditional methods are linear and tend to support primarily incremental innovations Lead User Research Process * Puts developers in direct contact with users * Focus on a few individuals (Lead Users and lead use experts) with extremely rich need and solution-specific information In lead user research, a considerable amount of time is spent in people networking in order to find the right ‘lead users’ to work with, as opposed to traditional market research methods which only collect information from users who are at the center of the target market Developers learn from users outside traditional business focus * -picked up from a market that is either loosely related or even unrelated to the target market as in the case with the makeup artist they use in the 3M lead user research group * Pushes developers toward leading edge with radical new concepts * Can be complement with traditional market research techniques (during validation) * Use traditional market research to check validity of research Lead users vs Leading-edge customersAs opposed to leading edge customers who provide need- related information, lead users provide need & solution information as they have innovated themselves. In traditional methods, marketers only seek to identify the problem, not necessarily the solution Companies may carry out focus groups and analyze customer complaints to find the issues. Later product developers analyze this research and use their own ideas to find possible solutions for a new product.Conversely, lead user research methods collect data on both the problem and the available solutions from markets that have similar needs. The development team then uses the ideas that were found in these markets and comes up with a set of possible new product ideas that suit the company’s needs based on ideas from the lead users and expertise†¦ meeting a real customer need Lead users can be found in target or analogous markets. Lead use experts in a target market are often useful in identifying †¦ Q4)Stakeholders| Incentives/Motives| Methods| Senior Management| Financial results| Demonstrate how breakthrough products can affect bottom line. Evidence from other firms. Allow senior managers to take credit for new innovation strategy| Middle Management| Employee ProductivityMotivationProject performance| Seminars, pilot studiesSenior management involvementRegular updates of progress| ScientistsEngineers| Ease or workEmpowermentFlexibilityInteresting work| Interaction with previous usersShare excitement and praise efforts. Trust them. |

Islamic Auditing and Conventional Banking

Auditing is an examination and verification of a company's financial and accounting records and supporting documents by a professional, such as a Certified Public Accountant. According to AlBaraka, Islamic bank is an institution that mobilizes financial resources and invests that money in an attempt to achieve pre-determined islamically – acceptable social and financial objectives. Both mobilization and investment of money should be conducted in accordance with the principles of Islamic Sha’riah whereas according to Ustaz Hj Zaharuddin (2007) stated that conventional bank operates based on debtor-creditor relationships.For example, it is between depositors (creditor) and bank (debtor); and borrowers (debtor) and the bank (creditor). Conventional bank maximize profit by charging interest to customers. On the other hand, Basu (2006) defines Audit report as â€Å"†¦ the document to which auditor convey his opinion about the fairness of the financial statements† . The audit report is one of the vital parts of communication used by auditors. The nature of the report must be clear and concise enough to be disclosed and communicated as its represents the auditor’s credibility as well as the degree of responsibility being undertake.Often the role of conventional auditor is to come up with a report examining the credibility of the financial statements and whether the financial statements are prepared in accordance with an applicable and relevant auditing standard. However, when referring to the auditor’s report of Islamic Bank or the Sha’riah supervisory report of an Islamic Bank, the scope of auditor’s report will be extended. This is because auditors for Islamic banks must also attest the compliance of the bank practice to that

American Foreign Policy in the 1890s Essay - 708 Words

American Foreign Policy in the 1890s American foreign policy during the 1890s was based on many factors that each acted as an individual justification for our country’s behavior as a whole. Racism, nationalism, commercialism, and humanitarianism each had its own role in the actions America took against other nations. Most Americans were extremely racist during this time period. The predominant culture in the country was white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestants, aka WASPs. They scorned the now free black people and all European immigrants that came to our nation. They gave anyone with the slightest differences a very hard time, whether they were citizens of America or not. If they did such things to their fellow countrymen, their reactions to†¦show more content†¦That’s where the humanitarianism applied. Americans figured that when they entered the smaller, weaker, foreign nations and practically took them over, that they were doing that nation’s people a favor, regardless of whether or not those people were content with their current lifestyle and government. This practice was basically the Americans’ way of rationalizing the fact that they were now becoming what they had been opposed to most, the Europeans. Nationalism also had a part. Much like racism, Americans felt their country was superior to all other countries. Maybe not in power or economy, but in morals. Americans had a very strong sense of pride in their country. They had defeated the British, one of the biggest world powers, to gain their independence, and they also proved to the world that they could thrive and live on. That gave them a very arrogant attitude, especially towards any type of action made by the Europeans. It directed their conduct to seem superior to all others. Americans were also driven by greed. 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