Topics Art

Question There seem to be two major assertions about how an artwork comes into existence: the first one considers the artist to have some kind of access to the "essence of truth" or something like that; the artist receives the idea in an inspirational moment and consequently creates the artwork on that foundation afterwards. The second assertion considers art to be the product of a huge mental or bodily effort. The second one is undermined by the statements of many artists. But what do you think about the first assertion? I'm not sure about refusing it right away.

Accepted:
April 22, 2010

Comments

Thanks for your question. Your question is at least as much one for psychology as it is for philosophy. The reason is that it is not quite about the definition of art, which is probably a strictly philosophical question; rather it is about the causal conditions under which art is created. In spite of that, it seems to me that the first theory you mention is equally well undermined by the experience of artists and others. For one, many conceptual artists don't think of themselves as being guided by inspiration at all; rather they'd say that's a defunct Romantic obsession. Instead, a conceptual artist might see her work as commenting on the practice of art itself, or getting us to be reflective about some aspect of our lives such as our use of consumer goods or the way that we structure our time. Again, an artist might have an idea, and then might need to put it through many stages and drafts to make something that seems to fly. Do we need to call this an inspiration or some access to an essential truth? If so, I don't see why any more than when I decide what to make for dinner we should describe me in similar terms. No doubt, some art is produced in light of a profound inspiration, but I don't see any reason to think that inspiration is essential to the production of art. For enlightening reading on the conceptual artists and their rejection of the Romantic and other traditions, you may enjoy Ursula Meyer's _Conceptual Art_. (Probably out of print, but available at good libraries.)

Mitch Green