Art as Experience

Based on John Dewey's lectures on esthetics, delivered as the first William James Lecturer at Harvard in 1932, Art as Experience has grown to be considered internationally as the most distinguished work ever written by an American on the formal structure and characteristic effects of all the arts: architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and literature.

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LibraryThing member Paul_S

Because this book is so far out of my comfort zone I gave it all the benefit of the doubt I could muster. I don't even disagree with most of it, it's just the author doesn't say all that much. A lot of the book is just one man's opinion on what art is. It's a word and its meaning is so vague you

can define it a million ways. Some definitions are more internally consistent than others and this one is just fine.

There is a lot being made of the fact that art becomes art only when perceived and how it's a form of communication, somehow special and better than others. No, it's not. There's also some complaining about utility taking precedence over beauty when it comes to craftsmanship and that's not a bad thing. Beauty is a proxy for utility (evolutionary genetics don't lie) so it's fine.

I general, it's very thin on arguments and very dense with thoughts - written almost like a stream of consciousness with no structure. At least we get chapter headings.

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