Art as Expression

Clinton Bronder

Subject: Art as Expression

Class reading: The Nature of Art: chapter 11

April 4^th, 2011

R.G Collingwood makes a number of claims concerning the characteristic of art. The one that grabbed me the most was his claim that art is an imaginary object. He claims that works of art do not exist in the physical world, that they are all present in the artists mind. How is this possible if we are used to seeing “art” all around us in museums, libraries, our homes, and even outside? According to Collingwood, we don’t. He explains that the physical pieces of art we see all the time are merely messengers of the art that is within an artist’s head. An artist will bring back to himself an emotion, feeling, or instance in his head. This, what is happening in his imagination, is the art. The paintings and sculptures we see are merely the artists attempt at relay the art to our imagination. The art though is not a perfect representation of what is going on in the artist’s head so it is not the art itself. I definitely respect the significance of the claim Collingwood brings up, as I am sure we have all experience this in one way or another. For example, we often have ideas in our head that we find hard to put into words. This is an example of the idea in our head (art) not being perfectly conveyed through communication (painting).