Art and Beauty (Thesis Included). Visual and Performing Art.

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Art and Beauty
"This is so beautiful!" – a statement often made by everyone in as diverse contexts as applies to different objects. In everyday life, beauty, as an ideal cherished by millions, is framed, applied, and reused uncritically. Understandably, people making a judgment about any given object, present or in reference, are not by any means "experts" nor are free enough to apply "strict" principles of beauty to such an object. The judgments people, i.e., laypersons vs. "experts, make do change, however, for any given set of factors. If anything, an object – say, a portrait of a woman hanged up a wall for decades – could, for one generation, count as "beautiful" yet, for a next-generation, as "so and so" or, more critically, "not up to standards." The mere change of one factor, i.e., Time, is enough "justification" to render an object, once beautiful (for a given group of people), not so in a different generation. In art, beauty, as a question of critical analysis, is much more complex. In contrast to "lay" judgments, art "experts" apply "established" principles of beauty to any given object under investigation. The history of art – and, for that matter, criticism of art – is as ancient as mankind is and, as such, art – and beauty of artistic works – has always been a matter of constant evaluation, development, and change. The reversal in critical opinions on any given piece of art, object, school, or artists is common enough in art history and criticism to make any "solid" and "consistent" judgment across generations, schools of art, artistic preferences, commercial considerations, and many more factors at play futile. Instead,
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beauty, as a question of and for art, is a matter open for constant and pluralistic evaluations. To
understand ways beauty is at play in art, a closer examination is required of what beauty is – and,
for that matter, what constitutes art initially. This paper aims, accordingly, to explore beauty as a
central notion informing matters of judgment on works of art.
In judging a work of art, laypersons and critics, each in a different way, indulge in a dilemma expressed by Juliet yet for love. That is, in judging a work of art as "beautiful" (a generic designation used by laypersons) or as "of aesthetic value" (a refined designation used by art critics and "experts), laypersons and critics undergo a dilemma of naming similar to Juliet's once finding out Romeo is a Montague:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself [emphasis added]. (Shakespeare, 1.2. 885-896)
Thus, in judging a work of art as "beautiful" viewers, laypersons, or "experts" identify some
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external reference in...