''Encyclopedia of Aesthetics'', published in 1998 by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, is an encyclopedia that covers philosophical, historical, sociological, and biographical aspects of Art and

Aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

worldwide. The second edition (2014) is now available online as part of

Oxford Art Online Oxford Art Online is an Oxford University Press online gateway into art research, which was launched in 2008. It provides access to several online art reference works, including Grove Art Online (originally published in 1996 in a print version, ''T ...

Information

Many prominent aesthetics scholars contributed.Silvers, 2000. The encyclopedia aimed to provide "a genealogy of aesthetics sufficient to integrate its philosophical and cultural roles, and that it contributes to a discursive public sphere in which multiple perspectives are articulated, dialogue fostered, and common ground constructed." The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics is considered to be the first reference work to survey artistic theory and art history from classical philosophy to contemporary critical theory, featuring over 600 articles that focus on many topics of art history including painting, sculpture, and the artistic and cultural aesthetics of world nations. The only comparable work is 25 years older: ''The Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas'' (New York, NY: Scribner, 1973–74), which had articles on aesthetics and other key topics, written from an interdisciplinary approach.Riedel, 1999. There are other contemporary works that deal with the aesthetics universe, but "from within their respective disciplinary frameworks"; they are: ''The Dictionary of Art'' (New York, NY: Grove’s Dictionaries, 1996) and ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (London, England: Routledge, 1998). The Encyclopedia was written from a comparative perspective, with the traditions of non western societies in view, and re-thought the critical assumptions of western aesthetics.Review by Giuseppe Patella Examples of such perspective are the entries:

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

; Black Aesthetic, African Aesthetics, Caribbean Aesthetics, Chinese Aesthetics,

Indian Aesthetics Indian art evolved with an emphasis on inducing special spiritual or philosophical states in the audience, or with representing them symbolically. Rasas in the performing arts The theory of rasas still forms the aesthetic underpinning of a ...

Japanese Aesthetics Japanese aesthetics comprise a set of ancient ideals that include '' wabi'' (transient and stark beauty), '' sabi'' (the beauty of natural patina and aging), and ''yūgen'' (profound grace and subtlety). These ideals, and others, underpin much of ...

, Islamic Aesthetics, Latin American Aesthetics;

Tribal art Tribal art is the visual arts and material culture of indigenous peoples. Also known as non-Western art or ethnographic art, or, controversially, primitive art, Dutton, Denis, Tribal Art'. In Michael Kelly (editor), ''Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. ...

; Dutton, Denis
Tribal Art
' in ''Encyclopedia of Aesthetics'', edited by Michael Kelly (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).

Jokes A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, ...

, Camp,

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

;

Anti-art Anti-art is a loosely used term applied to an array of concepts and attitudes that reject prior definitions of art and question art in general. Somewhat paradoxically, anti-art tends to conduct this questioning and rejection from the vantage poi ...

, Situationist Aesthetics; Gay Aesthetics, Lesbian Aesthetics; Law and Art, Moral Rights of Arts,

Cultural Property Cultural property does not have a universal definition, but it is commonly considered to be tangible (physical, material) items that are part of the cultural heritage of a group or society, as opposed to less tangible cultural expressions. They i ...

, Obscenity, Politics and Aesthetics, Morality and Aesthetics. The longest entry, 35 pages, is for

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

Notes

References

* Kelly, Michael (Editor-in-chief). ''Encyclopedia of Aesthetics''. New York, Oxford,

, 1998. 4 vol., pp. XVII-521, pp. 555, pp. 536, pp. 572; . * Riedel, Tom.
Review: Encyclopedia of Aesthetics
" Art ''Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America'', vol. 18, no. 2, 1999, pp. 48–48. * Silvers, Anita.
Achievement of Stated Goals; Cultural and Philosophical Missions
. ''The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'', vol. 58, no. 3, 2000, pp. 291–293.

External links

Reviews

*from ''

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism ''The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of aesthetics and art criticism. It was published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Society for Aesthetics American Soci ...

, Vol. 58, No. 3 (Summer, 2000):
Donougho, Martin
''II. Scope and Balance'' pp. 293–295
Davis, Whitney
''III. Historical and Art-Historical Coverage '', pp. 295–298
Moore, Ronald
''IV. The Encyclopedia as a Learning Tool'' pp. 298–302
Budd, Malcolm
''The Journal of Philosophy'', Vol. 97, No. 2 (Feb., 2000), pp. 94–99
Rowe, M.W.
''British Journal of Aesthetics'', Volume 42, Number 1, 1 January 2002, pp. 83–86(4) 10.1093/bjaesthetics/42.1.83
Woodfield, Richard
''The Art Bulletin'', Vol. 83, No. 3 (Sep., 2001), pp. 559–563 {{doi, 10.2307/3177243 English-language encyclopedias Encyclopedias of philosophy Aesthetics literature