In art history, formalism is the study of art by analyzing and comparing form and style. Its discussion also includes the way objects are made and their purely visual or material aspects. In painting, formalism emphasizes

compositional In semantics, mathematical logic and related disciplines, the principle of compositionality is the principle that the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meanings of its constituent expressions and the rules used to combine them. ...

elements such as color, line, shape, texture, and other perceptual aspects rather than content, meaning, or the historical and social context. At its extreme, formalism in art history posits that everything necessary to comprehending a work of art is contained within the work of art. The context of the work, including the reason for its creation, the historical background, and the life of the artist, that is, its conceptual aspect is considered to be external to the artistic medium itself, and therefore of secondary importance.

History

The historical origin of the modern form of the question of aesthetic formalism is usually dated to Immanuel Kant and the writing of his third Critique where Kant states: "Every form of the objects of sense is either ''figure'' (''Gestalt'') or ''play'' (''Spiel''). In the latter case it is either play of figures or the mere play of sensations. The charm (''Reiz'') of colors... may be added, but the delineations (''Zeichnung'') in the... composition (''Komposition'')... constitute the proper object of the pure judgment of taste." The philosopher Donald Crawford has summarized Kant's position stating: "Thus, for Kant, form consists of the spatial... organization of elements: figure, shape, or delineation... In the parts of the ''Critique of Judgment'' in which form is emphasized as the essential aspect of beauty, Kant is consistently a pure formalist."

Contemporary definition

Nick Zangwill Nick Zangwill (born 1957) is a British philosopher and honorary research professor at University College London and Lincoln University. He is known for his expertise on moral philosophy (especially metaethics), and aesthetics (especially the ...

has defined formalism in art as referring to those properties "that are determined solely by sensory or physical properties—so long as the physical properties in question are not relations to other things and other times." The philosopher and architect

Branko Mitrovic (philosopher) Branko Mitrovic is a Serbian-Norwegian architectural historian and theorist who has backgrounds in both philosophy and architecture. Currently, he teaches history and theory of architecture at the Department of Architecture and Technology in the ...

has defined formalism in art and architecture as "the doctrine that states that the aesthetic qualities of works of visual art derive from the visual and spatial properties." According to the observation that works of art can in general contain formal properties and nonformal properties, the philosopher Nick Zangwill has delineated three types of formalism as they are encountered at the turn of the 21st century. First, Zangwill identifies ''extreme formalists'' who think "that all works of art are purely formal works—where a work is purely formal if all its aesthetic properties are formal aesthetic properties," then he defines ''anti-formalist'' thinkers as those who "think that no works of art have formal aesthetic properties."Zangwill 2001, p. 84. The third type which Zangwill identifies as representing the transition of the philosophy of aesthetics into the 21st century is that of ''moderate formalism'', where its principal exponents defend the principle "that all the aesthetic properties of works of art in a select class are formal, and second, that although many works of art outside that class have nonformal aesthetic properties, many of those works also have important formal aesthetic properties that must not be ignored."

Uses in art history

A formal analysis is an academic method in art history and criticism for analyzing works of art: "In order to perceive style, and understand it, art historians use 'formal analysis'. This means they describe things very carefully. These descriptions, which may include subjective vocabulary, are always accompanied by illustrations, so that there can be no doubt about what exists objectively".Review by: Clemency Chase Coggins of ''The Uses of Style in Archaeology'' edited by Margaret W. Conkey and Christine A. Hastorf, p. 233, ''Journal of Field Archaeology'', Vol. 19, No. 2 (Summer, 1992), pp. 232–34, Maney Publishing
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Notes and references

Sources

* Bell, Clive. ''Art.'' London: 1914. * Denis, Maurice. 'Definition of Neo-Traditionism.' ''Art and Criticism.'' August 1890. * Greenberg, Clement. 'Towards a Newer Laocoon.' ''Partisan Review.'' 1940.

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