Here are a couple of quotes from the introduction: "I want to explain these works as plainly and directly as I can for those just starting to look and think about art." He dimisses postmodern views of art saying, "Central questions of quality, the relation between art and artists, and artistic process are often ignored altogether. ... Great art, while always linked closely to the society that produced it, transcends the narrow societal boundaries from which it springs."

2/20/2003

Well, now I have finished it. Cole's book is quite good for the beginner. Like most books on Western civilization he excudes mention of Byzantine, Arab, or Moorish contributions. Thus, there is a gap from the fall of Rome until the Italian Renaissance.

For Cole the central feature of Western art is change. Traditions are valuable as things to out grow or overthrow. As with science and democracy, experimentation and individualism are central. This helped me to come to terms with Pollock. I still do not like or see much worth in his work. Pollock's method "called for little of the disciplined, rigorous control and skill tradionally assoiated with [art]" (page 208) Pollock thought his random slashing were manifestations of the subconscious. But such Freudian notions have been rejected by science. Sometimes a drip is just a drip.

But, mistakes like Pollock's popularity are a necessary feature of Western, especially modern, art. The cold fusion and repressed memory syndrome fiascoes in recent science happened because science can only progress through trial and error. While error must be weeded out, error cannot excluded altogether without stifling progress.

While people must be free to make and buy bad art, this does not mean, to me at least, that there is no distinction between good and bad art, or that the distinction is wholely subjective. Free enterprise assures that many with great wealth will be lacking in taste and even education. If only college graduates where allowed to start businesses, we would not have MicroSoft or Dell. Why would some computer nerd have good taste in art? There is no need for me to doubt my taste because some lottery winner wants to throw money down the drain (or urinal). Granted I have much to learn, but there is no doubt that learning adds value.

2/24/2003

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