Phenomenologies of Art and Vision

Contemporary

discussions of the image like to emphasize art's societal functions. Few

studies come close to answering why pictures and sculptures fascinate and

intrigue regardless of any practical functions they might serve. In this

original, thought-provoking study, Paul Crowther reveals the intrinsic

significance of pictures and sculptures.

To address the

question of how painting becomes an art, Crowther uses the analytic philosophy

of Richard Wollheim as a starting point. But to sufficiently answer the

question, he makes an important link to a tradition much more successful in

giving voice to the deeper ontology of visual art - existential phenomenology.

The result is a work that demonstrates the

reciprocal relationship between phenomenology and analytic aesthetics. To

expand its ontological scope and solve the problem of expression, analytic aesthetics

needs phenomenology; while to develop a sustained, critically balanced, and

intellectually available ontology, phenomenology needs the discursive force and

lucidity of analytic philosophy. This convincing case for a post-analytic

phenomenology of art is an important advancement of contemporary discussions of

the philosophy of art.