The Kandinsky’s Position in the Quarel between Form and Content*

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, Allame Tababa’I University, Tehran

2 M.A in Philosophy of Art, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, Allame Tababa’I University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Abstract
In the second half of the nineteenth century, visual art distances itself from mimetic realism and relies upon art form, or from another perspective, on the abstracted form of concrete and tangible world and thus paves the way for the emergence of modern abstract painting. Abstraction in art can be examined critically by various methods and styles. This happens due to the fact that in abstract painting the tangible- wordly objects give up theire place to the element of painting, namely colour and form. However in general, the critical study of abstract art divides into two basic approaches: the first one, deals with formalistic view in aesthetic and the second one, with the aesthetic of substantial contentism. It could be said that formalism is rooted in Kant’s view regarding the disinterested object and the notion of purposiveness without purpose. The formalistic viewpoint expanded by post Kantian theorists including Fiedler, Hildebrandt and Wolfflin who shared a belief  that according to wich, the aesthetic  emotion drive nearly from the form of art and the form itself is the content. Aganits the formalistic view there is the Hegelian substantial aesthetic. According to Hegel artistic form at best express the internal content of art. Hegelian theorists emphasizing the expressive quality of art believe that the development of styles and forms in art results from the differences arised by Geist. With attention to these approaches some questions will be brought up regarding Wassily Kandinsky one of the pioneers of abstract art: was Kandinsky quite apart from the intellectual and artistic environment of his time, which made him the cause of these great developments in art? Is the emergence of abstract painting rooted in the theory of aesthetics? Can we find the common points between abstract painting, particularly Kandinsky’s works and ideas, and theorists and philosophers who have reflected on art? Does he belong to any of these groups? Could be cinsidere his works among the contentists creation, or they are merely the beautifull plays of colour and form? Considering that this paper is about Kandinsky, who apart from the creation of paintings, developed his special art theory and left several books and papers, it seems possible to seek the answers to these questions. Accordingly, by addressing philosophical tradition German idealism, the present paper searches for the origins of abstract art and thereby takes a deep look on Kandinsky’s ideas, and based on these thoughts, tries to explain Kandinsky’s and views. This article is an attempt to examine each of these approaches and it mainly focuses on Kandinsky’s thoughts regarding the quarrel between form and content. At the end of this paper, it will be clear that the above mentioned intellectual traditions are influential in understanding and explaining Kandinky’s theory of abstract art. Also it will be revealed that unlike existing theories, abstract art is not merely the result of mystic traditions, but rather it is in the light of historical and analytical perspective to philosophical traditions that we can gain better understanding about the nature of the formation of abstract art.

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References

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