Structuralism in art criticism , what is structural criticism?

Structuralism in art criticism , what is structural criticism?

Why is structural criticism important?

A school of thought known as structuralist art criticism is concerned with the structures of art and how they can be used to analyze or comprehend a work of art. Alexander Luria, a student of the Russian philosopher Lev Vygotsky, they were the first structuralist to investigate how kids learn. They point out that while children pick up skills through imitation, they also gain knowledge through understanding how things operate. Structuralism examines how a piece of art functions as a whole, including how it interacts with other pieces in context, what its components are and why they are there, and what (if any) underlying meanings may be present.

The fundamental tenet of structuralism is that all forms of art, including painting, music, and literature, have observable, interpretable, and comprehensible structures. According to structuralists, this structure is more significant than the subject itself. By examining how color interacts with the other colors in the painting, whether it is used in contrast or complement, and other factors, they can, for instance, look at how color is used in the painting. If a figure is used in a painting or sculpture, they may examine it to see if it is based on a natural form or a man-made structure, like a building or a road.

The premise of structuralism is that all works of art share several characteristics. 

These incorporate:

(Work organization) Shapes.

Ideology (ideas and beliefs that are communicated through the work's form).

allusion (the message that a viewer might glean from the work's form, ideology, and other components).

Because it enables them to write about art in a way that makes sense to them and also allows them to connect with other critics who might share their ideas about the form of the works, structuralism has become very popular among critics. However, this can be seen in some paintings by Renaissance masters who used perspective to make figures appear larger than they were on canvas (or even smaller), demonstrating that paintings are often more about the artist's perspective of their subject matter than about the form of the actual subject at all times. Nevertheless, it also implies that when viewing a painting, one should consider how much of what they see is a result of perspective as opposed to how much of what they see is based on what they are aware of about reality.

Critique of art using a structuralist approach:

Structural criticism makes an effort to justify the inclusion or exclusion of various elements, the positioning of various elements, and other such decisions. The founder of structuralism was Roland Barthes, who proposed that artworks have a structure that can be discovered through analysis and that this structure is more significant than the work's actual content. To illustrate how people interpret and derive meaning from these structures, he also used examples from popular culture.



Imagine a row of squares to better grasp this idea. If you were to apply structuralism, this is how you would read the piece. You will examine each box and ask yourself what it represents: male or female, small or large, rich or poor. Using the answers to these questions, you can then identify the type of culture that was represented in the piece ancient Rome, contemporary America, or China as well as the type of social structure that is represented within each box.

A work of art's structure, according to structuralists, is what distinguishes it and gives it originality. They also think that regardless of the medium or subject, there are certain guidelines and patterns that all art should adhere to. For instance, if a painting's composition contains a variety of hues or shapes, it may be deemed to be "structurally complex.". The study of signs or symbols to comprehend how they work within a community is a technique used by structuralists and is known as semiotics. Because Vincent van Gogh used blue as his main color when creating The Starry Night (1889), one might use semiotics to analyze the work of art. The study of meaning through text-based analysis is known as hermeneutics, another technique used by structuralists.

What traits does structuralism possess?

Structuralism is a broad method of art criticism that emphasizes the connections among the components of a piece of art. The emphasis here is not on particular works or particular artists, but rather on how all the works are related to and interconnected with one another and how this affects how the observer understands the work. Structural critics disagree on how we should view the connections between elements in a work of art and how these connections alter our perception of the artwork when viewed from various angles, but they do not necessarily disagree on what makes something an artistic creation.

Structuralists believe that the meaning of a work of art lies not in what it shows, but in how it is composed. To understand a work of art, you must look at its parts: its shape, color, and other elements. And then you have to look at how those parts fit together and whether or not they're arranged in a way that makes sense. For example, a painting might show two people standing next to each other but still separated; This could either mean that they are enemies or that they are friends, depending on their relationship with each other. Structuralism helps us understand why some works of art are more successful than others: they make sense through their composition alone.

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