Critics on the Formalistic Attitude to the Arts

When Immanuel Kant, in the third minute of his critique of the power of judgement, discussed the beautiful thing as something whose face and form have an infinite finality, the way was opened for proposing several ideas in the realm of art. One of these theories is formalism, which emphasizes the doctrine of artistic form and the harmonic design of an artwork that does not refer to anything other than itself. The formalists, who proposed their opinions based on Kant's opinions in the field of composition and the Gestalt design of an artwork, soon presented their views on the shape and form of the artwork. The concept of denotative form, which was proposed by one of the most influential formalists, Clive Bell, has formed the basis of formalist analysis. In the upcoming article, while introducing and analyzing the formalist approach to art, the criticism and pathology of this approach to art will be discussed. Since in the contemporary world, even in countries with a strong cultural background like Iran, when dealing with art, a formalist point of view appears in some way, the necessity of recognizing and criticizing this method is essential in order to familiarize researchers in the field of art.