Benedetto Croce (1866-1952) was an outstanding Italian philosopher who lived during the first half of the 20th century. In 1903, he started ‘La Critica’, a journal of cultural criticism. He published nearly all of his writings and expressed his critical views on history, philosophy and art and literature that was produced in Europe at the time. According to Croce,
“The foundation of La
Critica marked the beginning of a new period in my life, the period of maturity
or harmony between myself and reality.”
Croce rendered great service in moulding the character of the
Italian citizens. Even the then Prime Minister of Italy, Count Camillo Benso Di
Cavour once remarked, “Having made Italy, we must make Italians.” La Critica
took up that task.
CROCE’S THEORY OF EXPRESSIONISM:
Expressionism is the most important and influential aspect of
all his philosophical ideas which he developed during his life time. He is of
the view that all art is essentially expressive. Expressionism is a movement of
art in which the artist aims at self-expression “without the least regard for
the feelings of the audience.”
The followers of this movement believed that the moment the
rules and norms from outside are imposed on the artists, they cease to be the
artists. They further said that the children should not be taught to draw.
Teaching lessons would plant artificial plant in their minds. Teaching art
hinders their original impulses; it destroys their power of expression.
TWO KINDS OF REALITY:
There are two kinds of reality – external and internal.
Hence, there are two kinds of the world – one which we see with our physical
eyes (external world) and the other which is in our mind (impressionistic,
internal world).
TWO FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE:
Knowledge can be in two forms – intuitive and logical. We
recognize this world through logic, through our five senses.
We also know and
recognize this world through our intuition or intuitive knowledge.
Intuitive knowledge
comes from within whereas intellectual knowledge is developed from outside. In
this respect, Kant, a modern philosopher rightly said, “All human knowledge
begins from intuitions.” For these philosophers, the intuition only is the
reality.
EXPRESSION OF INTUITION:
Croce contrasts intuition with impression. According to him,
all intuitions must find proper expression within the mind itself. He writes:
“Every true intuition
or representation is, also, expression.”
The intuition which does not objectify itself in expression
is not intuition at all. For example, when a painter feels something and
receives some impressions in his mind, it is not art. It is only when the
painter feels something and expresses in its completeness within his mind. In
Croce’s philosophy, art is nothing but intuition or the expression of
impressions (within the mind).
DEATH OF THE CRITIC:
If we agree with the above view, it creates a danger for the
vocation of the critics. The job of the critics is to examine, interpret and to
take judgment about the external art which he sees with his own eyes. Croce
says that art does not have any physical form. The moment the artists tries to
express or externalize his impressions, he ceases being an artist. Art exists
only within the mind, when it appears on a piece of paper, it is not an art.
Hence, criticism has no place and no role to play.
LIMITATIONS OF CROCE’S THEORY:
Croce forgets that the main business of an artist is to
communicate his vision of life, his sense of beauty. If the artist does not do
this, what is his role in the society? A number of artists and painters tried
to follow Croce’s theory and presented useless and ugly things which they
called their own vision.
CONCLUSION:
Let’s summarize Croce’s views on art.
• There are two
kinds of reality – internal and external.
• There are two
forms of knowledge – logical and intuitive.
• The work of an
artist exists in his own mind.
• When the
impressions are given an external form, it becomes inferior to that which is expressed
in the artist’s mind.
This theory of expressionism became popular in the first half
of the 20th century. The artists like Van Gogh, Matisse, Gaugin, and Kandinsky
followed it in their works. But this movement had its own limitations and
hence, it did not enjoy good days for long.
No comments:
Post a Comment