Art As The "Significant Form:"

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the practice in the artistic field underwent a rather radical transformation. Representational tradition that had for centuries played a dominant role in the art world seemed to lose its favor, whereas a new trend of abstract art, which was commonly entitled"modernism,"began to take shape and gain a wider audience. Correspondingly, it motivated the development of formalism as an aesthetic theory and a program for its interpretation and criticism. Clive Bell's theory of the"significant form"is undoubtedly one of the most influential formalist theories during this period.In the Art (1914), Clive Bell (1881—1964) primarily proposed the formalist hypothesis of art as the"significant form,"designating the"significant form"as the defining nature of art. Ever since its first appearance, the"significant form"has caught exceptional attention and thereafter grown into a notion that is not only well known in the art world but a catch phrase among the public as well. However, the phrase, more often than not, is either unfortunately employed as a simple formalist definition of art or totally discarded due to its apparent logical flaws. It is so treated without an insightful looking into its entirety.As a matter of fact, the"significant form"is by no means a simple definition of art. Rather, it is in line with Bell's aesthetic preoccupations in response to the entire social background and an illuminating account of a thorny aesthetic question, namely the nature of art. On the basis of the argumentation presented in the Art, Bell makes further revisions to the theory in a series of later writings, defining the"significant form"more elaborately from different perspectives of artistic practice, such as creation, appreciation and criticism, etc. Besides, some aura of the"significant form"theory is also embodied in Bell's criticisms of other art genres, though they are sparse when compared with his aesthetic system largely accumulated in the Art as his major work.In brief, the"significant form"is a far more complex conception than commonly expected, which deserves further exploration and reflection. To regard the theory in...