A Study Of Konrad Fiedler’s Theory On Art

The thesis studies the artistic theories of Konrad Fiedler (1841-1895), an influential theorist in modern Western art and aesthetics.Fiedler was an artistic critic and patron in the 19th-century German. He firstly mapped the boundary between the artistic research (as an academic discipline) and aesthetics, which rendered him the honor "Father of Kunstwissenschaft (Science of Art)." He expounded the creation in visual art and proposed the idea "Pure Visibility" (Rein Sichtbarkeit), or "Pure Visual Form," which viewed that the study of visual art must center on the visual form. In spite the fact that Fiedler’s theories have impacted on the studies of modern artistic theory, aesthetics, artistic creation, and even Consciousness of Psychology in the West, they have not been widely introduced, discussed, and accepted in English and Chinese academia. Under such circumstance, to re-evaluate Fiedler is significant for the artistic research and education in China.The thesis concentrates on Fiedler’s contribution in both theory and practice (art as a discipline and the idea "Pure Visibility") through analyzing the Germany texts, examining the role Fiedler has played in the development of modern Western artistic theory, comparing Fiedler and his contemporaries (such as Expressionist art and Paul Cezanne), and elucidating the theories’significance for artistic creation.The thesis also scrutinizes the meaning of artistic criticism and reaffirms that in artistic study, the establishment of "value judgment" does matter. In addition, the thesis observes that we must notice the roles critics and criticism play in artistic research and circle.