Art as Experience (Paperback)

~ (Author) "BY ONE of the ironic perversities that often attend the course of affairs, the existence of the works of art upon which formation of an..." (more)
Key Phrases: esthetic experience, esthetic perception, esthetic form, William James, Van Gogh, Matthew Arnold (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Based on John Dewey's lectures on esthetics, delivered as the first William James Lecturer at Harvard in 1932, Art as Experience has grown to be considered internationally as the most distinguished work ever written by an American on the formal structure and characteristic effects of all the arts: architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and literature.

About the Author

John Dewey (1859-1952), philosopher, psychologist, and educator, is widely credited as the most influential thinker on education in the twentieth century. He taught philosophy at University of Michigan, Chicago University, and Columbia University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade (July 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399531971
• ISBN-13: 978-0399531972
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,019 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Theorizing On Art, May 4, 2003

By	Zettel "Matt" (Iowa City, IA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art as Experience (Paperback)

As a reviewer below stated, this is a very interesting book that treats art as a means of recapturing the experience of life and trasmitting that experience to the audience. He captures a number of concepts established earlier by Leo Tolstoy in his "What is Art?" and delves deeper into them, expounding on their more practical and less esoteric uses.

Dewey, however, certainly earns his title as a pragmatist. His wording is complicated and, at times, careful. It is difficult to pin specific sayings or doctrines to him. However, once the task is completed, he has a great deal of important things to say about art and artistic experience.

35 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the great books on art theory., April 6, 2000

By	[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art as Experience (Paperback)

Although somewhat dated in that what Dewey novelly stated long ago, we now accept as obvious, this is a great book to gain an understanding of art both as a producer and as a spectator.

The central theme is that life is an experience, and that the goal of art is to recapture that experience. Hence, a painting of a flower is only valuable in the way that it captures the essence of a flower, or the experience of viewing a flower. The viewing of a painting must also provide some of the experience of making that painting ( its process ).

If you can manage to finish the book ( the style is a bit archaic ), the experience is worth the effort.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fundamental book on esthetics, June 7, 2008

By	Patrick Singleton "opinionated photographer" (Newton, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dewey discusses making art and viewing art are not unique activities -- that discipline, engagement and commitment are basic to art in the same way they are basic to other work.

The book undermines the notion that Art is somehow arcane and academic. It's not, the book suggests. It takes work to make art, it takes work to appreciate it, but it is a democratic sort of work, and good art stands up, even when it is not cosseted in museums or galleries.