Thinking like an artist: Hogarth, diderot, and the aesthetics of technique

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

In The Analysis of Beauty, William Hogarth advocated an unusual kind of formalism based in artistic practice: not form distilled into a rule for judgment but rather derived from the artist's techniques for perception and composition. Denis Diderot, too, embraced an aesthetics of technique, particularly in the Paradoxe sur le comédien, in which he contends that what appears impassioned in an affecting dramatic performance is in fact calculated. Diderot, however, had the extra burden of reconciling the ideal of illusion with his demystification of the practitioner's perspective, a reconciliation he could only conceive as a paradox.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)555-570
Number of pages16
JournalEighteenth-Century Studies
Volume46
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2013
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Cultural Studies
  • Arts and Humanities(all)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Thinking like an artist: Hogarth, diderot, and the aesthetics of technique'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this