A Brief Defence of Traditional Aesthetics
Throughout the Enlightenment and well into the Romantic era, the legacy of classical continuity in art and culture was preserved and revered as the foundation of Western beauty.
The aesthetification of man was effected through artistic conventions such as the central linear perspective, natural proportion, and pristine symmetry as well as contextual themes with a long and continous pedigree, like naturalism and monumentality.
Aesthetic classicism was not merely preserved, but also revitalized and invigorated by a new cultural flowering and spiritual renaissance, exemplified by the Renaissance, the Neoclassical movement and the broader yet somewhat differentiated Romantic movement.
The integrity of the classic legacy was not weighed down by novel innovations and radical techniques imposed from above or without. In reality, it was accentuated by revitalizing and reaffirming profoundly original and groundbreaking stylistic conventions, such as chiaroscuro.
Vitally, these served to continue a fitting mode of experimentation and innovation within the conventional bounds of tradition and sensibility.
Recall how Lessing established the primacy of expressiveness as an aesthetic category elevated above beauty tout court within poetry, as opposed to purely exquisite visual art styles. This didn’t oppose classicism in any way, but just reaffirmed a core part of its actual character.
Classicism goes on today with revival movements such as New Classical architecture. I hope it goes on to produce intricately patterned and naturally beautiful masterworks on its own terms, and well within its own right.
