HIGH ART VS.

Presented by:
• Cuntapay
• Mertillano
• Palma

LOW ART • Secretario

• Yu
High Art- refers to paradigms of art (e.g.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Eliot’s The Waste Land,
Beethoven’s Eroica and the paintings of Cezanne)
ACCORDING TO TED COHEN:
“If the distinction between high art and low art
is like the distinction between art and non art,
then why do we need both distinction?”
“We should not equate the high or low
distinction with a third distinction, that between
good and bad art.”

A PARADOXICAL
DISTINCTION
HOWEVER, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix are
SUCCESSFUL AND IMPORTANT examples of art.
THUS WE CANNOT EQUATE HIGH ART WITH GOOD ART AND
LOW ART WITH BAD ART.
HERBERT GANS- 5 Taste Cultures:
1. High culture
2. Upper-middle culture
3. Lower-middle culture
4. Low culture
5. Quasi-folk low culture

A PARADOXICAL
DISTINCTION
KRISTELLER- 18th century thinkers grouped the
arts together: painting, sculpture,
architecture, music and poetry
LEVINE AND NOVITS- 20th century distinction of
art is bias however, art can be rank into higher
and lower art

A PARADOXICAL
DISTINCTION
KAPLAN (1972) ON POPULAR ART: familiar
forms, an intolerance of ambiguity, a tendency
toward easiness and emotional indulgence.
Tolerant Hierarchical
Intolerant Hierarchicalism

COHEN (1999)- neither high art or popular art

has superior value instead each group has
different aesthetic needs (Pluralistic
Hierarchicalism)

IS THE HIGH OR LOW

DISTINCTION REAL?
NOVITZ (1992)- rejects all the positions and
proposes that it is merely social convention
that differentiates them (Conventionalist
Position)
HIGH ART IS THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE ART

IS THE HIGH OR LOW

DISTINCTION REAL?
MASS ART
NOEL CARROL
American philosopher
Leading figures in contemporary philosophy of art
He thinks that mass art is a species of popular art
Argues that the key theoretical concept is not popular art but
mass art
MASS ART- art of common people; art that is liked by the
majority
WALTER BENJAMIN
Forerunner of Carroll’s idea
“mechanical reproduction of a work of art devalues
the aura of the artefact's uniqueness as art.“
"The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"
The subject and themes of the essay, the aura of an authentic
work of art and the aestheticization of politics, have much
influenced the fields of art, history, architectural theory,
cultural studies and media theory.
MASS ART
Carroll’s Theory:
 Massification
 Passivity
 Formulaic
 Autonomy

These objections tend to criticize mass or popular art

relative to genuine art. Urges that either mass artworks
are not genuine art or that they do not perform the
same valuable functions as genuine art.
Carroll’s idea of what a mass art should be:
 a multiple instance or type artwork
 produced and distributed by a mass technology
 intentionally designed to gravitate in its structural choice towards those
choices that promises accessibility with minimum effort for the largest
number of untutored audiences
ENTERTAINMENT
Entertainment as Low Art
 They were made for unsophisticated consumers
 They tend to be elementary in form and content
 The intended effects of a product qua entertainment
are viewed as worthless
Two Sorts Cases of Entertainment
 Work that are primarily entertaining
 Artwork in more traditional art form
ATTENDING TO
LOW/MASS ART
THANK
YOU!