69-74

The abandonment of the measure of art : Adorno's retreat from classical art

• Αποστολοπούλου, Γεωργία

Adorno defines aesthetic rationality as the dissonance between mimesis and construction and he maintains that truth is no yet realized in the realm of reality. The anxiety of aesthetic idolatry leads Adorno to a severe critique of classical art and of classicism. He criticizes Winckelmann and Hegel, because they elevated the works of Greek classical art to the measure of art, which remains beyond temporality, change and historicity. Adorno agrees with Nietzsche’s critique of classicism and he goes a step further, when he recognizes the archaic fear of the empty eyes also in the works of classical art. But, even though Adorno emphasizes the relationship of classical art to the dialectics of Enlightenment, he believes that the idea of the classics — because of its connection to purity and unity — represents the distant signs of the utopian-messianic truth. Therefore, the works of classical art are not excluded from the mimetic perspective of the world, exactly because they are not the measure of art.

• Arts
• Philosophy, Ethics and Religion

• Αισθητική
• Τέχνη
• Classicism in art

Αποτελεί ανακοίνωση που έγινε στην αγγλική γλώσσα στο Διεθνές Συνέδριο Αισθητικής στην Κρακοβία τον Αύγουστο του 1991 και γράφτηκε κατά τη διάρκεια παραμονής της συγγραφέως στη Γερμανία με ερευνητική υποτροφία του Ιδρύματος “Alexander von Humboldt" προς το οποίο εκφράζει τις ευχαριστίες της.