Plastica

by Johann Gottfried Herder

Pubblicata nel 1778, la "Plastica" di Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) costituisce il principale contributo dell'autore alla nascente riflessione estetica e un passaggio decisivo nella costruzione del suo assetto disciplinare moderno. Punto di arrivo di un dibattito secolare sullo statuto delle "arti sorelle", la pittura e la scultura, la Plastica, infatti, giunge ad argomentare con una chiarezza e un'ampiezza di implicazioni straordinarie il conclusivo riconoscimento dell'autonomia teorica della scultura, conducendo, insieme, a una complessiva ridefinizione del moderno sistema delle arti e a un profondo ripensamento del ruolo e della funzione conoscitiva e artistica della sensibilità.

Genres: Art, Philosophy, Nonfiction, History

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Theory of culture and advocacy of intuition over rationality of German philosopher and writer Johann Gottfried von Herder greatly influenced Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and formed the basis of German romanticism.

The periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar classicism associate this theologian, poet, and literary critic.

In 1772, Herder published Treatise on the Origin of Language and went further in this promotion of language than his earlier injunction to "spew out the ugly slime of the Seine. Speak German, oh you German." Herder then established the foundations of comparative philology within the new currents of political outlook.

Reviews

[Valorie Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a beautiful line early in Herder's "Sculpture" that sums up most of his argument--"Sight gives us dreams, touch gives us truth."

Herder focuses in this book on the merits of sculpture and how our (the viewers) experience of sculpture differs from our experiences with painting and poetry. In the first half he starts from the metaphor of a blind man whose sight was restored to explore how we learn to use our senses to experience the world around us, and how sight/vision becomes a shorthand for so many other senses that--the flower we see and assume smells good, the food we see and assume tastes good, etc. Sight especially becomes a shorthand for touch, and paired with imagination it allows us to look at well-done sculptures and see that they could be human. Instead of touching them with our hands, we become able to touch them with our souls, and in that way they go beyond mere visual art and become truth.

The first three chapters were written and then a large gap of time happens before the last two, which makes them feel slightly off-balanced. Herder's ideas changed somewhat, but he apparently did not go back and edit them much, so there's a bit of tension between the first half of the book and the second, which makes it more interesting.

This particular edition is also accompanied by a great introduction by Jason Gaiger which is worth perusing in it's entirety, as he sums up Herder's life and philosophy well.

[Alessio]

herder knows his art history

[Samuele Lo Grasso · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m gonna touch you lil statue

[María · Rating 3 out of 5]

Demasiado remilgado para el pensamiento actual del común de los mortales, pero tiene pese a todo un pensamiento aceptable sobre la escultura clásica. Es fácil de comprender y poco más, no es un ensayo imprescindible.