How to Evaluate Art: Truth, Goodness,
and Beauty
Beginning
the introduction to my column last month, I talked about developing our
Christian worldview thinking skills by going to the St. Louis
Giving credit where it is due, Francis Schaeffer inspires us in this project. Schaeffer’s writings overflow with this very method of critiquing culture and philosophy through discussion of art. Insisting on objective categories of evaluation, Schaeffer’s primary concern centered on the universal truth of the art. That is, our evaluation should not focus on our personal tastes, but instead should be directed toward the big ideas that can be universally discussed.
In
addition to Schaeffer, the books of philosopher Mortimer J. Adler prove
helpful. Adler was the Chairman of the
Board of Editors of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, and an editor of the Great
Books series. He penned numerous books over the course of his long
life. Two of his more popular books are How to Read a Book and Six Great Ideas – both of which I highly
recommend.
In Six Great Ideas, Adler describes two groups of ideas. The first group he calls “Ideas We Judge By” and includes truth, goodness, and beauty. When he uses the word “judge” Adler means the process of evaluation.
The
second group, “Ideas We Act On”, is composed of liberty, equality, and
justice. For the purposes of our monthly
column, we will use the first group of ideas for critiquing art. Beginning with next month’s column, we will
evaluate a piece of art at the
Truth
The first idea by which we evaluate art is truth. The words true and false are shorthand ways of speaking about reality. That is, a true statement corresponds with reality and a false statement conflicts with reality.
For example, the laws of gravity exist whether you believe in them or not. The fool may say in his heart “There is no gravity,” but as soon as he jumps off a skyscraper, the truth will hit him.
Personal opinion cannot override the objective truth of gravity.
In biology, the statement, “Cats are warm-blooded” is always true, and to make the opposite statement, “Cats are cold-blooded” would universally be considered a false statement. No matter where a biologist lives, cats are always warm-blooded. Cultural differences do not change the objective truth of cats.
But what is the origin of truth? As Christians, we believe that truth exists
eternally because truth is an attribute of God Himself (Psalm 117:2). Truth
manifests the glory of God (John
1:14), and everything He says or does is true (Psalm 33:4). Being the
“father of lies,” Satan works his rebellion against God through the action of
falsehood (Genesis 3).
Therefore, falsehood conflicts with reality
because falsehood conflicts with God.
Over 300 references to “true” or “truth” are found in the Bible.
Many of the verses speak words of warning to truth-rejecters. In
contrast to the freedom of walking in truth (John 8:32), those who deny truth stand in judgment of God (Romans 1:18). Scripture teaches that
wicked men “turn aside from truth” (2
Timothy 4:4) and “do not believe the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:12). In contrast, believers “rejoice with the
truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6), and
discover Christ Jesus Himself to be the ultimate truth that leads to God (John 14:6).
Does truth affect our evaluation of
art? Yes, because we reject the idea of
message-free art. That is, every work of
art conveys a message, and every message conveyed proves either true or false. Even when modern artists deny their work has
any point at all, there is a statement being made nonetheless. But what is the truth-value
of the message? Does the statement
correspond or conflict with reality? If
conflict, does the falsehood distort the entire piece?
Admittedly, these questions are not always
easy to answer. Often, the message of art is difficult to get a handle on. While
the answer for 2+2 comes easily, analyzing the truth-value of visual art takes
considerably more effort. In fact, our
evaluation may miss the target altogether. However, we must not slip into
subjectivism, saying that the whole process is pointless bickering about
personal taste.
Every artist brings philosophical
presuppositions and a theological framework to their task. We must pray for
wisdom and work at discerning the message of these works. In so doing, we gain an opportunity to
dialogue with our culture about God. Within that dialogue, truth forms the
primary category of evaluation.
Goodness
Our second category for evaluating art is goodness. In defining goodness, we see that the word conveys something about both excellence and ethics.
First, a work of art expresses goodness through technical excellence. The quality of a piece speaks of skill and mastery of the medium. Even if the message of the piece is false, a piece can exhibit excellence in skill. Likewise, a work of art may convey a true message without attaining excellence in the development.
Second, the ethical dimension of goodness asks whether the message of the piece should be approved. I believe that for a work of art to be worthy of approval, then it must be also be true. For example, depicting the Jewish Holocaust of World War II in a negative light would be worthy of approval precisely because the message is true. Depicting adultery in a positive light would not be worthy of approval precisely because the message is false. Therefore, goodness is intimately tied with the truth/falsehood value of the message.
For the purpose of this column, the ethical dimension of goodness will be more important than that of excellence. In purchasing expensive works of art, the museum establishes their position that the work is of technical excellence. It will be our task to think about the truth value and ethical worth of the piece.
Again, just as in the case with truth, we are not left to ourselves to create ethical standards. God has established His standards of goodness and evil. Failure to esteem that which God esteems is moral failure. To approve that which God disapproves is rebellion. When the message of art violates God’s standards of goodness, we must judge it accordingly.
Beauty
The third category for evaluating art is beauty. Of the three categories, beauty is certainly the most subjective of the three. As everyone knows, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Some people enjoy paintings of bright and cheerful flowers, while others find delight in grey, somber seascapes. Is the category of beauty only a matter of personal taste?
There are two basic definitions of beauty. First, the subjective definition of beauty focuses on whether something is enjoyable to the individual observer. Second, the objective definition of beauty finds universal qualities that embody the idea of beauty.
Without getting too philosophical, the argument can be simplified through a simple illustration. Bursting with pink, red, and orange, is a sunset beautiful? Most people would say yes. But what if there was a beautiful sunset that absolutely nobody saw? Would it still be beautiful? I would argue that the sunset is beautiful regardless of a human witness. The qualities of beauty exist independently of human experience.
And so we see there are two ways of understanding beauty in art. You can say that a work of art is beautiful and I may disagree, but as long as we are each talking about our personal preferences there can be no outcome to the argument. That is, there is no way I can argue against your statement, “When I see this, I see beauty!” But the second way of thinking about beauty, the objective criterion, will further the dialogue into universal big ideas. We would then be talking about aspects of beauty that stand outside of our personal opinion.
For example, my young sons produce artwork on a daily basis, of which they are very proud. However, except for my oldest son, none of them have mastered the skills of staying in the lines and choosing appropriate colors. Does this decrease my enjoyment of their work? Absolutely not! I love purple dogs, yellow grass, and orange clouds. I think the pictures are beautiful and I enjoy them. I am their daddy.
However, as much I enjoy their artwork, I would not expect it to be considered beautiful by others or hung in a museum. The objective qualities of beauty override the subjective feeling of beauty. The point is, there are objective standards of beauty that provide guidance in evaluating art.
As we approach
art with a Christian mindset, we believe that the objective standard is part of
the divine order of creation. Beauty
exists in the mind of God, and He wove beauty into the fabric of creation. Since the fall, sin distorts beauty but does
not destroy it. At the end of time, God
will reconcile all things to Himself.
True beauty will once again be known and experienced. According to God’s standards, hell will have
no beauty, and heaven will have no ugliness.
Psalm 50:2 says, “Out of
What
we need: Courage and Humility
In conclusion, I want to state that we approach the task of visual art apologetics with both courage and humility. First, we bring courage because we know that God evaluates all the actions of mankind, and He has a perfect opinion of every piece of work that is created. Praying for wisdom, God can instruct us in His ways even as we think through works of artists who may never have acknowledged God in their life. We will be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.
Second, we bring humility because our judgments are fallible. We are not going to throw out blanket statements of condemnation or praise, but will instead seek to walk one step at a time through each piece.
We will not get everything correct, but neither will we fall victim to the attitude of skepticism that so pervades our culture. Truth, goodness, and beauty are eternal categories because they originate in God Himself. Let us be wise as serpents and gentle as doves, and go forth boldly in the development of our Christian worldview and love for God.
Next
month: We will examine Builders #1
by Jacob Lawrence (1972). If you get a chance, go look at this piece in the
W. Scott Lamb is one of the pastors of Providence
Baptist Church in South County. He and his wife Pearl enjoy the challenges
and pleasures of raising their four sons. Feel free to contact Scott at www.pbcstlouis.com.
