Medium specificity  

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 +[[Image:Medium specificity in 'Letter on the Deaf and Dumb' by Diderot.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Page from "[[Letter on the Deaf and Dumb]]" which illustrates [[Denis Diderot]]'s take on [[medium specificity]]]][[Image:Laocoön Group, Clamores horrendos detail, photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2009).jpg|thumb|right|200px|This page '''{{PAGENAME}}''' is part of the [[medium specificity]] series.
 +<br>
 +<small>Illustration: ''[[Laocoön and His Sons]]'' ("[[Clamores horrendos]]" detail), photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen.</small>]]
 +{| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
 +| style="text-align: left;" |
 +*[[One can look at seeing but one can't hear hearing]] -- Marcel Duchamp
 +*[[Writing about music is like dancing about architecture]] -- Martin Mull
 +*[[All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music]] -- Walter Pater
 +*"[[The medium is the message]]" -- McLuhan
 +*"[[Painting is silent poetry, and poetry painting that speaks]]" -- Simonides of Ceos
 +*[[Ut pictura poesis]] -- Horace
 +|}
{{Template}} {{Template}}
-:''[[classificatory disputes about art]], [[The medium is the message]]''+'''Medium specificity''' is a consideration in [[aesthetics]] and [[art criticism]]. It is most closely associated with [[modernism]], but it predates it. According to [[Clement Greenberg]], who popularized the term in the 1960s, medium specificity holds that "purity in art consists in the acceptance ... of the limitations of the [[medium]] of the specific art" ("[[Towards a Newer Laocoon]]"). For example, in painting, literal [[Flatness (art)|flatness]] and [[Abstract art|abstraction]] are emphasised rather than illusionism and [[figuration]].
-'''Medium specificity''' is a consideration in [[aesthetics]] and [[art criticism]]. It is most closely associated with [[modernism]], but it predates it. According to [[Clement Greenberg]], who helped popularize the term in his 1960 essay "[[Modernist Painting]]", medium specificity holds that "the unique and proper area of competence" for a form of art corresponds with the ability of an artist to manipulate those features that are "unique to the nature" of a particular medium. For example, in painting, literal [[flatness]] and [[Abstract art|abstraction]] are emphasised rather than illusionism and [[figuration]].+
-As early as 1776 [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]] ''"contends that an artwork, in order to be successful, needs to adhere to the specific stylistic properties of its own medium."''+As early as 1766 [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]] in his essay "[[Laocoon: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry]]" argues that "painting and poetry should be like two just and friendly neighbors, neither of whom indeed is allowed to take unseemly liberties in the heart of the other's domain".
-Today, the term is used both to describe artistic practices and as a way to analyze [[Visual arts|artwork]]. Critic [[N. Katherine Hayles]], for example, speaks of "media specific analysis." As discussed by critic Marshall Soules, medium specificity and media specific analysis are playing an important role in the emergence of [[new media]] art forms, such as [[Internet art]]. Medium specificity suggests that a work of art can be said to be successful if it fulfills the promise contained in the medium used to bring the artwork into existence. Much debate can remain as to what a given medium best lends itself to. +Medium specificity suggests that a work of art can be said to be successful if it fulfills the promise contained in the medium used to bring the artwork into existence. Much debate can remain as to what a given [[medium]] best lends itself to.
Art dialogue in the post-modern period has tended to steer away from medium specificity as a particularly relevant principle. Art dialogue in the post-modern period has tended to steer away from medium specificity as a particularly relevant principle.
- +==Dicta==
 +*Schilderen over schilderen is onmogelijk. Musiceren over muziek kan niet. Maar schrijven over schrijven kan helaas wel. --Willem Frederik Hermans
 +*[[One can look at seeing but one can't hear hearing]] by Marcel Duchamp
 +*[[Writing about music is like dancing about architecture]], attributed to Martin Mull
== See also == == See also ==
 +*[[Ekphrasis]], the verbal, often dramatic, description of a visual work of art.
 +*[[Paragone]], a debate from the Italian Renaissance in which one form of art (architecture, sculpture or painting) is championed as superior to all others.
 +**[[All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music]], a maxim by Walter Pater
 +*''[[The medium is the message]]'', a maxim by McLuhan
*[[Classificatory disputes about art]] *[[Classificatory disputes about art]]
-*[[Clement Greenberg]] 
*[[Conceptual art]] *[[Conceptual art]]
-*[[Digital art]] 
*[[Form follows function]] *[[Form follows function]]
-*[[Generative art]] 
-*[[Minimalism]] 
*[[Postmodernism]] *[[Postmodernism]]
-*[[Computer art]]+*[[New media art]]
-*[[New Media Art]]+*[[Ut pictura poesis]]-- Horace
-*[[Art]]+*''[[Ornament and Crime]]''
-*[[Ornament and Crime]]+
*[[Truth to materials]] *[[Truth to materials]]
 +*"[[Painting is silent poetry, and poetry painting that speaks]]", Simonides
{{GFDL}} {{GFDL}}

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Page from "Letter on the Deaf and Dumb" which illustrates Denis Diderot's take on medium specificity
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Page from "Letter on the Deaf and Dumb" which illustrates Denis Diderot's take on medium specificity
This page Medium specificity is part of the medium specificity series.  Illustration: Laocoön and His Sons ("Clamores horrendos" detail), photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen.
Enlarge
This page Medium specificity is part of the medium specificity series.
Illustration: Laocoön and His Sons ("Clamores horrendos" detail), photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen.

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Medium specificity is a consideration in aesthetics and art criticism. It is most closely associated with modernism, but it predates it. According to Clement Greenberg, who popularized the term in the 1960s, medium specificity holds that "purity in art consists in the acceptance ... of the limitations of the medium of the specific art" ("Towards a Newer Laocoon"). For example, in painting, literal flatness and abstraction are emphasised rather than illusionism and figuration.

As early as 1766 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in his essay "Laocoon: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry" argues that "painting and poetry should be like two just and friendly neighbors, neither of whom indeed is allowed to take unseemly liberties in the heart of the other's domain".

Medium specificity suggests that a work of art can be said to be successful if it fulfills the promise contained in the medium used to bring the artwork into existence. Much debate can remain as to what a given medium best lends itself to.

Art dialogue in the post-modern period has tended to steer away from medium specificity as a particularly relevant principle.

Dicta

See also




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Medium specificity" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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