芸術と時間

Abstract

Art is a form of human creative activity that involves intuition. It is not possible to speak of paintings that we cannot see with our eyes, music that we cannot listen to with our ears, or poetry that we cannot hear or read. Art cannot exist separately from intuition, which is dependent upon human feelings. This intuition is conditioned by a person's consciousness of space and time. In the process of creating a work of art, the artist must spatially and temporally bring a sense of order to his or her work. Methods of establishing this order vary according to historical, social, and geographical circumstances, and according to cultural differences. The question "What is the essence of time?" is a major philosophical problem for which there is no simple answer. Time can be divided into two general types. On the one hand time changes regularly according to natural laws. Thus using as a standard the rotations and revolutions of the earth, theoretically it is possible to objectively measure the passage of time. On the other hand, time can be subjectively divided into periods when we are feeling boredom or fulfillment. Art, too, can be thought of both in terms of objectively and subjectively perceived time. The main task of art historians has been to establish a sequence for artworks within the current of objective time. A. Riegl and H. Wölfflin strove to ascertain regular patterns in changes of art styles, indicating that methodologies concerning the passage of time in art history can be considered. Because art is the product of human activity, not the creation of gods, a fixed, objective time period is inescapable. For example, the cement of a building or the pigments of a painting take time to dry. Because art is the product of human activity, an artist must concentrate on directing his or her personal feelings into the work. The tension of these feelings is condensed into the work of art. The creators as well as contemplators of art tend to place a high value on the subjective, forgetting about the objective time that can be measured by a clock. People say that the relationship between art and time is a subjective, timeless experience. Eternity is a kind of time that cannot be objectively measured.