The Gate of Appreciation: Studies in the Relation of Art to Life

Noyes, Carleton Eldredge, 1872-1950Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.2

Word count: 298K words
Chapters: 30

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Gate of Appreciation: Studies in the Relation of Art to Life by NoyesAuthor: Noyes, Carleton Eldredge, 1872-1950,Language: English, Class: N: Fine Arts, Release Date: Nov 7, 2008

Editor's review

This book is Noyes's series of essays on the relation of art to life, a public-domain work in the field of aesthetics and art appreciation. The author is not content to treat art as an isolated object of aesthetic contemplation; instead, he discusses how appreciation enters everyday experience, focusing on the connections among seeing, feeling, and understanding. The style is essayistic argumentation, with the unhurried quality of early twentieth-century humanistic writing, suited to slow reading and repeated reflection. For readers, its value lies not in providing systematic art-historical knowledge but in fostering an attitude: regarding art appreciation as part of the cultivation of life. The discussions center on general principles and do not rely on extensive plates, so the book is better used as conceptual reading than as a catalog. If you are looking for a small book to help build a framework for art appreciation without being intimidated by jargon, this is worth reading; if you expect specific analyses of works or visual materials, you will need other readings alongside it.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers hoping to establish a basic attitude toward art appreciation
Humanities enthusiasts interested in essays on aesthetics and the philosophy of art
Teachers and students of aesthetic education needing English public-domain material
Readers who enjoy slow, contemplative writing and do not require plates

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting many plates and detailed technical analysis of works
Readers needing a systematic art history textbook or examination text
Those who prefer fast-paced practical guides and have little patience for essayistic argument

Reading tips

Read one chapter at a time, and afterward make brief notes relating it to your most recent visit to an exhibition or film.
Compare the book's arguments about appreciation with your own everyday aesthetic experience; do not rush to conclusions.
If used for teaching, select passages from chapters as discussion material to guide students in talking about their own experiences of appreciation.
Read alongside an illustrated introductory art book to make up for the lack of visual material here.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is this book mainly about?

The book is an essayistic study of the relation of art to life, focusing on how art appreciation becomes part of lived experience rather than providing systematic art-historical knowledge or a catalog of works.

Does the book contain illustrations or analyses of works?

From the available information, the book is a text-based essay collection and does not focus on plates or specific analyses of works. If you need visual material and technical interpretation, it is advisable to pair it with an illustrated introductory art book.

Is it suitable for use as a textbook in aesthetic education?

It can serve as supplementary reading to help students think about the relation between appreciative attitude and lived experience; but it is not a systematic textbook, lacking plates and an art-historical framework, and should be used alongside a formal textbook.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Noyes, Carleton Eldredge, 1872-1950 Author · American · 1872–1950

Carleton Eldredge Noyes (1872–1950) was an American writer and art critic whose work was addressed to general readers and aimed to make art appreciation and aesthetic understanding accessible to a broad audience. Two of his works are included here: The Gate of Appreciation: Studies in the Relation of Art to Life and The Enjoyment of Art. Judging from their titles and themes, he was concerned with the relationship between art and everyday life and with how people might approach, understand, and enjoy art. His writing tends toward essayistic commentary and guidance rather than dense specialist theory. Such books helped early twentieth-century readers cultivate taste and brought art closer to the public, reflecting one strand of popular art writing in America at the time. Public information about the details of his life, education, and career is limited, and no conjecture is offered here.