Plato's Criticisms

   

 Plato saw all forms of art as a skill or craft. He thought of art as an imitation of the physical world and thought it fell short from copying an idea. Freeland states, “Plato criticized all imitations, including tragedies, for failing to depict the eternal ideal realities (‘Forms’ or ‘Ideas’). Instead, they offered mere imitations of things in our world, which themselves were copies of the Ideas” (pg.18, 2003). Plato described forms as needing the physical world to build and relate to. Without the physical world, art (or ideas) would cease to exist. He also believed tragedy displayed conflicted morals to the viewers and allowed them to think good behavior is not rewarded. 

    I agree that art is always an imitation of something. Even art itself can be an imitation of another art piece. I do not agree that all imitations are wrong and think they should not be criticized. I believe some imitations do depict eternal ideas, and that’s what makes them great pieces of art and withstand centuries.  Plato describes imitation as negative when it can be a beautiful thing. Imitations of nature, the sunrise/sunset, and family/friends are great subjects that can bring joy and happiness into one’s life. There is nothing wrong with some art being copies of ideas. I think this plays more into critiquing different styles of art tastes and not necessarily a critique of art as a whole. 

    I do not think art can be classified so broadly. Some artists imitate physical objects, such as Andy Warhol and a tomato soup can. The soup can look like an identical copy of a soup can and I can see Plato’s perspective of pieces of art lacking an idea behind it. I believe a lot of realistic artwork can be seen this way, and maybe some are. I disagree that all art is just a skilled craft and is conjoined into one idea. Many different art genres express great creativity and ideas beyond imitation. Many abstract artists as well as performance artists create art that may be imitating a real idea or thing in the physical world but transform the art piece beyond what they are imitating. It is not fair to artists to place stigma over art when art is not “one-size fits all”. 

Freeland, C. (2003). Art Theory. Oxford University Press Academic UK. https://tiffin-                            bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780191579325