I will show how we can frame temporal dimensions of our environments for our appreciation. In contrast to artworks, environments are changing all the time. There is no frame with which to define what is the specific object of appreciation in environments which surround us, and which extend without limit. We have to create our own frames by ourselves. The question is how we frame temporal changes of environments. First, I will classify the changes in two groups: macro- and micro- temporal change. We cannot directly perceive the former, but can with the latter. Although we can perceive micro changes, it is difficult to appreciate them because they are so ordinary for us that we usually do not pay any attention to them. Second, I will introduce Arnold Berleant’s “aesthetics of engagement” to clarify the mechanism of framing these micro changes. Engagement is a kind of aesthetic attitude for appreciating perceptual environmental experiences which consisted of cumulative micro changes. Third, I will elaborate on the role of our activity in framing micro changes. I will distinguish our activities in environments into two levels, and show how aesthetic engagement is related to each level.

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Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714-62) hat mit der „Logik des unteren Erkenntnisvermögens (logica facultatis cognoscitivae inferioris)“ eine Ästhetik in Analogie zur Logik entworfen. Mit Blick auf die formale Logik mag eine solche Analogie heute befremdlich sein. Berücksichtigt man aber die damals vorherrschende „psychologische Logik“, erscheint sie durchaus berechtigt. Um dies zu zeigen, gibt dieser Beitrag eine kurze Übersicht über die wichtigsten Eckpunkte der Entwicklungsgeschichte der psychologischen Logik vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert: 1.) Die rhetorische Logik (dialectica) des Ramismus und die Logik des Neuaristotelismus des 16. Jahrhunderts, 2.) die gnoseologische Logik von Port-Royal der zweiten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts, 3.) die gesellschaftliche Logik der frühen deutschen Aufklärung (Tschirnhaus, Thomasius) und 4.) die wissenschaftlich und mathematisch begründete Logik von Christian Wolff. Es wird hierbei deutlich, wie die psychologische Logik eine epistemologische Bedingung für Baumgartens Ästhetik wurde und wie sie diese charakterisiert. Baumgartens Ästhetik verdankt der psychologischen Logik 1.) ihre wissenschaftliche Begründung als Teil der empirischen Psychologie, 2.) ihre gnoseologische Konzeption als „gnoseologia inferior“, 3.) ihre „sinnliche“ oder „ästhetische“ Wahrheit und 4.) ihre Eigenschaft als anthropologische Ästhetik.

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In der Ästhetischen Theorie definiert Theodor W. Adorno das Naturschöne als die Erfahrung von „der Sprache der Natur“, die weder eine begriffliche, noch eindeutig zu bestimmende Bedeutung hat. Martin Seel lehnt aber diese Sprache als einen „metaphysischen“ Begriff ab, und urteilt, dass die Naturästhetik Adornos im Grunde auf einer romantischen Betrachtungsweise aufbaut. Auf Grundlage der späteren Diskussionen über die Richtigkeit dieser Kritik (Josef Früchtl, Gerhard Schweppenhäuser, Gernot Böhme) untersucht dieser Aufsatz im Folgenden den zentralen Streitpunkt, ob diese Sprache der Natur buchstäblich aus der Natur selbst kommt oder bloß durch eine Vermittlungswirkung des Subjekts konstruiert ist. Diese Lektüre führt infolgedessen zu der Interpretation, dass in der Sprache der Natur zwei Phasen ineinander verwoben sind: die Projektionsweise, in welcher der Mensch, der im mythischen Zustand quälend gefangen ist, sein utopisches Interesse auf die Natur richtet. Und die metaphysische Phase, die in der Wahrnehmung des utopischen Interesses der Natur besteht, die im Grunde ebenfalls im grausamen mythischen Zustand gefangen ist. Diese Phase beweist zwar eine gewisse Richtigkeit der Kritik Seels, aber die Lektüre macht auch ein ästhetisches Potenzial Adornos aufmerksam.

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Byzantine illuminated psalters with full-page illuminations for specific psalms (notably Ps. 1, 50, 77, 151) and for the Odes are called as ‘Aristocratic psalters’. The term derives from a mere impression that these psalters were commissioned by Byzantine aristocrats, though in reality 4 manuscripts out of 6 which we know the name of its patron were ordered by monks and nuns. The manuscript Dionysiou 65 housed by the monastery of the same name in Mount Athos is of special interest amongst these 6 manuscripts, with a illumination depicting its patron, Sabas, as the deceased. Including this image, the manuscript has at its beginning a unique iconographical programme which could be labeled as ‘Sabas’s Salvation Cycle’, consisting of 7 full-page illuminations. The 3 illuminations, ‘Sabas worshipping the Virgin (f. 12v)’, ‘Solomon (f. 13r)’ and ‘David (f. 13v)’ wrap up this cycle. The whole illuminations of the manuscript have not been fully studied, yet previous research on these 3 illuminations are particularly scarce probably due to their iconic nature, compared to the other illuminations with more narrative elements. This paper discusses the function of these 3 illuminations as prefigurating the Virgin and praying for the patron’s salvation.

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Der vorliegende Aufsatz beschäftigt sich mit der Briefmarkenforschung Warburgs und setzt sich zum Ziel, seine politische Ikonographie darzustellen. 1927 hat Warburg mit dem derzeitigen Reichskunstwart Edwin Redslob eine Tagung über „die Briefmarke“ veranstaltet, um ihre Bedeutung als politisches Medium zu untersuchen. Es ist verständlich, dass die Briefmarke auf Grund ihrer örtlichen Beweglichkeit für Warburg ein interessanter Gegenstand war. Mit den Begriffen „Bilderfahrzeug“ sowie „Schlagbilder“ hat er seinen Blick auf die seit langem in der Kunstgeschichte unterschätzten Werke wie Tapisserien bzw. politische Plakate im Zeitalter der Reformation gerichtet. In der Briefmarkenforschung wurden der seefahrende Neptun und Benito Mussolini zu den Hauptmotiven. Dabei wird die komplexe Beziehung zwischen der Tradition der Repräsentation der politischen Theologie und die der heidnischen Antike entsprungene Bildtheorie analysiert. Die mimischen Körper von Herrschern, die nach dem historischen Muster in verschiedener Weise stilisiert und inszeniert werden, sind zur Grundlage der abendländischen Politik geworden. Die von Warburg entworfene politische Ikonographie erkennt die Bewegung und die Wirkung der Bilder im politischen Bereich und fordert uns stets zur historischen Reflexion auf.

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This paper characterizes a Brazilian critic Oswald de Andrade’s ‘Brazilianness (brasilidade)’ by analyzing his art critique. It is accepted that ‘philosophy of anthropophagy’ proposed by Andrade’s “Anthropophagy Manifest (Manifesto Antropófago, 1928)” defines the 20th century Brazilian culture. The idea of the philosophy of anthropophagy as a cultural constructional model ignores, however, socio-political visions in Andrade’s works. I clarify the significance of art for Andrade and connect his writings of art in the modernist era and socio-political writings in his later years. Andrade praises art based on Brazilian life, nature, and history as representative art of Brazil, national art. Further, according to his review concerning Anita Malfatti’s solo exhibition in 1917, Andrade criticizes art from a western point of view. Finally, the paper clarifies representations of Brazilianness by analyzing Andrade’s critiques about two painters, Tarsila do Amaral and Lasar Segall. In conclusion, I show that Brazilianness for Andrade is an expression both based on Brazilian life, nature, and history and executed well in western criteria. Andrade’s Brazilianness is also problematic in terms of internalizing of western exoticism. At the same time, however, it is possible for the Brazilianness to subvert Eurocentrism.

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Man Ray, American artist, went to France in 1921 asking for a place of new activity. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he returned to his country in 1940, and spent about 10 years in Los Angeles. However, while attention has focused on the photographic works of the surrealist period of the 1920s and 1930s, his activities during his stay in California is rarely discussed. One considers Man Ray led a retired life there. In this paper, focusing on the fact that Man Ray was involved in an abstract art group called “Open Circle”, we examine about his California era. In particular, our purpose is to report on his activities in the Californian art field through his relationship with the painter Knud Merrild born in Denmark, who produced the paintings and named them “Flux” with techniques such as Dripping and Pouring. Attempts to elucidate artistic activities of Man Ray in Los Angeles allow us to move away from the post war art history which explains the center of art was transferred from France to the United States, namely New York. It will also be an opportunity to review the history of art from a local perspective.

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Under the direction of the critic Pierre Restany, Nouveau Réalisme was formed at the flat of Yves Klein in Paris, on October 27, 1960. This movement was made up of 13 artists including Klein, and many of them eventually became world-famous artists. However, despite of this interesting fact, their activities as a group have not been discussed sufficiently in the past. But now, there is no doubt that Nouveau Réalisme is being historically re-evaluated all over the world. In this article, following this trend, we attempt to reexamine the movement by considering their “poetics”. Nouveau Réalisme was supported by Restany’s theory of “appropriation of the real”. But this theory was neither accepted by all participants, nor so effective to analyze their works. So, we reconsider the theory of Restany, and try to separate works of Nouveau Réalisme from the concept of appropriation. Our aim is to clarify their thoughts presented in their works themselves, and to illuminate them as poetics of Nouveau Réalisme. Our proposition is below: their particularity should be sought in “making a new sight” or “new perceptual approach to reality”, and it is here that their poetics are found.

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In the early 1960s, the arrival of John Cage’s aleatoric music caused a sensation in the musical world of Japan. The reaction was known as the “John Cage Shock”. Many Japanese critics and musicians considered the essence of Cage’s music to exist in the chance operations of his method of composing music. The interpretation of this concept among many critics tended to the metaphysical and mystic. Yuji Takahashi (1938-) argued that these assessments were inaccurate and asked, “Where is chance in John Cage’s works?” He proposed to understand Cage’s work through the concept of indeterminacy. Cage himself, of course, also used this term. However, Takahashi’s idea of indeterminacy differs from Cage’s; Takahashi’s idea focuses on the indeterminacy that intervenes not only between scores and performances but also between the performed sound (Takahashi referred to it as the vague sound) and the audience. However, this understanding of indeterminacy fails to account for Cage’s usage of this type of sound in his works. Cage’s aleatoric music and indeterminacy cast a long shadow over Japanese music post the Second World War. This paper assesses the reception of Cage’s music in Japan, indicating Cage’s influence on Takahashi’s compositions.

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