Artistic forgery

« Artistic expression Many kinds of psychological state can be expressed in or by works of art.

But it is the artistic expression of emotion that has figured most prominently in philosophical discussions of art.

Emotion is expressed in pictorial, literary and other representational works of art by the characters who are depicted or in other ways presented in the works.

We often identify the emotions of such characters in much the same way as we ordinarily identify the emotions of others, but we might also have special knowledge of a character's emotional state, through direct access to their thoughts, for instance.

A central case of the expression of emotion by works of art is the expression of emotion by a purely musical work.

What is the source of the emotion expressed by a piece of music? While art engages its audience, often calling forth an emotional response, its expressiveness does not consist in this power.

It is not because an art work tends to make us feel sad, for instance, that we call it sad; rather, we react as we do because sadness is present in it.

And while artists usually contrive the expressiveness of their art works, sometimes expressing their own emotions in doing so, their success in the former activity does not depend on their doing the latter.

Moreover, the expressiveness achieved has an immediacy and transparency, like that of genuine tears, apparently at odds with this sophisticated, controlled form of self-expression.

It is because art presents emotion with simple directness that it can be a vehicle for self-expression, not vice versa.

But if emotions are the experiences of sentient beings, to whom do those expressed in art belong if not to the artist or audience? Perhaps they are those of a fictional persona.

We may imagine personae who undergo the emotions expressed in art, but it is not plain that we must do so to become aware of that expressiveness, for it is arguable that art works present appearances of emotions, as do masks, willow trees and the like, rather than outward signs of occurrent feelings.

Expressiveness is valuable because it helps us to understand emotions in general while contributing to the formation of an aesthetically satisfying whole. 1 The expression of emotion Thoughts and attitudes can be expressed.

My concern here, though, is with artistic expressions of emotions, feelings and moods.

I shall consider what and whose emotions are communicated in art, and the nature of expressiveness in art works.

Sometimes a person's expressions are distinguished from their dispassionate reports of their emotions (because the emotion is not directly present in the utterance).

Also, expressions might be separated from uncontrolled ventings of emotions, these latter being regarded as symptoms, like the spots of measles, that betray or symptomize the condition without expressing it.

My own approach is more liberal.

I count as an expression any behaviour or display that communicates the agent's emotion, feeling or mood. Such instances of behaviour might be unintended and unthinking, or deliberate and self-conscious.

(Indeed, their expressive character might depend on their being the one rather than the other.

If my weeping is deliberate and controlled, this suggests pretence rather than expression; if my behaviour is unintended, then it cannot involve the use of social conventions for expression, even if it seems to match these.) Typically, emotions depend on causal circumstances, take intentional objects and involve beliefs and desires (or make-beliefs and make-desires) concerning that object.

For example, I hope for peace at a time of conflict because a treaty has been signed and because I believe treaties lead to the cessation of hostilities, which is what I desire.

A person's emotion might be apparent to another who possesses knowledge of any suitable combination of these elements.

In some cases, a person's nonverbal actions alone will indicate that they feel an emotion.

In fewer cases - those in which an emotion has an unambiguous mode of nonverbal expression - actions alone might indicate that a particular emotion is experienced.

(Perhaps only the broadest categories for happiness and sadness have patterns of behavioural expression sufficiently distinctive for this to be the case; cognitively complex emotions, such as hope or jealousy, have many behavioural expressions none of which is distinctive.) More often, behaviour expresses the agent's emotions only where the wider context is known.

There are further possibilities for the communication of emotion: one can learn of a person's emotions from true descriptions of them given by knowledgable third parties, or from their own sincere reports.

If emotions can be individuated solely by their sensational character and the dynamic structure of their phenomenology, one's knowledge of the detail of a person's 'internal' experience could communicate their emotions.

Finally, note that the expression of emotion has a social, arbitrarily conventional dimension.

In some cultures, for instance, the wearing of black clothes and veils is an expression of grief or respect for the dead.

The relevant conventions must be followed deliberately and sincerely if the resulting actions are to express an emotion the person feels. 2 Characters in works If the work contains characters (for example, through depiction or description), then these characters might experience emotions to which their behaviour or circumstances give expression.

Unless the audience is given reason in the work's contents, its genre, or the context of presentation to make-believe otherwise, it is to assume that the beliefs, behaviour, bodily attitudes and causal circumstances of the work's world correspond to those of the actual world.

Accordingly, the audience can learn what emotions the work's characters experience in the same manner as it recognizes the emotions communicated by others in the ordinary world, except that the audience's relation to the world of the work depends on make-believe rather than belief.

Some differences are worth noting, however.

In the case of narratives written in the first person, the audience might come to know 'from the inside' what a character experiences or believes, and hence what they feel, even if that feeling is not outwardly indicated.

Second, the protagonists might be non-human or unreal concoctions, such as elephants or intelligent ants.

In considering the emotions of such creations, information about their point of view will be relevant - their cognitive commitments and values, their vulnerabilities and aspirations, their intellect, physiology and the like.

In addition, artists create expressive contexts that do not or could not arise in the actual world.

For instance, the use of leitmotiv in opera to recall actions or words might reveal that a character's passion is meant for X despite being directed at Y.

Quotation and reference, both within and between works, might establish an expressive ambience one would not normally find or look for.

In addition to the emotions of their characters, art works seem to embody and express emotions of their own.

This applies to all kinds of works but is perhaps most striking in abstract. »