This master thesis "Perspectives of an Art Institution" focuses on the George Dickie's institutional theory of art (thereafter IT). This theory defines "work of art" as a result of the position of an artefact in the institutional framework of the artworld. The author of the thesis pays attention to the historical development of the IT- firstly published in 1969 in the article "Defining Art" and radically revisited in the book The Art Circle in 1984- as well as to the critical discussion based on Dickie's theory. In the first chapter she compares both the earlier and the later version of the theory; in following chapters she concerns with objections formulated against Dickie's IT. IT seems to be problematic in several aspects: the term "institution" is considered to be ambiguous; Dickie fails to give a full description of roles and rules which determine the operations of the artworld; the notion of appreciation seems to be contradictory with Dickie's opinions presented earlier; circularity; and Dickie's unsatisfactory attention to the historical dimension of the artworld. All of these objections are compared with Dickie's theory to prove their legitimacy or to refuse them as illegitimate. Not only aims the thesis to sum up the critical discussion but it aims to answer the question if the theory...

Piet Mondrian, one of the most significant representatives of modern abstract art, applied himself, aside from his own art work, to writing of theoretical texts. In his essays, he did not advocate for his own paintings, neither did he manifest any particular art movement. In these texts, one can trace rather general aesthetically-theoretical reflection on art, on the development of our world and on the position of a man in modern society. This thesis introduces Mondrian's comprehensive conception of art in light of aesthetics and the philosophy of art. It touches on the substance and function of art, on artistic means, on the role of an artist and on the meaning of art related to society and its development. The thesis focuses on the bases of Mondrian's theory and its influences. In addition, it presents various ideas of other contemporary avant-garde movements that somehow inspired Mondrian and that, together with his conception of art, create a certain context of the artistic atmosphere of the first half of the 20th century. The thesis draws from Mondrian's original texts that have, in most cases, not been translated into Czech, yet.

John Dewey's philosophical work was establishing a continuum between human behavior and nature. Dewey advanced the theory that everything we experience comes through interaction with our surroundings - and articulating our experience by this interaction. Dewey uses experience even in the framework of art - and he stresses the importance of combining art and esthetic experience into our everyday life. The first part of my paper is meant to explain Dewey's philosophical concepts, his view on the issues relating to the common world, his analysis of normal/everyday experience, and his analysis of what he termed esthetic experience. Part two is a comparison between Dewey's philosophy of esthetic experience and Jerome Stolnitz's, another known aesthetic philosopher, and their theories on esthetics. The basic question I seek to answer is whether, despite their differences in theories, Stolnitz was coming from a different theoretical background with different traditions and assumptions, one can still trace certain consensus and mutually shared territory in which their theories merge. And so, I attempt to answer the question, can we find characteristics of esthetic experience that would be plausible to both of them? Or is it rather that their understanding of esthetic experience was so different, that we...

The term "primitive art" was used to denote the tribal "art" of those people in Africa, Americas, Asia, Australia and Oceania who were the objects of ethnological or anthro- pological study. As such, it corresponds to the area of so called art that has has often (and unsatisfactory) been called tribal, primitive, aboriginal, native, indigenous or traditional etc. This thesis provides general introduction to some anthropological perspectives on art, and offers variety of approaches to the uneasy concept of art as is defined in our culture. Three case studies show ethnoaesthetic topics (paleolithic rockart, african hairstyles and also tattooing of human bodies in traditional Polynesian cultures).

The thesis examines three enlightenment textbooks of literary arts of that period, which were all published in 1783 and significantly contributed to dissemination of aesthetic ideas. Its primary aim is to determine how aesthetics, as a separate philosophical discipline, entered into these three selected textbooks of literary arts of that period, and in what ways it has influenced their interpretation. It raises a question of how the presence or absence of aesthetics influenced the concept of these texts not only as a whole, but also in developing specific theories, themes and ideas that are further compared in this thesis. It analyses the main sections of the textbooks and introduces their basic structure and specific opinions, which are then critically evaluated. The aim of the thesis is to examine the character of the interpretations and grasp the theories of particular kinds of arts depending on whether they were performed within or outside the framework of aesthetics. The presented thesis should contribute to a better understanding of the differences and similarities between German and Scottish reflections of aesthetic questions at the end of 18th century based on these three examples of textbooks.

Zen Buddhism Thoughts and their Reflection in Japanese Art This thesis covers the development of Chan and Zen Buddhism thoughts, their effect on Japanese culture and their reflection in specific art forms. In the first part, it summarizes the arriving and settling of Zen in Japan as a follow-up to Chan development in China and as a reaction to the preceeding Buddhist schools in Japan. In the second part it deduces a set of criteria for defining "Zen Arts" from the general trends in taste at that time. And in the third part, it compares the differences in architecture, landscape design and painting before and after the influence of Zen. It follows the changes in development of specific components and techniques of these art forms and on this basis it determines what are the key Zen Buddhism thoughts that are expressed by that and how.

Music in the Afrikaans reformed churches has reached a cross-road. This is evident in the many articles written on the subject, workshops held on the issue and outcries for help from several organists in various congregations. Scholars all agree that research on the topic of responsible renewal in church music is necessary. Furthermore, it seems the organ is systematically being dismissed as a church instrument, especially in evening worship services. It seems the organ is (unjustly) thought of as an old fashioned instrument capable of playing only classical music and thus not able to cater for the musical needs of today’s postmodern churchgoer. This study aims to provide recommendations for the renewed usage of the organ in an aesthetic music environment that will assist churchgoers of various spirituality types to worship with conviction. This study is based on thorough research on three specific concepts: 1. Aesthetics: In order to use aesthetics as a valuable tool for music renewal, it must first be established that it is indeed a Biblical concept. Study into the concept of aesthetics in the Bible is undertaken. 2. Spirituality: Every person differs in his perception of worship and this is mainly determined by his spirituality type. The different musical preferences according to these spirituality types are investigated. 3. The organ: The organ has established itself as a versatile church instrument since the Middle Ages. It has adapted to the changing musical styles through the ages. It is reasoned that the church organ can still provide in the musical needs of all churchgoers today. This does not mean that the organ is elevated as the exclusive church instrument, but it is argued that the organ can successfully be used in conjunction with other instruments in worship today. After these three concepts are investigated, practical guidance is given in the usage of the organ in combination with other instruments according to the aesthetical requirements of the different spirituality types in today’s Afrikaans reformed worship service. / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Music / unrestricted

The thesis investigates Plotinus' concept of beauty. Chapter 1 focuses on two methodological issues: development in Plotinus' thought and topics of the concerned Enneads. Since Plotinus wrote two Enneads directly devoted to this topic which were numbered and named by Porphyry I.6 On beauty and V.8 On intellectual beauty, these two treatises are addressed first in the context of other relevant Enneads (chapters 2 and 3). The outcome of these chapters is that beauty is primarily to be found in Intellect and that it is closely linked with unity in multiplicity, so this topic is further investigated in more detail. Five mutually interconnected perspectives Plotinus assumes to describe the unity in multiplicity specific to the Intellect, are outlined. Two of them that are related to the nature of intellection and intelligible objects are discussed in chapters 2 and 3. The one related to Intellect's genesis is analysed throughout the thesis. Therefore, most of chapter 4 focuses on the remaining two perspectives which are connected with Intellect's hierarchical (Ennead VI.2) and structural (Ennead VI.6) unity in multiplicity. In chapter 5, Ennead VI.7 is analysed in order to deepen the concept of beauty and refine its relation to the Good, life and other predicates. The last chapter presents a systematic...

3 ABSTRACT Humankind in its whole being is reflecting an environment by culture and visual art. Different cultural periods value nature and environment differently, what have a strong impact on nature management - some culture periods have a strong feeling for protecting nature for its own value while others see nature just as a source of materials or energy. This relationship is possible to find in art artifacts made during particular culture period. The communistic idea was ruling for almost half of the twentieth century in former Czechoslovakia. And its point of view has strong negative impact on state of nature and environment. As an official style of art socialist realism was approved at the same time. Its main goal was portraying a new communistic world, new communistic society and new communistic man. Aim of this work is to find out how the socialistic realism displays nature and landscape topic in art pieces. In core of this work stays the assumption, that socialistic realism has no value for nature itself, on the contrary it appreciates only it's rebuilding for easier exploitation. Findings are based on study of theoretical art texts and art-pieces from the period 1945 - 1958. Keywords: nature, landscape, aesthetic, art, socialist realism, landscape painting

The master thesis is focused on the mapping and detailed description of the books containing travel illustrations in the etching collection of The Kinsky Library. The thesis deals with the history of The Kinsky Library and general characteristic of the book collection, and examines in detail the etching collection. The pictorial works on the topic of travelling were selected from the etching collection in the very beginning. The selected books from the etching collection are listed in the inventory, which is the outcome the thesis. The book inventory reflects the technical aspects of illustrations in the selected books (printing process, size of the illustrations and names of the artists). The thesis is also focused on travelling and aesthetics of nature at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Keywords: The Kinsky Library, etching collection, illustration, history of travel, aesthetics of nature