Bell, Clive

Bell, Clive

▪ British critic
in full  Arthur Clive Heward Bell 
born September 16, 1881, East Shefford, Berkshire, England
died September 17, 1964, London

      English art critic who helped popularize the art of the Post-Impressionists (Post-Impressionism) in Great Britain.

      Bell graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1902 and spent the next several years studying art in Paris and then back in London. In 1907 he married Vanessa Stephen, the sister of Virginia Stephen (later Virginia Woolf), and he was an early active member of the circle of English writers and artists called the Bloomsbury group. Bell also formed an important friendship with the English art critic Roger Fry (Fry, Roger) in 1910, and together they organized the landmark second Post-Impressionist exhibition that was held in London in 1912.

      Bell's most important contribution to art criticism was the theory of “significant form,” as described in his books Art (1914) and Since Cézanne (1922). He asserted that purely formal qualities—i.e., the relationships and combinations of lines and colours—are the most important elements in works of art. The aesthetic emotion aroused in the viewer by a painting springs primarily from an apprehension of its significant form, rather than from a “reading” of its subject matter. Bell pointed to the works of Paul Cézanne (Cézanne, Paul) as those in which formal properties were manifested most purely, and Bell also attacked the public's preoccupation with the anecdotal, narrative, and morally didactic functions of traditional realistic painting.

      Bell's assertion that art appreciation involves an emotional response to purely formal properties proved widely influential for several decades, though he was later seriously criticized for his sweeping assertion of the primacy of form over content in art. Among Bell's other publications are Landmarks in Nineteenth-Century French Painting (1927) and a volume of reminiscences, Old Friends: Personal Recollections (1956).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Clive Bell — en 1924. Nombre …   Wikipedia Español

  • Clive Bell — Portrait of Clive Bell by Roger Fry Arthur Clive Heward Bell (16 September 1881 – 18 September 1964) was an English Art critic, associated with formalism and the Bloomsbury Group. Contents 1 Origins …   Wikipedia

  • Clive Cussler — Born July 15, 1931 (1931 07 15) (age 80) Aurora, Illinois, U.S. Occupation Novelist …   Wikipedia

  • Clive Bell — par Roger Fry Arthur Clive Heward Bell (16 septembre 1881 – 18 septembre 1964) est un critique d art anglais, cofondateur du Bloomsbury Group et beau frère de Virginia Woolf. Sommaire …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Clive Davis — Clive Davis, November 13, 2007, New York City Born April 4, 1932 (1932 04 04) (age 79) New York City, New York Nationality …   Wikipedia

  • Clive Gibbons — Neighbours character Portrayed by Geoff Paine Introduced by Reg Watson (1986) Don Battye (1989) Duration 1986–87, 1989 First appearance 22 January 1986 Last appearance 19 October 1989 Classification …   Wikipedia

  • Clive Cussler — Nacimiento 15 de julio de 1931 Aurora, Illinois Ocupación Arqueólogo marino y escritor Nacionalidad …   Wikipedia Español

  • Clive Churchill — Personal information Full name Clive Bernard Churchill Nickname …   Wikipedia

  • Clive Barker's Jericho — Developer(s) MercurySteam Publisher(s) …   Wikipedia

  • Clive — ist ein englischer männlicher Vorname[1] und Familienname. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Herkunft und Bedeutung 2 Bekannte Namensträger 2.1 Vorname …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”