The Impact Of Paul Gustave Dore s 1869 Oil On Canvas,...

Around two months ago, I posted an image of Paul Gustave Dore’s 1869 oil on canvas, ‘Andromeda,’ to a large Internet forum called ‘Reddit.’ If you’re unfamiliar with the website ‘Reddit’, it is simply a site that is heavily run by the contribution of users, providing open discussions about specific ideas and news. To my amazement, the post made it to the front page, receiving much attention, but along with it came other ethical discussions that related to art as a general consensus and how the idea of ‘beauty’ has influenced current viewers with their expectations for museums and galleries. With comments on my post such as â€Å"Actual art on [Reddit!?]† and â€Å"Art isn’t art unless it’s old† – it was at this point that I became more aware of Thomas Horsfall’s view of, what he put as, â€Å"arts bitterest enemies.† To elaborate further, Horsfall suggested in his paper, ‘Art in Large Towns†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ dated 1882, historical and modern art visually entices the average viewer and their knowledge about its context, but people who only recognise a piece for its visual aesthetics have poor knowledge of the true approach to art. So, do we, the viewers go to museums and galleries in hope of finding beautiful imagery? Are we, as suggested by Horsfall, positively influenced on our ideas of beauty and taste by our viewings? Well, firstly†¦ What is beauty? By Oxford dictionary’s definition, beauty is defined by the â€Å"combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic