The Aesthetics of Pictorial Art

In this seminar, our research consultant Huai-An Hsing (Master of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, National Yang Ming University) delves into the aesthetics of pictorial arts. Pictorial art is defined as a two-dimensional visual work whose primary function is to offer an aesthetic experience. This encompasses not only traditional visual art forms such as painting and photography, but also graphic design—a field seldom explored within contemporary philosophical aesthetics.

Using Italian Renaissance painting as the subject of his philosophical inquiry, Huai-An Hsing outlined the shared structure underlying the aesthetic experience of pictorial arts. After considering the perspective that both painting and graphic design can be understood through similar conceptual frameworks, he turned his attention to the artistic practice of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Through this focus, he developed an approach to articulate the aesthetic value of pictorial works. By formulating a method for analysing the aesthetics of painting, a preliminary pathway was proposed for constructing an aesthetic theory of graphic design.