A Double Content Theory of Artistic Representation

Abstract

On the face of it, not all artistic meaning and communication can be explained in representational terms. In addition to the subject matter of artworks, which constitutes their normal meaningful representational content, there are various other components of meaning involved in artistic communication. These presumably involve at least expressive, stylistic, mediumrelated, formal, and intentional factors-collectively to be referred to as aspectual factors. Thus there is a concern that a general theory of representation, applying to any signs or symbols whatsoever (such as that of Nelson Goodman), will be unable to capture what is specifically artistic about artworks as such.1 For this reason too, it would seem that artistic meaning outruns any standard view of representational content. To be sure, Kendall Walton is able to explain some aspects of artworks on the basis of a nonstandard concept of representation-where representation is equated with fictionality-that makes integral appeals to interactions of artworks with human imaginative make-believe cognition.2 However, this view has little to say about artistic intentions and expression, and even less to say about the concepts of artistic style, medium, and form. There is another option that deserves to be tried. Instead of settling for irreducibly nonrepresentational meaning factors in artworks, or ignoring or downplaying the role of such factors, one could postulate that artworks involve two rather than just one kind of representational content, and then try to develop an approach in which all aspects of artistic meaning would be explained in terms of appropriate combinations of the two kinds of content. It is this option, a double content theory or approach to artworks, which I shall investigate and argue for in the curre t essay. I shall concentrate on visual artworks, such as paintings or drawings, but the points made will be general enough to potentially apply to other art forms as well.3 There are additional reasons that a double