Aesthetic Violence: The Concept of the Ugly in Adorno's Aesthetic Theory

Abstract

Aesthetic Violence:The Concept of the Ugly in Adorno's Aesthetic Theory Peter Uwe Hohendahl (bio) Although Adorno's Aesthetic Theory explicitly emphasizes the importance of the ugly in art, the critical response has been modest.1 Since the concept of the beautiful is given a central place in Adorno's theory, commentators have focused their attention on the link between classical aesthetic theory and the theory of the modern artwork, which stands at the center of Adorno's endeavor.2 In this account, the important issue is Adorno's attempt to reconnect the theory of modern art with Kant's and Hegel's reflections on art.3 This line of argument is, of course, supported by Adorno's extensive treatment of the "Naturschöne," which nineteenth-century aesthetic theory, in the wake of Hegel, had eliminated from its agenda. From this perspective, Adorno's treatment of the ugly in art fades into the background. Its significance becomes limited to its oppositional function in modern art. As important as this function is for Adorno, it by no means exhausts the meaning of the ugly. Adorno's presentation of the material has possibly made it more difficult to recognize the larger meaning of the category for his theory, since the section devoted to the ugly seems to be less worked out than other parts of the posthumous work. I think it unlikely that the author would have published the section in its present form, because its various and heterogeneous elements have not been fully synthesized. Differently put, the section's dialectical nature has to be reconstructed by looking at other parts of the text. As we will see, the concept of the ugly functions on different levels, which connect with different sections of Aesthetic Theory. The task of my essay will be not only to separate the multiple strands of Adorno's treatment [End Page 170] of the ugly but also to consider the significance of the whole complex in Adorno's thought. The fact that Adorno discusses the ugly before he turns to the beautiful must be taken seriously—as an index of the importance that he gave to the ugly. The obvious level, especially in Aesthetic Theory, is the role assigned to the ugly in German aesthetics, beginning with Schiller and Friedrich von Schlegel and culminating in Karl Rosenkranz's Ästhetik des Häßlichen (1853), to which Adorno explicitly refers. In the architecture of Aesthetic Theory this element plays an important role insofar as it underscores a larger theme in Adorno's thought that is concerned with the connection between classical aesthetics with its emphasis on the autonomy of the artwork and the theory of modernism and the avant-garde.4 In this context the category of the ugly receives increasing attention during the course of the nineteenth century but remains in a secondary position as the negative of the beautiful. Yet it is precisely this order that Adorno means to challenge. Within the academic tradition that he invokes, this is a difficult task, because nineteenth-century aesthetics resisted the foregrounding of the ugly as a threat to the autonomy of art, and Adorno is not prepared to relinquish aesthetic autonomy. He must argue therefore that the ugly is compatible with the autonomy of art. For this purpose, Adorno introduces a second line of argument, namely the relevance of the ugly for modern art, and for the avant-garde in particular. In the context of modernist aesthetics the reversal between the beautiful and the ugly becomes necessary for a defense of the artwork against the impact of the culture industry and its commercialization of the beautiful. Adorno mentions "Jugendstil" as a primary example for this process. The autonomy of the artwork depends on its oppositional force, a quality that is enhanced by the ugly. It is precisely the violation of the traditional aesthetic code that separates the advanced artwork from the threat of the culture industry. The two strands mentioned above, however, do not exhaust the significance of the ugly in Adorno's thought. In fact, they do not get to the root of Adorno's interest in the ugly. The third, and I believe most important, aspect is...