FORMALISM

Formalism

In art history, formalism is the study of art by analyzing and comparing form and style—the way objects are made and their purely visual aspects. In painting formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as color, line, shape and texture rather than iconography or the historical and social context. At its extreme, formalism in art history posits that everything necessary to comprehending a work of art is contained within the work of art. The context for the work, including the reason for its creation, the historical background, and the life of the artist, is considered to be of secondary importance. In archaeology, where it tends to be called ...

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formalism

Noun

  1. Strict adherence to a given form of conduct, practice etc.
  2. One of several alternative computational paradigms for a given theory.
  3. An approach to interpretation and/or evaluation focused on the (usually linguistic) structure of a literary work rather than on the contexts of its origin or reception.
  4. The tendency to elevate formal above expressive value in music, as in serialism.
  5. A particular mathematical or scientific theory or description of a given state or effect.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: formalism
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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