Before the Work of Art. Education as Yielding to Art’s Address

Abstract

By exploring a number of resonances disclosed by using the language of yielding to the address the work of art issues forth, this essay attempts to show how (self)education is able to take place in conversations with eminent art. Aspects of what happens to us before we (under)stand before the work of art are also examined, suggesting they often impede the conversation we are seeking. Kitsch is also critiqued to set into relief how eminent works of art address us as a welcomed challenge and to demonstrate the educations we seek in our engagements with the work of art need to be wary of the ease with which kitsch art is taken into our understanding. This essay claims we have a chance—through yielding to the work of art—of overcoming the seductions of kitsch and what we are likely to have learned before we (under)stand before the work of art.

Keywords

• yielding
• work of art
• education
• conversation/understanding
• kitsch