An Essay on Critical Appreciation

First published in 1938, An Essay on Critical Appreciation aims to provide a language suited for the explication on beauty. This explication is not based merely on emotion but is motivated by contemplation and discrimination. By virtue of being rendered in a discourse, an appreciation can claim to be critical or discriminating and 'beauty' can be said to have characteristics. The search of such a language takes the author through the contemplation on the meaning of 'beauty', entertaining contrary views, and reaching at an understanding of the aesthetic situation. This book will be of interest to students of English literature, philosophy and art.

R. W. Church

Introduction 1. On the Meaning of "Beauty" 2. Some Contrary Views, and Beauty in Fact 3. Materials, Methods, and Aesthetic Materials in Painting 4. Aspects of Aesthetic Form 5. Expression 6. Value Theory and Criteria of Value 7. The Aesthetic Situation Index