mimetic theory of art

is the idea that the work of art, by definition, says something; that art is what it says rather than what it does.

Even in modern times, when most artists and critics have discarded the theory of art as representation of an outer reality in favor of the theory of art as subjective expression, the main feature of the mimetic theory persists. Whether we conceive of the work of art on the model of a picture (art as a picture of reality) or on the model of a statement (art as the statement of the artist), content still comes first. The content may have changed. It may now be less figurative, less lucidly realistic. But it is still assumed that a work of art is its content. Or, as it’s usually put today, that a work of art by definition says something. (“What X is saying is...,” “What X is trying to say is...,” “What X said is...” etc., etc.)

mimetic theory of art, n.All

mimetic theory of art