11 Art

11 Art
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painting cave

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between 15,000 and 35,000 years ago.

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earliest rock art appeared some 40,000 years ago.
Note:INDONESIA

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in South Africa, red ocher engravings
Note:100000

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the use of red ocher as body paint

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Art is also a human universal.4 Every human culture on the planet

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painting, styling their hair, adorning their bodies, decorating their living spaces,

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It’s a costly behavior, both in time and energy,5 but at the same time it’s impractical
Note:DILEMMA

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What Is Art?
Note:LASCIAMO PERDERE

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“essentially contested

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why people make and enjoy art
Note:IL NS PROBL

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“made special,”

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for human attention and enjoyment.

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while ecological selection (the pressure to survive) abhors waste, sexual selection often favors it.
Note:UNA BUONA DFINIZIONE

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we prefer mates who can afford to waste

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survival surplus—health,

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Adaptation or Evolutionary Byproduct?

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bipedalism is an adaptation:

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Our ability to read,
Note:COLLATERALE

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contributing to our biological fitness.
Note:ARTE COME ADATTAMENTO

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Steven Pinker,

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pleasurable but not particularly useful.

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it’s a human universal:
Note:ARG X L ADATTIVITÀ

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art is costly:
Note:SECONDO

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Finally, art is old enough, in evolutionary terms, for selection
Note:TERZO

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PARABLE OF THE BOWERBIRD
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The male illustrates the virtue of the handicap principle.
Note:HANDICAP...PRODUTTORE...DIVISIONE NEI RUOLI

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Female bowerbirds, in turn, illustrate the importance of discernment in evaluating
Note:CONSUMATRICE

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shop around,

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If a satin bowerbird population happens to live in a forest with an abundance of blue-colored objects, even a relatively unfit male might be able to muster a display that would be impressive in a blue-scarce environment.
Note:ESEMPIO DI DISCERNIMENTO

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ART IN HUMANS
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in our species, males don’t have a monopoly on making art—nor do females have a monopoly on enjoying it.
Note:DIFFERENZA

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males invest a lot in their offspring and, consequently, need to be choosy about their mates.
Note:LA COSA HA SENSO

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is more than just a courtship display,
Note:BIGGER DIFF

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artist’s health, energy, vigor, coordination, and overall fitness.

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Scheherazade uses her artful storytelling to stave off execution
Note:ESEMPIO DI USO ALTERNATIVO

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Intimidating rivals
Note:ALTRA FUNZIONE

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gangs tag walls to mark their territory)

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use wit to humiliate hecklers).
Note:A TEATRO

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many reasons for wanting to impress
Note:UNO STRUMENTO CHE IMPRESSIONA...CAPACITÀ

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human artists don’t need to be conscious

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important isn’t whether we’re aware that we’re using art as a fitness display, but rather the fact that art works as a fitness display.
Note:DISCLAIMER

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portraying beauty and inducing pleasure.
Note:GENERAL WINDSOM UNO

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self-expression or communicating
Note:DUE

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These functions aren’t mutually exclusive, nor are they incompatible with the fitness display theory.

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COMPATIBILI

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“showing off” is one of the important motives
Note:UNO DEI TANTI

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our artistic instincts have been shaped substantially by this motive.
Note:L ISTINTO

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Intrinsic properties

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perceptual properties.
Note:INTRINSECO

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everything visible on the canvas:
Note:ESEMPIO

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Extrinsic properties,

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the consumer can’t perceive directly

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who the artist is,

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how many hours it took,

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how expensive the materials

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whether the artist copied the painting from a photograph. This is an extrinsic property

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conventional view locates the vast majority of art’s value in its intrinsic properties,

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Beauty, for example, is typically understood as an experience that arises from the artwork itself.
Note:BELLEZZA...INTRINSECA

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in the fitness-display theory, extrinsic properties are crucial

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art is largely a statement about the artist, a proof of his or her virtuosity.

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it’s often the extrinsic properties that make the difference
Note:LEGGI IL GIORNALE CHE PARLA D ARTE... IL TRIONFO DELL ESTRINSECO

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If a work of art is physically (intrinsically) beautiful, but was made too easily (like if a painting was copied from a photograph), we’re likely to judge it as much less valuable than a similar work that required greater skill to produce.
Note:ESEMPIO MUSICA ROBOTICA... COPIA DI UN DIPINTO

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consumers appreciate the same artwork less when they’re told it was made by multiple artists
Note:ESEMPIO

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how much effort went into it,

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replica museums don’t exist, and the idea strikes us as a bit silly
Note:REPLICA

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replicas strongly suggests that we often use art as something other than a trigger for sensory or intellectual experiences.
Note:TESI

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Mona Lisa,

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80 percent of them said they’d prefer to see the ashes of the original rather than an indistinguishable replica.
Note:LE CENERI DELLA MONNALISA

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THE IMPORTANCE OF EXTRINSIC PROPERTIES
Note:ttttttttt

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it might actually be a seashell. Did she just pick it up off the beach, or did she somehow make it herself?
Note:ESEMPIO DELL ESTRINSECO: ...LA SCULTURA CONCHIGLIOSA ERA UNA CONCHIGLIA

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This question is now absolutely central to your appreciation

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thing on the pedestal is clearly pleasing to the eye. But its value as art hinges entirely on the artist’s technique. If she found it on the beach: meh.

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is endemic to our experience of art.
Note:È NEL NOSTRO ISTINTO: LA BELLEZZA È SECONDARIA... UN PORTATO DELLA CIVILTÀ... L ESIBIZIONISMO È TUTTO

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we care about more than the perceptual experience

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Consider our emphasis on originality in works of art. We prize originality and spurn works that are too derivative,
Note:COPIARE UN TESTO

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our concern for using art to evaluate the artist.
Note:NN CI INTERESSA L ARTE MA L ARTISTA

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“We find attractive,” says Miller, “those things that could have been produced only by people with attractive, high-fitness qualities such as health, energy, endurance, hand–eye coordination, fine motor control, intelligence, creativity,
Note:SOLO L ARTE CHE SEGNALA GRANDI DOTI

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using techniques that are more difficult or demanding, but which don’t improve the intrinsic properties
Note:LA RISPOSTA DELL ARTISTA

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to demonstrate their fitness by making something that lower-fitness competitors could not make,
Note:IMPORTANTE

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continue to relish live performances,
Note:LIVE E STUDIO... GLI AGGIUSTAMENTI... IL PHOTOSHOP

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performing live is a handicap.

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(e.g., lip synching is anathema)

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improvised

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the appeal of constraints in a given art form.
Note:ALTRO ELEMENTO: IL GENERE

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to patch up their mistakes with putty or glue.
Note:LO SCULTORE NN SI CORREGGE

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We enjoy art not in spite of the constraints that artists hold themselves to, but because those constraints
Note:FORMA E GENERI

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WHEN EXTRINSIC FACTORS CHANGE
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lobster was literally low-class food,
Note:L ARAGOSTA

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harsh penal environment

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how plentiful lobsters were in old New England.
Note:RAGIONE

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now it’s considered a delicacy,
Note:OGGI È PRELIBATA... PERCHÈ RARA

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aesthetic shift

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skin color

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suntanned skin was disdained as the mark of a low-status laborer.
Note:PRIMA

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only the wealthy could afford to lay around soaking in the

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sun.35
Note:OGGI

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consumers unequivocally valued technical perfection
Note:PRIMA DELLA RIVOL IND... QUANDO TUTTO ERA FATTO A MANO

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prized for their realism,
Note:SCULTURE

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demonstrated the artist’s virtuosity
Note:REALISMO

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A vase, for example, could now be made smoother and more symmetric than ever before—but that very perfection became the mark of cheap, mass-produced goods.
Note:OGGI

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because of their imperfections.
Note:L APPREZZAMENTO

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two spoons: an expensive, handmade silver spoon and a factory-made spoon cast from cheap aluminum.
Note:PARADOSSO DEL CUCCHIAIO

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consumers vastly prefer the silver spoon

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silver is more beautiful than aluminum?

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imagine showing the spoons to an untrained forager from the Amazonian forests,

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aluminum spoon is made to a more exacting standard,

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After attending to all the perceptual qualities of the two spoons, the forager might easily prefer the aluminum one.
Note:LA PREFERENZA PIÙ NATURALE

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The key facts, so relevant to modern consumers, are entirely extrinsic to the spoons. We know that aluminum is common and cheap,
Note:ESTRINS

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factory-made goods are available to everyone, while only the wealthy

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Painters could no longer hope to impress viewers
Note:DOPO LA FOTOGRAFIA

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impressionism, cubism, expressionism, surrealism, abstraction.
Note:NUOVI GENERI NVENTATI

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authenticity
Note:PIÚ IMP

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representational
Note:MENO IMP

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easier, but more precise, new techniques.
Note:ELEMENTO SPIAZZANTE

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digital cameras and photo-editing software.

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electronic synthesizers and pitch correction.

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Whenever we prefer things made “the old-fashioned way”—handwritten instead of printed, homemade instead of store-bought, live instead of prerecorded—we’re choosing to celebrate the skill and effort of an artist over the intrinsically superior results

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Roman Mars

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architectural movement characterized by its use of concrete.
Note:BRUTALISM...MODERNOSMO ESTREMO.CEMENTO

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intrinsically cold, inhuman,
Note:GIUDIZIO POPOLARE

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requires a great deal of skill and finesse

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Every little detail has to be calculated out in advance,

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there’s no going back to make
Note:UNA VOLTA CHE IL CEMENTO SI VERSA

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WHY ART IS IMPRACTICAL
Note:tttttttttr

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however exquisite the knife’s craftsmanship, however pleasing it is to the senses, it doesn’t qualify as “art”
Note:UN COLTELLO PERFETTO...XCHÈ NN È ARTE?

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fitness-display theory explains why.

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advertise our survival surplus
Note:SCOPO DELL ARTE

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By distilling time and effort into something non-functional, an artist effectively says, “I’m so confident in my survival that I can afford to waste time and energy.”
Note:I MESSAGGIO

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waste is important.
Note:LO SPRECO È TUTTO IN CHI PUNTA SULL ISTINTO

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Consider the difference between clothing, which is a necessity, and fashion, which is a luxury.
Note:MODA E ABBIGLIAMENTO... TITTO BEN VISOBILE

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High heels,

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TACCHI

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awkward for walking and brutal on the feet—which

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“I care about fashion.”

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Neckties

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cotton or denim,
Note:QUEL CHE DURA È BRITTO

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silk, lace, or wool.

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polyester?

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Food—as an art form—also needs to distinguish
Note:CIBO

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more than mere nourishment

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Haute cuisine

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artful arrangement

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None of these especially improves the taste,

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DISCERNMENT

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discernment—the skill of the savvy consumer
Note:CRITICO

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“Which way is high status?”
Note:LA DOMANDA DELL ANIMALE

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Like the female bowerbird,

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consume a lot of art
Note:COME CHI CERCA MAROTO

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common

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rare

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An untrained ear can’t appreciate the genius of Bach.

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feel the pea beneath 20 mattresses

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We spend an incredible amount of our leisure time refining our critical faculties
Note:ANCHE DISCERNERE È UN ARTE

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We’re eager to evaluate art, reflect on it, criticize it, calibrate our criticisms

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We don’t want others to know that we’re inept at telling good art from bad,

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we evaluate each other not only for our first-order skills, but for our skills at evaluating the skills of others.