The Subordination of Aesthetic Fundamentals in College Art Instruction

by Randall Lavender

Opportunities for college students of art and design to study fundamentals of visual aesthetics, integrity of form, and principles of composition are limited today by a number of factors. With the well-documented prominence of postmodern critical theory in the world of contemporary art (and its questionable effects on higher education in art and design), the study of aesthetic fundamentals is largely subordinated to a multitude of conceptual, theoretical, and expressive priorities recycled from the art world.