Week Three: Of the Standard of Taste

David Hume’s Of the Standard of Taste raises some very accurate points about how different people can have various opinions about the beauty or taste of an artwork. He maintains that there is a single correct opinion, however, and one can only attain that proper view of art by practicing, viewing, and having vast stores of knowledge about art. His anecdotal comparison of art critics with the wine tasters who could discern the lead and leather tastes from a key on a leather thong at the bottom of a barrel of wine seems very accurate, but I do not think it is fair to denounce all other people who could not perceive those distinct tastes as being completely ignorant of art.

In my interpretation of Hume’s theory, taste is not something an object inherently has or does not have; taste is something that a person must gain an understanding of. For instance, when Hume talks about a person whose prejudice perverts their interpretation of art, he says, “his taste evidently departs from the true standard” (86). To me, this means that each person has a degree of taste for understanding art, and therefore when looking at pieces such as those on Professor Andersen’s blog this week, we cannot determine if those pieces are tasteful, but only can tell if we have acquired the degree of taste necessary to praise or reject these artworks. And since apparently there are so few critics who truly understand the nature of taste, I believe, according to Hume, it would be impossible for me to have a justified opinion about any artworks because surely I do not understand the true nature of taste and beauty.

According to my own (apparently faulty and tasteless) judgment, I would say that neither of these two pictures is tasteful, because something about them is jarring to the viewers. I cannot pinpoint what does not work—the man has a creepy expression and the colors are washed out, and the monkey seems like he is mocking all people who have ever had serious portraits painted. Yet I cannot say for sure, because I am like the mob of wine drinkers who could not discern the leather or lead.