Keywords
Antiquity
Reception
Abstract
The contributions to this issue of “Studi di Estetica” display different ways in which ancient aesthetic ideas can enter modern arts and aesthetics. Ancient authors may show how to revise our accounts of art-appreciation, as Phillip Mitsis argues by appeal to Plutarch, and as Nadezhda Zubova and Gao Jing both argue, from different perspectives, about Aristotle. Or the ancient ideas speak to characteristics of modern art; this is Ignacio Garay’s reading of Pythagorean music theory and classic rock. Giulia Cervato likewise addresses the ancient ideas in modern practice, with reference to Plato and painting, although she questions the traditional narrative of modern reception. Kristin Boyce and Cynthia Freeland, writing about dance, show both how to enlarge a Platonic mimetic theory, and how Plato’s Laws finds its ideas staged in Balanchine’s ballet.