What exactly does 'art imitates life' mean?

"Aly" <twistedangel_23.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:69e0ff98.0401252225.38071811@posting.google.com...

> Could someone please explain this to me? (That is, if it even is
> explainable).

The earliest known art includes statues (imitations
of people) and poetic sagas (imitations of battles,
love stories etc. cf. Aristotle.) The plastic arts (e.g. pictures)
have been realistic (representational) for most of
their history.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada)
 >> Stay informed about: What exactly does 'art imitates life' mean? 

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 09:02:25 -0500, "Don Phillipson"
<nospam RemoveThis @nospam.trytel.com> wrote:

>"Aly" <twistedangel_23 RemoveThis @yahoo.com> wrote in message
>news:69e0ff98.0401252225.38071811@posting.google.com...
>
>> Could someone please explain this to me? (That is, if it even is
>> explainable).
>
>The earliest known art includes statues (imitations
>of people) and poetic sagas (imitations of battles,
>love stories etc. cf. Aristotle.) The plastic arts (e.g. pictures)
>have been realistic (representational) for most of
>their history.

Isn;t this like asking what "dog bites man" means?

Don
 >> Stay informed about: What exactly does 'art imitates life' mean? 

In article <69e0ff98.0401252225.38071811 DeleteThis @posting.google.com>,
twistedangel_23 DeleteThis @yahoo.com (Aly) wrote:

> Could someone please explain this to me? (That is, if it even is
> explainable). Thanks.

Um -- I've always thought the expression was "Life imitates Art", and
referred to those moments when someone recognizes that an event that
has just happened is in fact very similar to an event in a previously
published (or exhibited) work of art. The idea is that art somehow
picks up and displays patterns that turn up in real life and that
that's the artist's special gift -- to show us to ourselves as we
really are. Also there's a touch of superstitious awe in such
recognitions, as if the artist forsaw the reality that later came to
pass.

SMC

--
Crowfoot
 >> Stay informed about: What exactly does 'art imitates life' mean? 

Don Tuite <don_tuite RemoveThis @REMOVETHIShotlink.com> wrote in message news:<a47d10l6a8pjsb3fet9jmh57jbolipisj5 RemoveThis @4ax.com>...
> On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 09:02:25 -0500, "Don Phillipson"
> <nospam RemoveThis @nospam.trytel.com> wrote:
>
> >"Aly" <twistedangel_23 RemoveThis @yahoo.com> wrote in message
> >news:69e0ff98.0401252225.38071811@posting.google.com...
> >
> >> Could someone please explain this to me? (That is, if it even is
> >> explainable).
> >
> >The earliest known art includes statues (imitations
> >of people) and poetic sagas (imitations of battles,
> >love stories etc. cf. Aristotle.) The plastic arts (e.g. pictures)
> >have been realistic (representational) for most of
> >their history.
>
> Isn;t this like asking what "dog bites man" means?

Good analogy. To be more informative rather than obliquely sarcastic,
the original expression was "Life Imitates Art", which meant to refer
to the counterintuitive instance where something that was formerly
thought to be a contrivance of literature or storytelling pops up in
reality as if torn from the pages of the book. It was a challenge to
the conventional view of the universe.

Eventually, the phrase became so common, that REVERSING it became more
of a challenge, and people started using the phrase "Art imitates
Life" as a clever reversal of the cliche, so it's kind of a
double-irony that arrives full-circle at the conventional wisdom that
fantasy mimicks reality, only makes it seem like an unexpected twist.

DB.
 >> Stay informed about: What exactly does 'art imitates life' mean?