The Search for a Democratic Aesthetics: Robert Rauschenberg, Walker Evans, William Carlos Williams by Alexander Leicht (review)

In contrast to a method of American studies focused on democratic themes such as individualism, or the role of art in a democratic society, The Search for a Democratic Aesthetics proposes that particular artworks are “doing democratic theory” using the formal resources of art. The first part of the book provides a theoretical framework by defining democracy as egalitarianism, or the equal respect for autonomous persons; as pluralism, or how individuals come together while maintaining their distinctive identities; and openness, or the idea that democracy is an ongoing process (19). These three dimensions of democracy offer a schematic outline of contemporary democratic theory to organize the interpretive chapters that follow on the paintings of Robert Rauschenberg, the photographs of Walker Evans, and the poems of William Carlos Williams. The method of critical analysis in The Search for a Democratic Aesthetics makes use of interactionist theories of metaphor to map relations across the conceptual domains of art and social structures. And these relations provides an organizational structure for the methodological challenge of discussing how particular aesthetic strategies share characteristics (or interact) with democratic theory across the distinct practices of painting, photography, and poetry. These metaphorical relationships include links BOOK Review