The American Society for Aesthetics (ASA) was founded in 1942 to promote study, research, discussion and publication in the field of aesthetics. Since 2008 the American Society for Aesthetics each year awards a prize for an outstanding monograph in the field of philosophy of art or aesthetics published in the previous calendar year.
In The Pensive Image: Art as a Form of Thinking, Prof. Hanneke Grootenboer considers painting itself as a form of thinking. Traditionally, vanitas still life paintings (a type of still life in which the transience of earthly life is central) are seen as paintings that raise ontological issues, while landscapes lead us to introspection. In her book Grootenboer goes further and focuses on what remains unspoken in painting, the implicit and inexpressible that manifests itself in a quality she calls pensiveness. Unlike self-conscious or actively desiring images, pensive images are speculative; they move us away from interpretation and towards a state where thinking through and with the image can begin. On the basis of these considerations, Grootenboer shows that works of art serve both as models for thinking and as instruments through which thinking can take place.
The award for Outstanding Monograph will be presented at the annual conference to be held in Portland, Oregon, in November 2022.
