formalist

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“
But consider Hopper as a formalist, not a sociologist.

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Definitions (3)

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  1. One who adheres strictly to established custom, form, or usage, as in style, conduct, or procedure; one who is attached to the observance of recognized modes or methods; also, one who has undue regard to forms and rules. There are in point of wisdome and sufficiencie, that doe nothing or little verie solemnly. It is a ridiculous thing, and fit for a satyre to persons of judgement, to see what shifts these formalists have, and what perspectives to make superficies to seeme body, that hath depth and bulke. Bacon, Of Seeming Wise (1612). The cramping influence of a hard formalist on a young child in repressing his spirits and courage, paralyzing the understanding, … is a familiar fact explained to the child when he becomes a man. Emerson, History.
  2. In philosophy, one who denies the existence of matter and recognizes the existence of form only; an idealist.

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Examples (50)

  • Ian: It's important to note that platform studies isn't a particular approach; you can be more formalist or materialist, more anthropological or more of a computer scientist, in terms of how you consider a platform.
  • The above can easily be read as a plea for the formalist tradition, were it not that such one-sided devotion is what has made the plausible argument so problematic to begin with. —  The House Next Door
  • Film theory would be better off if it moved beyond the classical realist-formalist opposition, since a preference for one school of aesthetics over the other is counter-productive and simply not very relevant anymore. —  The House Next Door
  • There is nothing disinterested or neutral about these paintings, which is why the temptation to see Bonnard as a formalist must be resisted even more strongly than the temptation to see the paintings as a diary of the painter's life-which the paintings never really tell you anything about. —  The Nation: Top Stories
  • His book on Shostakovich was published in 1948, when Stalin had personally authorized a campaign against formalist-read "Western" - influences in Soviet music.
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Etymologies (1)

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  1. =G. Danish Swedish formalist, from French formaliste = Portuguese Italian formalista; as formal + -ist.
 

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