Beauty & The Beholder: History Of Aesthetic Taste

Join us this January for a lecture that asks a deceptively simple question:nWhen we say beauty is subjective, what are we really claiming?

About the Lecture

“Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder” is one of the most familiar phrases in aesthetic thought. But where does it come from, and what kind of world does it assume?

This lecture traces a pivotal shift in the history of ideas. During the Enlightenment, philosophers radically redefined beauty, not as an objective quality embedded in the world, but as a subjective experience shaped by perception, emotion, and judgment. This transformation continues to structure how we understand art, taste, and cultural value today.

In this session, Sanchita Khurana explores the emergence of taste as a central aesthetic concept, examining how it moves from literal, bodily sensation to a cultivated capacity for judgment.

About the Lecturer

Sanchita Khurana is Assistant Professor in English at Mata Sundri College for Women, University of Delhi. She holds a doctorate in Art History & Visual Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and has been a Fulbright Fellow at Columbia University, as well as a Charles Wallace Research Grant recipient in London.

Her research spans popular culture, street art, aesthetic theory, literary criticism, theories of the public sphere, and modernisms in visual and literary culture. She is the co-editor of Form and Context: Modern Aesthetics and Literary Criticism (Worldview Books, 2023).

PS: Your ticket includes a complimentary beverage or snack at the venue.

About unLecture

unLecture brings experts out of classrooms and into cafés, bars and neighbourhood spaces across Delhi. Created by three friends from St. Stephen’s, Delhi who wanted learning to feel warm, social and alive. unLecture turns an ordinary evening into a conversation you’ll think about long after it ends.