aesthetic distance
noun
: the frame of reference that an artist creates by the use of technical devices in and around the work of art to differentiate it psychologically from reality
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Rather, the turquoise frock coat takes the leopard’s spots and abstracts them into a fascinating pattern that remains at an aesthetic distance from the creature that inspired it. 
Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2022 It’s as if the turmoil of recent years had prompted her to abandon aesthetic distance and enter the melee of the real. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 19 July 2021 Palm Beach, roughly the same physical and aesthetic distance from Miami as the Hamptons are from Manhattan, was already the winter home of Wall Street grandees as well as whoever wanted to cozy up at Mar-a-Lago. Bill Kearney, Curbed, 16 Mar. 2021
Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2022 It’s as if the turmoil of recent years had prompted her to abandon aesthetic distance and enter the melee of the real. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 19 July 2021 Palm Beach, roughly the same physical and aesthetic distance from Miami as the Hamptons are from Manhattan, was already the winter home of Wall Street grandees as well as whoever wanted to cozy up at Mar-a-Lago. Bill Kearney, Curbed, 16 Mar. 2021 Word History
First Known Use
1867, in the meaning defined above