What thoughtful man has not been perplexed by problems
relating to art?
An estimable and charming Russian lady I knew, felt
the charm of the music and ritual of the services of the
Russo-Greek Church so strongly that she wished the
peasants, in whom she was interested, to retain their blind
faith, though she herself disbelieved the church doctrines.
“Their lives are so poor and bare—they have so little art,
so little poetry and color in their lives—let them at least
enjoy what they have; it would be cruel to undeceive
them,” said she.
A false and antiquated view of life is supported by means
of art, and is inseparably linked to some manifestations of
art which we enjoy and prize. If the false view of... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
This book of mine, “What is Art?” appears now for the
first time in its true form. More than one edition has
already been issued in Russia, but in each case it has been
so mutilated by the “Censor,” that I request all who are
interested in my views on art only to judge of them by
the work in its present shape. The causes which led to
the publication of the book—with my name attached to
it—in a mutilated form, were the following:—In accordance
with a decision I arrived at long ago,—not to submit
my writings to the “Censorship” (which I consider to be
an immoral and irrational institution), but to print them
only in the shape in which they were written,—I intended
n... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Introduction v
Author’s Preface xxxiii
CHAPTER I
Time and labor spent on art—Lives stunted in its service—Morality
sacrificed to and anger justified by art—The
rehearsal of an opera described 1
CHAPTER II
Does art compensate for so much evil?—What is art?—Confusion
of opinions—Is it “that which produces beauty”?—The
word “beauty” in Russian—Chaos in æsthetics 9
CHAPTER III
Summary of various æsthetic theories and definitions, from
Baumgarten to to-day 20
CHAPTER IV
Definitions of art founded on beauty—Taste not definable—A
clear definition needed to enable us to recognize works
of a... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Take up any one of our ordinary newspapers, and you
will find a part devoted to the theater and music. In
almost every number you will find a description of some
art exhibition, or of some particular picture, and you will
always find reviews of new works of art that have appeared,
of volumes of poems, of short stories, or of novels.
Promptly, and in detail, as soon as it has occurred, an
account is published of how such and such an actress or
actor played this or that rôle in such and such a drama,
comedy, or opera; and of the merits of the performance, as
well as of the contents of the new drama, comedy, or opera,
with its defects and merits. With as much care and detail,
or even more, we are told how such and such an a... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
For the production of every ballet, circus, opera, operetta,
exhibition, picture, concert, or printed book, the intense and
unwilling labor of thousands and thousands of people is
needed at what is often harmful and humiliating work.
It were well if artists made all they require for themselves,
but, as it is, they all need the help of workmen, not only to
produce art, but also for their own usually luxurious maintenance.
And, one way or other, they get it; either through
payments from rich people, or through subsidies given by
Government (in Russia, for instance, in grants of millions of
rubles to theaters, conservatoires and academies). This
money is collected from the people, some of whom have to
sell their only cow to pay the... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
I begin with the founder of æsthetics, Baumgarten (1714-1762).
According to Baumgarten,[10] the object of logical knowledge
is Truth, the object of æsthetic (i.e. sensuous) knowledge
is Beauty. Beauty is the Perfect (the Absolute), recognized
through the senses; Truth is the Perfect perceived
through reason; Goodness is the Perfect reached by moral
will.
Beauty is defined by Baumgarten as a correspondence, i.e.
an order of the parts in their mutual relations to each
other and in their relation to the whole. The aim of beauty
itself is to please and excite a desire, “Wohlgefallen und
Erregung eines Verlangens.” (A position precisely the opposite
of Kant’s definition of the nature and sign of beau... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
To what do these definitions of beauty amount? Not
reckoning the thoroughly inaccurate definitions of beauty
which fail to cover the conception of art, and which suppose
beauty to consist either in utility, or in adjustment to a
purpose, or in symmetry, or in order, or in proportion, or in
smoothness, or in harmony of the parts, or in unity amid
variety, or in various combinations of these,—not reckoning
these unsatisfactory attempts at objective definition, all the
æsthetic definitions of beauty lead to two fundamental
conceptions. The first is that beauty is something having an
independent existence (existing in itself), that it is one of
the manifestations of the absolutely Perfect, of the Idea, of
the Spirit, of ... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
What is art, if we put aside the conception of beauty,
which confuses the whole matter? The latest and most comprehensible
definitions of art, apart from the conception of
beauty, are the following:—(1 a) Art is an activity arising
even in the animal kingdom, and springing from sexual
desire and the propensity to play (Schiller, Darwin, Spencer),
and (1 b) accompanied by a pleasurable excitement of the
nervous system (Grant Allen). This is the physiological-evolutionary
definition. (2) Art is the external manifestation,
by means of lines, colors, movements, sounds, or words,
of emotions felt by man (Véron). This is the experimental
definition. According to the very latest definition (Sully),
(3) Art is “the pr... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
But how could it happen that that very art, which in
ancient times was merely tolerated (if tolerated at all),
should have come, in our times, to be invariably considered
a good thing if only it affords pleasure?
It has resulted from the following causes. The estimation
of the value of art (i.e. of the feelings it transmits) depends
on men’s perception of the meaning of life; depends on
what they consider to be the good and the evil of life.
And what is good and what is evil is defined by what are
termed religions.
Humanity unceasingly moves forward from a lower, more
partial, and obscure understanding of life, to one more
general and more lucid. And in this, as in every movement,
there are leaders,—those who ha... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
From the time that people of the upper classes lost faith in
Church Christianity, beauty (i.e. the pleasure received from
art) became their standard of good and bad art. And, in
accordance with that view, an æsthetic theory naturally sprang
up among those upper classes justifying such a conception,—a
theory according to which the aim of art is to exhibit
beauty. The partisans of this æsthetic theory, in confirmation
of its truth, affirmed that it was no invention of their
own, but that it existed in the nature of things, and was
recognized even by the ancient Greeks. But this assertion
was quite arbitrary, and has no foundation other than the
fact that among the ancient Greeks, in consequence of
the low grade o... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
But if art is a human activity having for its purpose the
transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to
which men have risen, how could it be that humanity
for a certain rather considerable period of its existence
(from the time people ceased to believe in Church doctrine
down to the present day) should exist without this important
activity, and, instead of it, should put up with an
insignificant artistic activity only affording pleasure?
In order to answer this question, it is necessary, first of
all, to correct the current error people make in attributing
to our art the significance of true, universal art. We are
so accustomed, not only naïvely to consider the Circassian
family the best stock of people, but... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
The unbelief of the upper classes of the European world
had this effect, that instead of an artistic activity aiming at
transmitting the highest feelings to which humanity has
attained,—those flowing from religious perception,—we have
an activity which aims at affording the greatest enjoyment
to a certain class of society. And of all the immense domain
of art, that part has been fenced off, and is alone called art,
which affords enjoyment to the people of this particular
circle.
Apart from the moral effects on European society of such
a selection from the whole sphere of art of what did not deserve
such a valuation, and the acknowledgment of it as
important art, this perversion of art has weakened art itself,
and ... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
In consequence of their unbelief the art of the upper classes
became poor in subject-matter. But besides that, becoming
continually more and more exclusive, it became at the
same time continually more and more involved, affected, and
obscure.
When a universal artist (such as were some of the Grecian
artists or the Jewish prophets) composed his work, he naturally
strove to say what he had to say in such a manner that his
production should be intelligible to all men. But when an
artist composed for a small circle of people placed in exceptional
conditions, or even for a single individual and his
courtiers,—for popes, cardinals, kings, dukes, queens, or for a
king’s mistress,—he naturally only aimed at influenci... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Becoming ever poorer and poorer in subject-matter and
more and more unintelligible in form, the art of the upper
classes, in its latest productions, has even lost all the
characteristics of art, and has been replaced by imitations
of art. Not only has upper-class art, in consequence of its
separation from universal art, become poor in subject-matter
and bad in form, i.e. ever more and more unintelligible, it
has, in course of time, ceased even to be art at all, and has
been replaced by counterfeits.
This has resulted from the following causes. Universal art
arises only when some one of the people, having experienced
a strong emotion, feels the necessity of transmitting it to
others. The art of the rich classes, on the other ha... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
In our society three conditions co-operate to cause the production
of objects of counterfeit art. They are—(1) the
considerable remuneration of artists for their productions
and the professionalization of artists which this has produced,
(2) art criticism, and (3) schools of art.
While art was as yet undivided, and only religious art
was valued and rewarded while indiscriminate art was
left unrewarded, there were no counterfeits of art,
or, if any existed, being exposed to the criticism of the
whole people, they quickly disappeared. But as soon as
that division occurred, and the upper classes acclaimed
every kind of art as good if only it afforded them pleasure,
and began to reward such art more highly than any other
so... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
To what an extent people of our circle and time have lost the
capacity to receive real art, and have become accustomed
to accept as art things that have nothing in common with it,
is best seen from the works of Richard Wagner, which have
latterly come to be more and more esteemed, not only by
the Germans but also by the French and the English, as the
very highest art, revealing new horizons to us.
The peculiarity of Wagner’s music, as is known, consists
in this, that he considered that music should serve poetry,
expressing all the shades of a poetical work.
The union of the drama with music, devised in the
fifteenth century in Italy for the revival of what they
imagined to have been the ancient Greek drama with
music,... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
I know that most men—not only those considered clever,
but even those who are very clever and capable of
understanding most difficult scientific, mathematical or
philosophic problems—can very seldom discern even the
simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as to oblige
them to admit the falsity of conclusions they have formed,
perhaps with much difficulty—conclusions of which they
are proud, which they have taught to others, and on which
they have built their lives. And therefore I have little
hope that what I adduce as to the perversion of art and
taste in our society will be accepted or even seriously
considered. Nevertheless, I must state fully the inevitable
conclusion to which my investigation into th... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Art, in our society, has been so perverted that not only has
bad art come to be considered good, but even the very perception
of what art really is has been lost. In order to be
able to speak about the art of our society, it is, therefore,
first of all necessary to distinguish art from counterfeit art.
There is one indubitable indication distinguishing real
art from its counterfeit, namely, the infectiousness of art.
If a man, without exercising effort and without altering his
standpoint, on reading, hearing, or seeing another man’s
work, experiences a mental condition which unites him
with that man and with other people who also partake of
that work of art, then the object evoking that condition is
a work of art. And ho... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
How in art are we to decide what is good and what is
bad in subject-matter?
Art, like speech, is a means of communication, and
therefore of progress, i.e. of the movement of humanity
forward towards perfection. Speech renders accessible to
men of the latest generations all the knowledge discovered
by the experience and reflection, both of preceding generations
and of the best and foremost men of their own times;
art renders accessible to men of the latest generations all
the feelings experienced by their predecessors, and those
also which are being felt by their best and foremost contemporaries.
And as the evolution of knowledge proceeds
by truer and more necessary knowledge dislodging and
replacing what is mistaken and unnec... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
Art is one of two organs of human progress. By words man
interchanges thoughts, by the forms of art he interchanges
feelings, and this with all men, not only of the present
time, but also of the past and the future. It is natural to
human beings to employ both these organs of intercommunication,
and therefore the perversion of either of them
must cause evil results to the society in which it occurs.
And these results will be of two kinds: first, the absence,
in that society, of the work which should be performed by
the organ; and secondly, the harmful activity of the perverted
organ. And just these results have shown themselves
in our society. The organ of art has been perverted,
and therefore the upper classes of society have, ... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
The cause of the lie into which the art of our society has
fallen was that people of the upper classes, having ceased
to believe in the Church teaching (called Christian), did not
resolve to accept true Christian teaching in its real and
fundamental principles of sonship to God and brotherhood
to man, but continued to live on without any belief, endeavoring
to make up for the absence of belief—some by
hypocrisy, pretending still to believe in the nonsense of the
Church creeds; others by boldly asserting their disbelief;
others by refined agnosticism; and others, again, by returning
to the Greek worship of beauty, proclaiming egotism to
be right, and elevating it to the rank of a religious doctrine.
The cause of the malad... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
People talk of the art of the future, meaning by “art of
the future” some especially refined, new art, which, as they
imagine, will be developed out of that exclusive art of one
class which is now considered the highest art. But no such
new art of the future can or will be found. Our exclusive
art, that of the upper classes of Christendom, has found its
way into a blind alley. The direction in which it has been
going leads nowhere. Having once let go of that which is
most essential for art (namely, the guidance given by
religious perception), that art has become ever more and
more exclusive, and therefore ever more and more perverted,
until, finally, it has come to nothing. The art of the future,
that which is really... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
I have accomplished, to the best of my ability, this work
which has occupied me for 15 years, on a subject near to me—that
of art. By saying that this subject has occupied me
for 15 years, I do not mean that I have been writing this
book 15 years, but only that I began to write on art 15
years ago, thinking that when once I undertook the task I
should be able to accomplish it without a break. It proved,
however, that my views on the matter then were so far from
clear that I could not arrange them in a way that satisfied
me. From that time I have never ceased to think
on the subject, and I have recommenced to write on it 6
or 7 times; but each time, after writing a considerable part
of it, I have found myself unable to brin... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
This is the first page of Mallarmé’s book Divagations:—
LE PHÉNOMÈNE FUTUR.
Un ciel pâle, sur le monde qui finit de décrépitude, va
peut-être partir avec les nuages: les lambeaux de la pourpre
usée des couchants déteignent dans une rivière dormant à
l’horizon submergé de rayons et d’eau. Les arbres s’ennuient,
et, sous leur feuillage blanchi (de la poussière du temps
plutôt que celle des chemins) monte la maison en toile de
Montreur de choses Passées: maint réverbère attend le
crépuscule et ravive les visages d’une malheureuse foule,
vaincue par la maladie immortelle et le p... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
No. 1.
The following verses are by Vielé-Griffin, from page 28
of a volume of his Poems:—
OISEAU BLEU COULEUR DU TEMPS.
1.
Sait-tu l’oubli
D’un vain doux rêve,
Oiseau moqueur
De la forêt?
Le jor pâlit,
La nuit se lève,
Et dans mon cœur
L’omber a pleuré;
2.
O chante-moi
Ta folle gamme,
Car j’ai dormi (From: Gutenberg.org.)
These are the contents of The Nibelung’s Ring:—
The first part tells that the nymphs, the daughters of the
Rhine, for some reason guard gold in the Rhine, and sing:
Weia, Waga, Woge du Welle, Walle zur Wiege, Wagalaweia,
Wallala, Weiala, Weia, and so forth.
These singing nymphs are pursued by a gnome (a
nibelung) who desires to seize them. The gnome cannot
catch any of them. Then the nymphs guarding the gold
tell the gnome just what they ought to keep secret, namely,
that whoever renounces love will be able to steal the gold
they are guarding. And the gnome renounces love, and
steals the gold. This ends the first scene.
In the second scene a god and a goddess lie in a field in
sight of a castle which giants ha... (From: Gutenberg.org.)
BAUDELAIRE’S “FLOWERS OF EVIL.” No. XXIV.
I adore thee as much as the vaults of night,
O vase full of grief, taciturnity great,
And I love thee the more because of thy flight.
It seemeth, my night’s beautifier, that you
Still heap up those leagues—yes! ironically heap!—
That divide from my arms the immensity blue.
I advance to attack, I climb to assault,
Like a choir of young worms at a corpse in the vault;
Thy coldness, oh cruel, implacable beast!
Yet heightens thy beauty, on which my eyes feast!
BA (From: Gutenberg.org.)