Art and the Human Spirit

"I believe in God, Mozart, and Beethoven, and in their disciples and apostles; I believe in the Holy Ghost and the truth of Art—one and indivisible; I believe that this art proceeds from God and dwells in the hearts of all enlightened men; I believe that whoever has revelled in the glorious joys of this high art must be forever devoted to it and can never repudiate it; I believe that all may become blessed through this art, and that therefore it is permitted to any one to die of hunger for its sake; I believe that I shall become most happy through death; I believe that I have been on earth a discordant chord, that shall be made harmonious and clear by death. I believe in a last judgment, that shall fearfully damn all those who have dared on this earth to make profit out of this chaste and holy art—who have disgraced it and dishonored it through badness of heart and the coarse instincts of sensuality; I believe that such men will be condemned to hear their own music through all eternity. I believe, on the other hand, that the true disciples of pure art will be glorified in a divine atmosphere of sun-illumined, fragrant concords, and united eternally with the divine source of all harmony. And may a merciful lot be granted me! Amen!"

--Wagner, in "An End in Paris," Art Life and Theories, p. 90.

INDEX

PAGE

Note: Spirit of the Course 7

1. The Expression and Interpretation of Human Life in Art 9

2. The Primitive Sources of Art 14

3. The Race, the Epoch and the Individual in Art 19

4. The Meaning and Function of Sculpture and Painting 24

5. The Meaning and Function of Music 29

6. The Meaning and Function of Poetry 35

7. Literature and Liberal Culture 40

8. Beauty and the Culture of the Spirit 45

Suggestions to Students 50

Book List 51

SPIRIT OF THE COURSE

There is evident in our country to-day a great turning of energy to the higher interests of human life, especially to the fine arts. Apparently some part of the enthusiasm and youthful power that has built so wonderful a material civilization is now set free for the pursuit of beauty and wisdom. We send our students far and wide to the schools and galleries of the old world; we build art museums in all our cities, and cultivate music with a new earnestness. Unfortunately the noble promise in this awakening is hampered by grave misconceptions as to the meaning of art in relation to the human spirit. Widely, among high and low alike, art is regarded as a pleasant adornment of life, worth seeking after the serious business of our existence is fulfilled, but quite dispensable meantime. Others—well-meaning people—hold art to be justified only by some obvious moral teaching it conveys. In reaction against this view and as a result of the difficult technical problems art presents, many artists fall into the equally unfortunate error of regarding art as primarily an exhibition of skill, interpreting "art for art's sake" to mean art for technique's sake.

There is no hope of giving art the place it should occupy in our culture until these errors have been overcome. We must learn that art is serious business, that beauty is the most useful thing we know, and that art is not for adornment's sake, or preaching's sake, or art's sake, but that it is for life's sake.

The aim of this course is, therefore, to consider as fully and searchingly as possible the place and meaning of the fine arts in relation to the spirit of man. We shall study first the unity of the arts, their expression and interpretation in common of the universal elements of human experience. Then the historic sources of the arts and the great forces that determine the specific characteristics of a masterpiece will be studied. The heart of the course will be an effort to define the particular meaning and function of each of the arts, the way in which it can express and interpret some phase of the common human life more effectively than any other. Finally, the work will close with a study of the ministry of the arts to man's spirit and their place in culture.

If art is for life's sake for the appreciative student, even more is it so for the creative artist. If often the lesser men have lived to paint, or carve, or write, or sing, the great masters have ever found art a way of life, have painted, carved, written, sung, to live,--that through creative expression in art they might grow up into the fullness of their own potential humanity. Thus it is necessary that every one should be an artist in this high sense of the word; and if that is impossible in what we call the fine arts, it is possible in the finest of all, the one supreme art of living. The need is, not that beauty should be added artificially to daily life, but that life itself, in work, relationship and environment, should be made a fine art. That this study may help a little to that end and so add something of the joy that comes from supreme beauty, redeeming the commonplace detail of life by clothing it with a transfiguring atmosphere and exalting the spirit to a place where a serene vision of life in relation is possible, is the hope with which the work is undertaken.