,note3 for this online edition ,i have  
moved the ,table of ,contents to the    
beginning of the text4  ,also ,i have   
made one spelling change3 irrevelant    
circumstance to irrelevant circumstance4
    ,,the ,,gate ,,of ,,appreciation    
,studies in the ,relation of ,art to    
,life  ,,by  ,,carleton ,,noyes         
,,boston ,,and ,,new ,,york ,,houghton1 
,,mifflin ,,and ,,company ,the          
,riverside ,press1 ,cambridge #aijg     
,,copyright #aijg ,,by ,,carleton       
,,noyes ,,all ,,rights ,,reserved       
,published ,april #aijg   ,,to ,,my     
,,father ,,and ,,the ,,memory ,,of ,,my 
,,mother   ,only themselves understand  
themselves and the like of themselves1  
,as souls only understand souls4        
,,contents  ,preface                    
i ,i4      ,the ,impulse to ,expression 
i ,,ii4     ,the ,attitude of ,response 
#bc ,,iii4    ,technique and the ,layman
     #dd ,,iv4     ,the ,value of the   
,medium      #hg ,v4      ,the          
,background of ,art       #aje ,,vi4    

,the ,service of ,criticism    #acg     
,,vii4    ,beauty and ,common ,life     
#afe ,,viii4   ,the ,arts of ,form      
#bja ,,ix4     ,representation          
#bba ,x4      ,the ,personal ,estimate  
#bed    ,,preface  ,,in the daily life  
of the ordinary man1 a life crowded with
 diverse interests and increasingly     
complex demands1 some few moments of a  
busy week or month or year are accorded 
to an interest in art4 ,whatever may be 
his vocation1 the man feels             
instinctively that in his total scheme  
of life books1 pictures1 music have     
somewhere a place4 ,in his own business 
or profession he is an expert1 a man of 
special training2 and intelligently he  
does not aspire to a complete           
understanding of a subject which lies   
beyond his province4 ,in the same spirit
 in which he is a master of his own     
craft1 he is content to leave expert    
knowledge of art to the expert1 to the  
artist and to the connoisseur4 ,for his 
part as a layman he remains frankly and 

happily on the outside4 ,but he feels   
none the less that art has an interest  
and a meaning even for him4 ,though he  
does not practice any art himself1 he   
knows that he enjoys fine things1 a     
beautiful room1 noble buildings1 books  
and plays1 statues1 pictures1 music2 and
 he believes that in his own fashion he 
is able to appreciate art1 ,i venture to
 think that he is right4  ,there is a   
case for the outsider in reference to   
art4 ,and ,i have tried here to state   
it4 ,this book is an attempt to suggest 
the possible meaning of art to the      
ordinary man1 to indicate methods of    
approach to art1 and to trace the way of
 appreciation4 ,it is essentially a     
personal record1 an account of my own   
adventures with the problem4 ,the book  
does not pretend to finality2 the       
results are true for me as far as ,i    
have gone4 ,they may or may not be true 
for another4 ,if they become true for   
another man1 he is the one for whom the 
book was written4 ,i do not apologize   

because the shelter here put together1  
in which ,i have found a certain        
comfort1 is not a palace4 ,rude as the  
structure may be1 any man is welcomed to
 it who may find solace there in an hour
 of need4       ,c4 ,n4 ,,cambridge1    
,november second1 #aijf4    ,i  ,,the   
,,impulse ,,to ,,expression  ,,toward   
evening a traveler through a wild       
country finds himself still in the open1
 with no hope of reaching a village that
 night4 ,the wind is growing chill2     
clouds are gathering in the west1       
threatening rain4 ,there rises in him a 
feeling of the need of shelter2 and he  
looks about him to see what material is 
ready to his hand4 ,scattered stones    
will serve for supports and low walls2  
there are fallen branches for the roof2 
twigs and leaves can be woven into a    
thatch4 ,already the general design has 
shaped itself in his mind4 ,he sets to  
work1 modifying the details of his plan 
to suit the resources of his material4  
,at last1 after hours of hard thought   

and eager toil1 spurred on by his sense 
of his great need1 the hut is ready2 and
 fee takes refuge in it as the storm    
breaks4  ,the entire significance of the
 man's work is shelter4 ,the beginning  
of it lay in his need of shelter4 ,the  
impulse to action rose out of his       
consciousness of his need4 ,his         
imagination conceived the plan whereby  
the need might be met1 and the plan gave
 shape to his material4 ,the actual     
result of his labor was a hut1 but the  
hut itself was not the end for which he 
strove4 ,the hut was but the means4 ,the
 all-inclusive import of his work--the  
stimulus which impelled him to act1 the 
purpose for which he toiled1 and the end
 which he accomplished--is shelter4  ,a 
man of special sensitiveness to the     
appeal of color and form finds himself  
also in the open4 ,he is weary with the 
way1 which shows but broken glimpses of 
the road4 ,his spirit1 heavy with the   
burden of the mystery1 is torn by       
conflict and confusion4 ,as he looks    

across the stony places to the gnarled  
and weather-tortured trees beyond1 and  
up to the clouds piling black above him1
 there is revealed to him a sudden      
harmony among the discords2 an inner    
principle1 apprehended by his           
imagination1 compels the fragments of   
the seeming chaos into a regnant order4 
,these natural forms become for him the 
expression external to himself of the   
struggle of his own spirit and its final
 resolution4 ,the desire rises in him to
 express by his own act the order he has
 newly perceived1 the harmony of his    
spirit with the spirit of nature4 ,as   
life comes to him dominantly in terms of
 color and form1 it is with color and   
form that he works to expression so as  
to satisfy his need4 ,the design is     
already projected in his imagination1   
and to realize concretely his ideal he  
draws upon the material of nature about 
him4 ,the picture which he paints is not
 the purpose of his effort4 ,the picture
 is but the means4 ,his end is to       

express the great new harmony in which  
his spirit finds shelter4  ,both men1   
the traveler and the painter1 are       
wayfarers4 ,both are seeking shelter    
from stress and storm1 and both         
construct their means4 ,in one case the 
product is more obviously and           
immediately practical1 and the informing
 purpose tends to become obscured in the
 actual serviceableness of the result4  
,the hut answers a need that is         
primarily physical2 the need in the     
other case is spiritual4 ,but it is a   
matter of degree4 ,in essence and import
 the achievement of the two men is the  
same4 ,the originating impulse1 a sense 
of need2 the processes involved1 the    
combination of material elements to a   
definite end2 the result attained1      
shelter which answers the need1--they   
are identical4 ,both men are artists4   
,both hut and picture are works of art4 
,so art is not remote from common life  
after all4 ,in its highest              
manifestations art is life at its best2 

painting1 sculpture1 poetry1 music are  
the distillment and refinement of       
experience4 ,architecture and the       
subsidiary arts of decoration adorn     
necessity and add delight to use4 ,but  
whatever the flower and final fruit1 art
 strikes its roots deep down into human 
need1 and draws its impulse and its     
sustenance from the very sources of life
 itself4 ,in the wide range from the hut
 in the wilderness to a ,gothic         
cathedral1 from the rude scratches      
recorded on the cave walls of           
prehistoric man to the sublimities of   
the ,sistine ,chapel1 there is no break 
in the continuity of effort and         
aspiration4 ,potentially every man is an
 artist4 ,between the artist1 so-called1
 and the ordinary man there is no gulf  
fixed which cannot be passed4 ,such are 
the terms of our mechanical civilization
 to-day that art has become specialized 
and the practice of it is limited to a  
few2 in consequence artists have become 
a kind of class4 ,but essentially the   

possibilities of art lie within the     
scope of any man1 given the right       
conditions4 ,so too the separation of   
the useful arts from the fine arts is   
unjust to art and perversive of right   
appreciation4 ,whatever the form in     
which it may manifest itself1 from the  
lowest to the highest1 the art spirit is
 one1 and it may quicken in any man who 
sets mind and heart to the work of his  
hand4 ,that man is an artist who        
fashions a new thing that he may express
 himself in response to his need4  ,art 
is creation4 ,it is the combination of  
already existing material elements into 
new forms which become thus the         
realization of a preconceived idea4     
,both hut and picture rose in the       
imagination of their makers before they 
took shape as things4 ,the material of  
each was given already in nature2 but   
the form1 as the maker fashioned it1 was
 new4 ,commonly we think of art as the  
expression and communication of emotion4
 ,a picture1 a statue1 a symphony we    

recognize as the symbol of what the     
artist has felt in some passage of his  
experience and the means by which he    
conveys his feeling to us4 ,art is the  
expression of emotion1 but all art      
springs out of need4 ,the sense of need 
which impels expression through the     
medium of creation is itself an emotion4
 ,the hut which the traveler built for  
himself in the wilderness--shaping it   
according to the design which his       
imagination suggested1 having reference 
to his need and to the character of his 
materials--was a work of creation2 the  
need which prompted it presented itself 
to him as emotion4 ,the picture which   
the other wayfarer painted of the       
storm-swept landscape1 a harmony which  
his imagination compelled out of        
discords1 was a work of creation2 the   
emotion which inspired the work was     
attended by need1 the need of           
expression4 ,the material and practical 
utility of the hut obscures the         
emotional character of its origin2 the  

emotional import of the picture         
outweighs consideration of its utility  
to the painter as the means by which his
 need of expression is satisfied4 ,the  
satisfaction of physical needs which    
results in the creation of utilities and
 the satisfaction of spiritual needs    
which results in the forms of expression
 we commonly call works of art differ   
one from the other in their effect on   
the total man only in degree4 ,all works
 of use whose conception and making have
 required an act of creation are art2   
all art--even in its supreme            
manifestations--embraces elements of    
use4 ,the measure in which a work is art
 is established by the intensity and    
scope of its maker's emotion and by his 
power to body forth his feeling in      
harmonious forms which in turn recreate 
the emotion in the spirit of those whom 
his work reaches4  ,in its essence and  
widest compass art is the making of a   
new thing in response to a sense of     
need4 ,the very need itself creates1    

working through man as its agent4 ,this 
truth is illustrated vividly by the     
miracles of modern invention4 ,the hand 
of man unaided was not able to cope with
 his expanding opportunities2 the giant 
steam and the magician electricity came 
at his call to work their wonders4 ,the 
plow and scythe of the ,new ,england    
colonist on his little farm were        
metamorphosed into the colossal         
steam-driven shapes1 in which machinery 
seems transmuted into intelligence1 as  
he moved to the conquest of the acres of
 the ,west which summoned him to        
dominion4 ,first the need was felt2 the 
contrivance was created in response4 ,a 
man of business sees before him in      
imagination the end to be reached1 and  
applying his ideal to practical         
conditions1 he makes every detail       
converge to the result desired4 ,all    
rebellious circumstances1 all forces    
that pull the other way1 he bends to his
 compelling will1 and by the shaping    
power of his genius he accomplishes his 

aim4 ,his business is his medium of     
self-expression2 his success is the     
realization of his ideal4 ,a painter    
does no more than this1 though he works 
with a different material4 ,the         
landscape which is realized ultimately  
upon his canvas is the landscape seen in
 his imagination4 ,he draws his colors  
and forms from nature around2 but he    
selects his details1 adapting them to   
his end4 ,all accidents and incidents   
are purged away4 ,out of the apparent   
confusion of life rises the evident     
order of art4 ,and in the completed work
 the artist's idea stands forth salient 
and victorious4  ,that consciousness of 
need which compels creation is the      
origin of art4 ,the owner of a dwelling 
who first felt the need of securing his 
door so that he alone might possess the 
secret and trick of access devised a    
lock and key1 rude enough1 as we can    
fancy4 ,as the maker of the first lock  
and key he was an artist4 ,all those who
 followed where he had led1 repeating   

his device without modification1 were   
but artisans4 ,in the measure that any  
man changed the design1 however1        
adapting it more closely to his peculiar
 needs and so making it anew1 to that   
extent he was an artist also4 ,the man  
who does a thing for the first time it  
is done is an artist2 a man who does a  
thing better is an artist4 ,the painter 
who copies his object imitatively1      
finding nothing1 creating nothing1 is an
 artisan1 however skillful he may be4   
,he is an artist in the degree in which 
he brings to his subject something of   
his own1 and fashioning it1 however     
crudely1 to express the idea he has     
conceived of the object1 so creates4    
,the difference between work which is   
art and work which is not art is just   
this element of the originating impulse 
and creative act4 ,the difference1      
though often seemingly slight and not   
always immediately perceived1 is        
all-important4 ,it distinguishes the    
artist from the artisan2 a free spirit  

from a slave2 a thinking1 feeling man   
from a soulless machine4 ,it makes the  
difference between life rich and        
significant1 and mere existence2 between
 the mastery of fate and the passive    
acceptance of things as they are4  ,if a
 mind and heart are behind it to control
 and guide it to expression1 even the   
machine may be an instrument in the     
making of a work of art4 ,it is not the 
work itself1 but the motive which       
prompted the making of it1 that         
determines its character as art4 ,art is
 not the way a thing is done1 but the   
reason why it is done4 ,a chair1 though 
turned on a lathe1 may be a work of art1
 if the maker has truly expressed       
himself in his work4 ,a picture1 though 
hand-painted1 may be wholly mechanical  
in spirit4 ,to set about making a       
picture is to begin at the wrong end4   
,the impulse to art flows from within   
outwards4 ,art is bound up with life    
itself2 like nature1 it is organic and  
must grow4 ,the form cannot be laid on  

from the outside2 it is born and must   
develop in response to vital need4 ,in  
so far as our acts are consciously the  
expression of ourselves they are        
prompted by the art spirit4  ,all our   
acts are reducible to one of two kinds3 
either they are acts of creation1       
effecting a new result1 or they are acts
 of repetition4 ,acts of repetition tend
 rapidly to become habits2 and they may 
be performed without attention or       
positive volition4 ,thus1 as ,i am      
dressing in the morning ,i may be       
planning the work for the day2 while my 
mind is given over to thought1 ,i lose  
the sense of my material surroundings1  
my muscles work automatically1 the      
motor-currents flowing through the      
well-worn grooves1 and by force of habit
 the acts execute themselves4           
,obviously1 acts of repetition1 or      
habits1 make up the larger part of our  
daily lives4  ,acts of creation1 on the 
other hand1 are performed by an effort  
of the will in response to the          

consciousness of a need4 ,to meet the   
new need we are obliged to make new     
combinations4 ,i assume that the        
traveler constructed his hut for the    
first time1 shaping it to the special   
new conditions2 that the harmony which  
the painter discerned in the tumult     
around him he experienced for the first 
time1 and the picture which he paints1  
shaped with reference to his need and   
fulfilling it1 is a new thing4 ,in the  
work produced by this act of creation1  
the feeling which has prompted it finds 
expression4 ,in the making of the hut1  
in the painting of the picture1 the     
impelling need is satisfied4  ,although 
acts of repetition constitute the bulk  
of life1 creation is of its very essence
 and determines its quality4 ,the       
significance and joy of life are less in
 being than in becoming4 ,growth is     
expression1 and in turn expression is   
made possible by growth4 ,in our        
conscious experience the sense of       
becoming is one of our supreme          

satisfactions4 ,growth is the purpose   
and the recompense of our being here1   
the end for which we strive and the     
reward of all the effort and the        
struggle4 ,in the exercise of brain or  
hand1 to feel the work take form1       
develop1 and become something1--that is 
happiness4 ,and the joy is in the       
creating rather than in the thing       
created2 the completed work is behind   
us1 and we move forward to new creation4
 ,a painter's best picture is the blank 
canvas before him2 an author's greatest 
book is the one he is just setting      
himself to write4 ,the desire for change
 for the sake of change which we all    
feel at times1 a vague restlessness of  
mind and body1 is only the impulse to   
growth which has not found its          
direction4 ,outside of us we love to see
 the manifestation of growth4 ,we tend  
and cherish the little plant in the     
window2 we watch with delight the       
unfolding of each new leaf and the      
upward reach into blossom4 ,the spring1 

bursting triumphant from the silent1    
winter-stricken earth1 is nature's      
parable of expression1 her symbol       
perennially renewed of the joy of       
growth4  ,the impulse to expression is  
cosmic and eternal4 ,but even in the    
homeliness and familiarity of our life  
from day to day the need of expression  
is there1 whether we are entirely aware 
of it or not2 and we are seeking the    
realization and fulfillment of ourselves
 through the utterance of what we are4  
,a few find their expression in forms   
which with distinct limitation of the   
term we call works of art4 ,most men    
find it in their daily occupations1     
their profession or their business4 ,the
 president of one of the great ,western 
railroads remarked once in conversation 
that he would rather build a thousand   
miles of railroad than live in the most 
sumptuous palace on ,fifth ,avenue4     
,railroad building was his medium of    
expression2 it was his art4 ,some       
express themselves in shaping their     

material environment1 in the decoration 
and ordering of their houses4 ,a young  
woman said1 ,my ambition is to keep my  
house well4 ,again1 for her1            
housekeeping is her art4 ,some find the 
realization of themselves in the friends
 they draw around them4 ,love is but the
 utterance of what we essentially are2  
and the response to it in the loved one 
makes the utterance articulate and      
complete4 ,expression rises out of our  
deepest need1 and the need impels       
expression4  ,the assertion that art is 
thus involved with need seems for the   
moment to run counter to the usual      
conception1 which regards art as a      
product of leisure1 a luxury1 and the   
result not of labor but of play4 ,art in
 its higher forms becomes more and more 
purely the expression of emotion1 the   
un-trammeled record of the artist's     
spiritual experience4 ,it is only when  
physical necessities have been met or   
ignored that the spirit of man has free 
range4 ,but the maker who adds          

decoration to his bowl after he has     
moulded it is just as truly fulfilling a
 need--the need of self-expression--as  
he fulfilled a need when he fashioned   
the bowl in the first instance in order 
that he might slake his thirst4 ,art is 
not superadded to life1--something      
different in kind4 ,all through its     
ascent from its rudimentary forms to its
 highest1 from hut to cathedral1 art is 
coordinate with the development of life1
 continuous and without breach or sudden
 end2 it is the expression step by step 
of ever fuller and ever deeper          
experience4  ,creation1 therefore1      
follows upon the consciousness of need1 
whether the need be physical1 as with   
the traveler1 or spiritual1 as with the 
painter2 from physical to spiritual we  
pass by a series of gradations4 ,at     
their extremes they are easy to         
distinguish1 one from the other2 but    
along the way there is no break in the  
continuity4 ,the current formula for    
art1 that art is the utterance of man's 

joy in his work1 is not quite accurate4 
,in the act of creation the maker finds 
the expression of himself4 ,the man who 
decorates a bowl in response to his own 
creative impulse is expressing himself4 
,the painter who thrills to the wonder  
and significance of nature is impelled  
to expression2 and his delight is not   
fully realized and complete until he has
 uttered it4 ,such art is love          
expressed1 and the artist's work is his 
hymn of the praise of things4 ,but the  
joy for both the potter and the painter1
 the joy which is so bound up with art  
as to partake of its very essence1 is   
the joy which attends self-expression   
and the satisfaction of the need4  ,a   
work of art is a work of creation       
brought into being as the expression of 
emotion4 ,the traveler creates not the  
wood and stone but shelter1 by means of 
the hut2 the painter creates not the    
landscape but the beauty of it2 the     
musician creates not the musical tones1 
but by means of a harmony of tones he   

creates an emotional experience4 ,the   
impulse to art rises out of the earliest
 springs of consciousness and vibrates  
through all life4 ,art does not disdain 
to manifest itself in the little acts of
 expression of simple daily living2 with
 all its splendid past and vital present
 it is ever seeking new and greater     
forms whose end is not yet4 ,i spoke of 
the work of the traveler through the    
wilderness as art2 the term was applied 
also to railroad-building and to        
housekeeping4 ,the truth to be          
illustrated by these examples is that   
the primary impulse to artistic         
expression does not differ in essence   
from the impulse to creation of any     
kind4 ,the nature of the thing created1 
as art1 depends upon the emotional value
 of the result1 the degree in which it  
expresses immediately the emotion of its
 creator1 and the power it possesses to 
rouse the emotion in others4 ,to show   
that all art is creation and that all   
creation tends toward art is not to     

obscure useful distinctions1 but rather 
to restore art to its rightful place in 
the life of man4  ,in the big sense1    
then1 art is bounded only by life       
itself4 ,it is not a cult2 it is not an 
activity practiced by the few and a     
mystery to be understood only by those  
who are initiated into its secrets4 ,one
 difficulty in the way of the popular   
understanding of art is due to the fact 
that the term art is currently limited  
to its highest manifestations2 we       
withhold the title of artist from a good
 carpenter or cabinet-maker who takes a 
pride in his work and expresses his     
creative desire by shaping his work to  
his own idea1 and we bestow the name    
upon any juggler in paint3 with the     
result that many people who are not     
painters or musicians feel themselves on
 that account excluded from all         
appreciation4 ,if we go behind the      
various manifestations of art to        
discover just what art is in itself and 
to determine wherein it is able to link 

itself with common experience1 we find  
that art is the response to a need4 ,and
 that need may waken in any man4 ,every 
man may be an artist in his degree2 and 
every man in his degree can appreciate  
art4 ,a work of art is the expression of
 its maker's experience1 the expression 
in such terms that the experience can be
 communicated to another4 ,the processes
 of execution involved in fashioning a  
work1 its technique1 may be as          
incomprehensible and perplexed and      
difficult as its executants choose to   
make them4 ,technique is not the same as
 art4 ,the only mystery of art is the   
mystery of all life itself4 ,accept life
 with its fundamental mysteries1 with   
its wonders and glories1 and we have the
 clue to art4 ,but we miss the central  
fact of the whole matter if we do not   
perceive that art is only a means4 ,it  
is by expression that we grow and so    
fulfill ourselves4 ,the work itself     
which art calls into being is not the   
end4 ,it fails of its purpose1 remaining

 void and vain1 if it does not perform  
its function4 ,the hut which does not   
furnish shelter is labor lost4 ,the     
significance of the painter's effort    
does not stop with the canvas and       
pigment which he manipulates into form  
and meaning4 ,the artist sees beyond the
 actual material thing which he is      
fashioning2 his purpose in creation is  
expression4 ,by means of his picture he 
expresses himself and so finds the      
satisfaction of his deepest need4 ,the  
beginning and the end of art is life4   
,but the artist's work of expression is 
not ultimately complete until the       
message is received1 and expression     
becomes communication as his utterance  
calls out a response in the spirit of a 
fellow-man4 ,art exists not only for the
 artist's sake but for the appreciator  
too4 ,as art has its origin in emotion  
and is the expression of it1 so for the 
appreciator the individual work has a   
meaning and is art in so far as it      
becomes for him the expression of what  

he has himself felt but could not       
phrase2 and it is art too in the measure
 in which it is the revelation of larger
 possibilities of feeling and creates in
 him a new emotional experience4 ,the   
impulse to expression is common to all2 
the difference is one of degree4 ,and   
the message of art is for all1 according
 as they are attuned to the response4   
,art is creation4 ,for the artist it is 
creation by expression2 for the         
appreciator it is creation by evocation4
 ,these two principles complete the     
cycle2 abstractly and very briefly they 
are the whole story of art4  ,to be     
responsive to the needs of life and its 
emotional appeal is the first condition 
of artistic creation4 ,by new           
combinations of material elements to    
bring emotion to expression in concrete 
harmonious forms1 themselves charged    
with emotion and communicating it1 is to
 fashion a work of art4 ,to feel in     
material1 whether in the forms of nature
 or in works of art1 a meaning for the  

spirit is the condition of appreciation4
    ,,ii  ,,the ,,attitude ,,of         
,,response  ,,it is a gray afternoon in 
late ,november4 ,the day is gone2       
evening is not yet come4 ,though too    
dark to read or write longer1 it is not 
dark enough for drawn shades and the    
lamp4 ,as ,i sit in the gathering dusk1 
my will hovering between work done and  
work to do1 ,i surrender to the mood of 
the moment4 ,the day is accomplished1   
but it is not yet a remembrance1 for it 
is still too near for me to define the  
details that made up its hours4         
,consciousness1 not sharp enough for    
thought1 floats away into diffused and  
obscure emotion4 ,the sense is upon me  
and around me that ,i am vaguely1       
unreasoningly1 yet pleasantly1 unhappy4 
,out of the dimness a trick of memory   
recalls to me the lines1--       ,tears6
 tears6 tears6      ,in the night1 in   
solitude1 tears1      ,on the white     
shore dripping1 dripping1 suck'd in by  
the sand1      ,tears1 not a star       

shining1 all dark and desolate1         
,moist tears from the eyes of a muffled 
head2      ,o who is that ghost8 that   
form in the dark1 with tears8      ,what
 shapeless lump is that1 bent1 crouch'd 
there on the sand8      ,streaming      
tears1 sobbing tears1 throes1 choked    
with wild cries2      ,o storm1         
embodied1 rising1 careering with swift  
steps along the           beach6      ,o
 wild and dismal night storm1 with      
wind--,o belching and                   
desperate6      ,o shade so sedate and  
decorous by day1 with calm countenance  
and regulated pace1      ,but away at   
night as you fly1 none looking--,o then 
the           unloosened ocean      ,of 
tears6 tears6 tears6  ,now ,i know4 ,my 
mood was the mood of tears4 ,the poet1  
too1 has felt what ,i was feeling4 ,and 
as a poet he has been able to bring his 
emotion to expression4 ,by the magic of 
phrase and the mystery of image he has1 
out of the moving of his spirit1        
fashioned a concrete reality4 ,by means 

of his expression1 because of it1 his   
emotion becomes realized1 and so reaches
 its fulfillment4 ,and for me1 what     
before was vague has been made definite4
 ,the poet's lines have wakened in me a 
response2 ,i have felt what he has      
phrased2 and now they become my         
expression too4 ,as my mood takes form1 
,i become conscious of its meaning4 ,i  
can distill its significance for the    
spirit1 and in the emotion made definite
 and realizable as consciousness ,i feel
 and know that ,i am living4 ,doubly1   
completely1 the poem is a work of art4  
,and my response to it1 the absorption  
of it into my own experience1 is        
appreciation4  ,i appreciate the poem as
 ,i make the experience which the poet  
has here phrased my own1 and at the     
instant of reading ,i live out in myself
 what he has lived and here expressed4  
,i read the words1 and intellectually ,i
 take in their signification1 but the   
poem is not realized in me until it     
wakens in me the feeling which the words

 are framed to convey4 ,the images which
 an artist employs have the power to    
rouse emotion in us1 so that they come  
to stand for the emotion itself4 ,we    
care for nature and it is beautiful to  
us as its forms become objectively the  
intimate expression for us of what we   
feel4       ,o to realize space6        
,the plenteousness of all1 that there   
are no bounds1      ,to emerge and be of
 the sky1 of the sun and moon and flying
           clouds1 as one with them4    
,in his contact with the external world 
the artist identifies himself with his  
object4 ,if he is painting a tree he in 
a measure becomes the tree2 he values it
 at all because it expresses for him    
concretely what he feels in its         
presence4 ,the object and his spirit    
fuse2 and through the fusion they       
together grow into a new and larger     
unity4 ,what his work expresses is not  
the object for its own sake but this    
larger unity of his identity with it4   
,to appreciate the artist's work1       

therefore1 we must in our turn merge    
ourselves in his emotion1 and becoming  
one with it1 so extend our personality  
into larger life4  ,to make the artist's
 emotion our own1 to identify ourselves 
with the object which he presents to us1
 we must pass beyond the material form  
in which the work is embodied1 letting  
the spirit and meaning of it speak to   
our spirit4 ,in itself an individual    
picture or statue or symphony is an     
objective1 material thing1 received into
 consciousness along the channel of the 
senses2 but its origin and its end alike
 are in emotion4 ,the material form1    
whether in nature or in works of art1 is
 only the means by which the emotion is 
communicated4 ,a landscape in nature is 
composed of meadow and hills1 blue sky  
and tumbling clouds2 these are the facts
 of the landscape4 ,but they are not    
fixed and inert4 ,the imagination of the
 beholder combines these elements into a
 harmony of color and mass2 his spirit  
flows into consonance with the harmony  

his imagination has compelled out of    
nature1 becoming one with it4 ,to regard
 the world not as facts and things1 but 
as everywhere the stimulus of feeling1  
feeling which becomes our own           
experience1 is the condition of         
appreciation4  ,to the awakening mind of
 a child1 life is full of wonder1 and   
each unfolding day reveals new marvels  
of excitement and surprise4 ,as yet     
untrammeled by any sense of the         
limitations of material1 his quick      
imagination peoples his world with      
creatures of his fancy1 which to him are
 more real than the things he is able   
actually to see and touch4 ,for him the 
external world is fluid and plastic1 to 
be moulded into forms at will in        
obedience to his creative desire4 ,in   
the tiny bundle of rags which           
mother-love clasps tight to her heart1 a
 little girl sees only the loveliest of 
babies2 and a small boy with his stick  
of lath and newspaper cap and plume is a
 mightier than ,napoleon4 ,the cruder   

the toy1 the greater is the pleasure in 
the game2 for the imagination delights  
in the exercise of itself4 ,a wax doll1 
sent from ,paris1 with flaxen hair and  
eyes that open and shut1 is laid away1  
when the mere novelty of it is          
exhausted1 in theatric chest1 and the   
little girl is fondling again her first 
baby of rag and string4 ,a real steel   
sword and tin helmet are soon cast      
aside1 and the boy is back again among  
the toys of his own making4 ,that       
impulse to creation which all men feel1 
the impulse which makes the artist1 is  
especially active in a child2 his games 
are his art4 ,with a child material is  
not an end but a means4 ,things are for 
him but the skeleton of life1 to be     
clothed upon by the flesh and blood     
reality of his own fashioning4 ,his     
feeling is in excess of his knowledge4  
,he has a faculty of perception other   
than the intellectual4 ,it is           
imagination4  ,the child is the first   
artist4 ,out of the material around him 

he creates a world of his own4 ,the     
prototypes of the forms which he devises
 exist in life1 but it is the thing     
which he himself makes that interests   
him1 not its original in nature4 ,his   
play is his expression4 ,he creates2 and
 he is able to merge himself in the     
thing created4 ,in his play he loses all
 consciousness of self4 ,he and the toy 
become one1 caught up in the larger     
unity of the game4 ,according as he     
identifies himself with the thing       
outside of him1 the child is the first  
appreciator4  ,then comes a change4     
,heaven lies about us in our infancy6   
,shades of the prison-house begin to    
close           ,upon the growing ,boy1 
,but he beholds the light1 and whence it
 flows1           ,he sees it in his    
joy2      ,the ,youth1 who daily farther
 from the east      ,must travel1 still 
is ,nature's ,priest1           ,and by 
the vision splendid           ,is on his
 way attended2      ,at length the ,man 
perceives it die away1      ,and fade   

into the light of common day4           
,imagination surrenders to the          
intellect2 emotion gives place to       
knowledge4  ,gradually the material     
world shuts in about us until it becomes
 for us a hard1 inert thing1 and no     
longer a living1 changing presence1     
instinct with infinite possibilities of 
experience and feeling4 ,now custom lies
 upon us            with a weight1      
,heavy as frost1 and deep almost as     
life6  ,it happens1 unfortunately for   
our enjoyment of life1 that we get used 
to things4 ,little by little we come to 
accept them1 to take them for granted1  
and they cease to mean anything to us4  
,habit1 which is our most helpful ally  
in lending our daily life its practical 
efficiency1 is the foe of emotion and   
appreciation4 ,habit allows us to       
perform without conscious effort the    
innumerable little acts of each day's   
necessity which we could not possibly   
accomplish if every single act required 
a fresh exercise of will4 ,but just     

because its action is unconscious and   
unregarded1 habit blunts the edge of our
 sensibilities4 ,thus let but a ,rising 
of the ,sun1 says ,carlyle1 let but a   
creation of the ,world happen twice1 and
 it ceases to be marvelous1 to be       
noteworthy1 or noticeable4  ,except ye  
become as little children6 ,unless the  
world is new-created every day1 unless  
we can thrill to the beauty of nature   
with its fair surfaces and harmonies of 
vibrant sounds1 or quicken to the throb 
of human life with its occupations and  
its play of energies1 its burdens and   
its joys1 unless we find an answer to   
our needs1 and gladness1 in sunlight or 
storms1 in the sunset and evening and   
solitude under the stars1 in fields and 
hills or in thronging city streets1 in  
conflict and struggle or in the face of 
a friend1 unless each new day is a gift 
and new opportunity1 then we cannot     
interpret the meaning of life nor read  
the riddle of art4 ,for we cannot truly 
appreciate art except as we learn to    

appreciate life4 ,until then art has no 
message for us2 it is a sealed book1 and
 we shall not open the book nor loose   
the seals thereof4 ,the meaning of life 
is for the spirit1 and art is its       
minister4 ,to share in the communion we 
must become as children4 ,as a child    
uses the common things of life to his   
own ends1 transfiguring them by force of
 his creative desire1 and fashioning    
thus a wonderful world of his own by the
 exercise of his shaping imagination1 a 
world of limitless incident and high    
adventure1 so we must penetrate the     
visible and tangible actuality around   
us1 the envelope of seemingly inert     
matter cast in forms of rigid           
definition1 and we must open ourselves  
to the influence of nature4 ,that       
influence--nature's power to inspire1   
quicken1 and dilate--flowing through the
 channel of the senses1 plays upon our  
spirit4 ,the indwelling significance of 
things is apprehended by the            
imagination1 and is won for us in the   

measure that we feel4  ,as we respond to
 the emotional appeal of the great      
universe external to ourselves we come  
to realize that the material world which
 we see and touch is not final4 ,in the 
experience of us all there are moments  
of exaltation and quickened response1   
moments of illumination when--          
with an eye made quiet by the power     
,of harmony1 and the deep power of joy1 
,we see into the life of things4  ,the  
life of things is their significance for
 the spirit4 ,by spirit ,i mean the sum 
of our conscious being1 that complete   
entity within us which we recognize as  
the self4 ,the material world1 external1
 visible1 tangible1 may be regarded as  
the actual world4 ,the real world is the
 world of spiritual forces and          
relations1 apprehended by the           
imagination and received with feeling4  
,life1 in the sense of our conscious    
experience of the world1 is the moving  
of the spirit in emotion4  ,the measure 
of life for the individual1 therefore1  

is the degree of intensity with which he
 feels4 ,experience is not meted out by 
weeks and months2 it is to be sounded by
 the depth and poignancy of instant     
emotion4 ,variety and multitude of      
incident may crowd through insentient   
years and leave no record of their      
progress along the waste places of their
 march4 ,or a day may be a lifetime4 ,in
 such moments of intensest experience   
time and space fall away and are not4   
,the outermost bounds of things recede2 
they vanish altogether3 and we are made 
free of the universe4 ,at such moments  
we are truly living2 then we really are4
  ,as the meaning of art is not the     
material thing which it calls into form1
 but what the work expresses of life1 so
 in order to appreciate art it is       
necessary to appreciate life1 which is  
the inspiration of art and its          
fulfillment4 ,to appreciate life is to  
send out our being into experience and  
to feel1--to realize in terms of emotion
 our identity with the great universe   

outside of us1 this world of color and  
form and sound and movement1 this web of
 illimitable activities and energies1   
shot through with currents of endlessly 
varied and modulated feeling4 ,my son1  
says the father in ,hindu lore1 pointing
 to an animal1 a tree1 a rock1 my son1  
thou art that6 ,the universe is one4 ,of
 it we are each an essential part1      
distinct as individuals1 yet fusing with
 it in our sense of our vital kinship   
with all other parts and with the whole4
 ,i am sauntering through the ,public   
,garden on a fragrant hushed evening in 
,june2 touched by the lingering         
afterglow1 the twilight has not yet     
deepened into night4 ,grouped about a   
bench1 children are moving softly in the
 last flicker of play1 while the mother 
nods above them4 ,on the next bench a   
wanderer is stretched at full length1   
his face hidden in his crooked-up arm4  
,i note a couple seated1 silent1 with   
shoulder touching shoulder4 ,i meet a   
young man and woman walking hand in     

hand2 they do not see me as ,i pass4    
,beyond1 other figures are soundless    
shadows1 gathering out of the enveloping
 dusk4 ,it is all so intimate and       
friendly4 ,the air1 the flowers1 the bit
 of water through the trees reflecting  
the lights of the little bridge1 are a  
caress4 ,and it is all for me6 ,i am a  
child at his tired play1 ,i am the      
sleeping tramp1 ,i am the young fellow  
with his girl4 ,it is not the sentiment 
of the thing1 received intellectually1  
that makes it mine4 ,my being goes out  
into these other lives and becomes one  
with them4 ,i feel them in myself4 ,it  
is not thought that constitutes         
appreciation2 it is emotion4  ,another  
glimpse1 caught this time through a car 
window4 ,now it is a winter twilight4   
,the flurry of snow has passed4 ,the    
earth is penetrated with blue light1    
suffused by it1 merged in it1 ever blue4
 ,vague forms1 still and shadowy1 of    
hills and trees1 soppy with light1 are  
blue within the blue4 ,the brief expanse

 of bay is deeply luminous and within   
the pervasive tempering light resolves  
itself into the cool and solemn reaches 
of the sky which bends down and touches 
it4 ,once more my spirit meets and      
mingles with the spirit of the          
landscape4 ,by the harmony of nature's  
forms and twilight tones ,i am brought  
into a larger harmony within myself and 
with the world around4  ,all experience 
offers to us at any moment just such    
possibilities of living4 ,the infinite  
and ever-changing expressiveness of     
nature at every instant of day and night
 is ours to read if we will but look    
upon it with the inner vision4 ,the     
works of men in cities and cultivated   
fields1 if we will see beyond the actual
 material1 may quicken our emotions     
until we enact in ourselves their story 
of struggle1 of hopes and ambitions     
partly realized1 of defeat or final     
triumph4 ,the faces seen in a passing   
crowd bear each the record of life      
lived1 of lives like ours of joys or    

disappointments1 lives of great aims or 
no aims at all1 of unwritten heroisms1  
of hidden tragedies bravely borne1 lives
 sordid and mean or generous and bright4
 ,the panorama of the world unrolls     
itself for us4 ,it is ours to experience
 and live out in our own being according
 as we are able to feel4 ,just as the   
impulse to expression is common to all  
men1 and all are artists potentially1   
differing in the depth of their insight 
into life and in the degree of emotion  
they have to express1 so appreciation   
lies within the scope of all1 and the   
measure of it to us as individuals is   
determined by our individual capability 
of response4  ,life means to each one of
 us what we are able to receive of it in
 wise passiveness1 and then are able by 
the constructive force of our           
individuality to shape into coherence   
and completeness4 ,as the landscape     
which an artist paints is the landscape 
visioned in imagination1 though composed
 of forms given in nature1 so life      

furnishes us the elements of experience1
 and out of these elements we construct 
a meaning1 each for himself4 ,to one man
 an object or incident is commonplace   
and blank2 to another it may be charged 
with significance and big with          
possibilities of fuller living4 ,in     
every object4 says ,carlyle1 there is   
inexhaustible meaning2 the eye sees in  
it what it brings means of seeing4 ,to  
see is not merely to receive an image   
upon the retina4 ,the stimulation of the
 visual organ becomes sight properly    
only as the record is conveyed to the   
consciousness4 ,when ,i am reading a    
description of a sunset1 there is an    
image upon my retina of a white page and
 black marks of different forms grouped 
in various combinations4 ,but what ,i   
see is the sunset4 ,momentarily to rest 
the eye upon a landscape is not really  
to see it1 for our mind may be quite    
otherwhere4 ,we see the landscape only  
as it becomes part of our conscious     
experience4 ,the beauty of it is in us4 

,a novelist conceives certain characters
 and assembles them in action and       
reaction1 but it is we who in effect    
create the story as we read4 ,we take up
 a novel1 perhaps1 which we read five   
years ago2 we find in it now new        
significances and appeals4 ,the book is 
the same2 it is we who have changed4 ,we
 bring to it the added power of feeling 
of those five years of living4 ,art     
works not by information but by         
evocation4 ,appreciation is not         
reception but response4 ,the artist must
 compel us to feel what he has          
felt1--not something else4 ,but the     
scope of his message1 with its overtones
 and subtler implications1 is limited by
 the rate of vibration to which we are  
attuned4       ,all architecture is what
 you do to it when you look upon it1    
7,did you think it was in the white or  
gray stone8 or the lines of             
the arches and cornices87      ,all     
music is what awakes from you when you  
are reminded by           the           

instruments4  ,and again ,whitman says1 
,a great poem is no finish to a man or  
woman1 but rather a beginning4 ,the     
final significance of both life and art 
is not won by the exercise of the       
intellect1 but unfolds itself to us in  
the measure that we feel4  ,to          
illustrate the nature of appreciation   
and the power from which appreciation   
derives1 the power to project ourselves 
into the world external to us1 ,i spoke 
of the joy of living peculiar to the    
child and to the childlike in heart4    
,but that is not quite the whole of the 
story4 ,a child by force of his         
imagination and capacity of feeling is  
able to pass beyond the limits of       
material1 and he lives in a world of    
exhaustless play and happiness2 for him 
objects are but means and not an end4   
,to transcend thus the bounds of matter 
imposed by the senses and to live by the
 power of emotion is the first condition
 of appreciation4 ,the second condition 
of appreciation is to feel and know it1 

to become conscious of ourselves in our 
relation to the object4 ,to live is the 
purpose of life2 to be aware that we are
 living is its fulfillment and the      
reward of appreciation4  ,experience has
 a double value4 ,there is the instant  
of experience itself1 and then the      
reaction on it4 ,a child is unconscious 
in his play2 he is able to forget       
himself in it completely4 ,at that      
moment he is most happy4 ,the instant of
 supreme joy is the instant of ecstasy1 
when we lose all consciousness of       
ourselves as separate and distinct      
individualities4 ,we are one with the   
whole4 ,but experience does not yield us
 its fullest and permanent significance 
until1 having abandoned ourselves to the
 moment1 we then react upon it and      
become aware of what the moment means4  
,a group of children are at play4       
,without thought of themselves they are 
projected into their sport2 with their  
whole being merged in it1 they are      
intensely living4 ,a passer on the      

street stands and watches them4 ,for the
 moment1 in spirit he becomes a child   
with them4 ,in himself he feels the     
absorption and vivid reality to them of 
what they are doing4 ,but he feels also 
what they do not feel1 and that is1 what
 it means to be a child4 ,where they are
 unconscious he is conscious2 and       
therefore he is able1 as they are not1  
to distill the significance of their    
play4 ,this recognition makes possible  
the extension of his own life2 for the  
man adds to himself the child4 ,the     
reproach is sometimes brought against   
,walt ,whitman that the very people he  
writes about do not read him4 ,the      
explanation is simple and illustrates   
the difference between the unconscious  
and the conscious reception of life4    
,the average man who is the hero of     
,whitman's chants is not aware of       
himself as such4 ,he goes about his     
business1 content to do his work2 and   
that makes up his experience4 ,it is not
 the average man himself1 but the poet  

standing outside and looking on with    
imaginative sympathy1 who feels what it 
means to be an average man4 ,it is the  
poet who must teach the average man the 
glory of his daily walk and trade4 ,it  
is not enough to be happy as children   
are happy1--unconsciously4 ,we must be  
happy and know it too4  ,the attitude of
 appreciation is the attitude of        
response1--the projection of ourselves  
into new and fuller ranges of feeling1  
with the resultant extension of our     
personality and a larger grasp on life4 
,we do not need to go far afield for    
experience2 it is here and now4 ,to-day 
is the only day1 and every day is the   
best day4 ,the readiness is all4 ,but   
mere contact with the surface of life is
 not enough4 ,living does not consist in
 barely meeting the necessities of our  
material existence2 to live is to feel  
vibrantly throughout our being the inner
 significance of things1 their appeal   
and welcome to the spirit4 ,this fair   
world of color and form and texture is  

but a show world1 after all1--this world
 which looms so near that we can see it1
 touch it1 which comes to us out of the 
abysms of time and recedes into         
infinitudes of space whither the        
imagination cannot follow it4 ,the true 
and vital meaning of it resides within  
and discovers itself to us finally as   
emotion4 ,some of this meaning art      
reveals to us1 and in that measure it   
helps us to find ourselves4 ,but art is 
only the means4 ,the starting-point of  
the appreciation of art1 and its goal1  
is the appreciation of life4 ,the reward
 of living is the added ability to live4
 ,and life yields its fullest           
opportunities1 its deepest tragedies1   
its highest joys1 all its infinite scope
 of feeling1 to those who enter by the  
gate of appreciation4    ,,iii          
,,technique ,,and ,,the ,,layman  ,a    
,,peasant is striding across a field in 
the twilight shadow of a hill4 ,beyond1 
where the fold of the hill dips down    
into the field1 another peasant is      

driving a team of oxen at a plow4 ,the  
distant figures are aglow with golden   
mellow light1 the last light of day1    
which deepens the gloom of the shadowing
 hillside4 ,the sower's cap is pulled   
tight about his head1 hiding under its  
shade the unseeing eyes4 ,the mouth is  
brutal and grim4 ,the heavy jaw flows   
down into the thick1 resistive neck4    
,the right arm swings powerfully out1   
scattering the grain4 ,the left is      
pressed to his body2 the big1 stubborn  
hand clutches close the pouch of seed4  
,action heroic1 elemental2 the dumb     
bearing of the universal burden4 ,in the
 flex of the shoulder1 the crook of the 
outstretched arm1 the conquering onward 
stride1 is expressed all the force of   
that word of the ,lord to the first     
toiler1 ,in the sweat of thy face shalt 
thou eat bread4  ,three men are standing
 before ,millet's canvas4  ,one         
recognizes the subject of the picture4  
,with the pleasure of recognition he    
notes what the artist has here          

represented1 and he is interested in the
 situation4 ,this is a peasant1 and he  
is sowing his grain4 ,so the onlooker   
stands and watches the peasant in his   
movement1 and he thinks about the sower1
 recalling any sower he may have read of
 or seen or known1 his own sower rather 
than the one that ,millet has seen and  
would show to him4 ,this man's pleasure 
in the picture has its place4  ,the     
second of the three men is attracted by 
the qualities of execution which the    
work displays1 and he is delighted by   
what he calls the actual beauty of the  
painting4 ,with eyes close to the canvas
 he notes the way ,millet has handled   
his materials1 his drawing1 his color1  
his surfaces and edges1 all the knack of
 the brush-work1 recognizing in his     
examination of the workmanship of the   
picture that though ,millet was a very  
great artist1 he was not a great        
painter1 that the reach of his ideas was
 not equaled by his technical skill4    
,then as the beholder stands back from  

the canvas to take in the ensemble1 his 
eye is pleased by the color-harmony1 it 
rests lovingly upon the balance of the  
composition1 and follows with           
satisfaction the rhythmic flow of line4 
,his enjoyment is both intellectual and 
sensuous4 ,and that too has its place4  
,the third spectator1 with no thought of
 the facts around which the picture is  
built1 not observing the technical      
execution as such1 unconscious at the   
moment also of its merely sensuous      
charm1 feels within himself1 ,i am that 
peasant6 ,in his own spirit is enacted  
the agelong world-drama of toil4 ,he    
sees beyond the bare subject of the     
picture2 the medium with all its power  
of sensuous appeal and satisfaction     
becomes transparent4 ,the beholder      
enters into the very being of the       
laborer2 and as he identifies himself   
with this other life outside of him1    
becoming one with it in spirit and      
feeling1 he adds just so much to his own
 experience4 ,in his reception of the   

meaning of ,millet's painting of the    
,sower he lives more deeply and         
abundantly4  ,it is the last of these   
three men who stands in the attitude of 
full and true appreciation4 ,the first  
of the three uses the picture simply as 
a point of departure2 his thought       
travels away from the canvas1 and he    
builds up the entire experience out of  
his own knowledge and store of          
associations4 ,the second man comes a   
little nearer to appreciation1 but even 
he falls short of full realization1 for 
he stops at the actual material work    
itself4 ,his interest in the technical  
execution and his pleasure in the       
sensuous qualities of the medium do not 
carry him through the canvas and into   
the emotion which it was the artist's   
purpose to convey4 ,only he truly       
appreciates the painting of the ,sower  
who feels something of what ,millet     
felt1 partaking of the artist's         
experience as expressed by means of the 
picture1 and making it vitally his own4 

,but before the appreciator can have    
brought himself to the point of         
perception where he is able to respond  
directly to the significance of art and 
to make the artist's emotion a part of  
his own emotional experience1 he must   
needs have traveled a long and rather   
devious way4 ,appreciation is not       
limited to the exercise of the          
intellect1 as in the recognition of the 
subject of a work of art and in the     
interest which the technically minded   
spectator takes in the artist's skill4  
,it does not end with the gratification 
of the senses1 as with the delight in   
harmonious color and rhythmic line and  
ordered mass4 ,yet the intellect and the
 senses1 though they are finally but the
 channel through which the artist's     
meaning flows to reach and rouse the    
feelings1 nevertheless play their part  
in appreciation4 ,between the spirit of 
the artist and the spirit of the        
appreciator stands the individual work  
of art as the means of expression and   

communication4 ,in the work itself      
emotion is embodied in material form4   
,the material which art employs for     
expression constitutes its language4    
,certain principles govern the          
composition of the work1 certain        
processes are involved in the making of 
it1 and the result possesses certain    
qualities and powers4 ,the processes    
which enter into the actual fashioning  
of the work are both intellectual and   
physical1 requiring the exercise of the 
artist's mind in the planning of the    
work and in the directing of his hand2  
so far as the appreciator concerns      
himself with them1 they address         
themselves to his intellect4 ,the       
finished work in its material aspect    
possesses qualities which are perceived 
by the senses and which have a power of 
sensuous delight4 ,upon these processes 
and these qualities depends in part the 
total character of a work of art1 and   
they must be reckoned with in           
appreciation4  ,in his approach to any  

work of art1 therefore1 the layman is   
confronted first of all with the problem
 of the language which the work employs4
 ,architecture uses as its language the 
structural capabilities of its material1
 as wood or stone1 bringing all together
 into coherent and serviceable form4    
,poetry is phrased in words4 ,painting  
employs as its medium color and line and
 mass4 ,at the outset1 in the case of   
any art1 we have some knowledge of the  
signification of its terms4 ,here is a  
painting of a sower4 ,out of previous   
experience of the world we easily       
recognize the subject of the picture4   
,but whence comes the majesty of this   
rude peasant1 the dignity august of this
 rough and toil-burdened laborer1 his   
power to move us8 ,in addition to the   
common signification of its terms1 then1
 language seems to have a further       
expressiveness1 a new meaning imparted  
to it by the way in which the artist    
uses it4 ,in a poem we know the meaning 
of the words1 but the poetry of it1     

which we feel rather than know1 is the  
creation of the poet1 wrought out of the
 familiar words by his cunning          
manipulation of them4       ,the grey   
sea and the long black land2      ,and  
the yellow half-moon large and low2     
,and the startled little waves that leap
      ,in fiery ringlets from their     
sleep1      ,as ,i gain the cove with   
pushing prow1      ,and quench its speed
 i' the slushy sand4       ,then a mile 
of warm sea-scented beach2      ,three  
fields to cross till a farm appears2    
,a tap at the pane1 the quick sharp     
scratch      ,and blue spurt of a       
lighted match1      ,and a voice less   
loud1 thro' its joys and fears1         
,than the two hearts beating each to    
each6  ,a drama in twelve lines4 ,these 
are words of common daily usage1 every  
one1--for the most part aggressively so4
 ,but the romance which they effuse1 the
 glamour which envelops the commonplace 
incident as with an aura1 is due to the 
poet's strategic selection of his terms1

 the one right word out of many words   
that offered1 and his subtle combination
 of his terms into melody and rhythm4   
,the wonder of the poet's craft is like 
the musician's1--       ,that out of    
three sounds he frame1 not a fourth     
sound1 but a           star4  ,a        
building rises before us2 we recognize  
it as a building1 and again easily we   
infer the purpose which it serves1 that 
it is a temple or a dwelling4 ,and then 
the beauty of it1 a power to affect us  
beyond the mere feet that it is a       
building1 lays hold upon us1 an         
influence emanating from it which we do 
not altogether explain to ourselves4    
,simply in its presence we feel that we 
are pleased4 ,the fact1 the material    
which the artist uses1 exists out there 
in nature4 ,but the beauty of the       
building1 the majesty and power of the  
picture1 the charm of the poem1--this is
 the art of the artist2 and he wins his 
effects by the way in which he handles  
his materials1 by his technique4 ,some  

knowledge of technique1 therefore1--not 
the artist's knowledge of it1 but the   
ability to read the language of art as  
the artist intends it to be read1--is   
necessary to appreciation4  ,the hut    
which the traveler through a wild       
country put together to provide himself 
shelter against storm and the night was 
in essence a work of art4 ,the purpose  
of his effort was not the hut itself but
 shelter1 to accomplish which he used   
the hut as his means4 ,the emotion of   
which the work was the expression1 in   
this case the traveler's consciousness  
of his need1 embodied itself in a       
concrete form and made use of material4 
,the hut which he conceived in response 
to his need became for him the subject  
or motive of his work4 ,for the actual  
expression of his design he took        
advantage of the qualities of his       
material1 its capabilities to combine   
thus and so2 these inherent qualities   
were his medium4 ,the material wood and 
stone which he employed were the vehicle

 of his design4 ,the way in which he    
handled his vehicle toward the          
construction of the hut1 availing       
himself of the qualities and            
capabilities of his material1 might be  
called his technique4  ,the sight of    
some landscape wakens in the beholder a 
vivid and definite emotion2 he is moved 
by it to some form of expression4 ,if he
 is a painter he will express his       
emotion by means of a picture1 which    
involves in the making of it certain    
elements and certain processes4 ,the    
picture will present selected facts in  
the landscape2 the landscape1 then1 as  
constructed according to the design the 
painter has conceived of it1 becomes the
 motive or subject of his picture4 ,the 
particular aspects of the landscape     
which the picture records are its color 
and its form4 ,these qualities of color 
and form are the painter's medium4 ,an  
etching of the scene would use not color
 but line to express the artist's       
emotion in its presence2 so line is the 

medium of etching4 ,but qualities of    
objects are an abstraction unless they  
are embodied in material4 ,in order1    
therefore1 to give his medium actual    
embodiment the painter uses pigment1 as 
oil-color or water-color or tempera1    
laid upon a surface1 as canvas1 wood1   
paper1 plaster2 this material pigment is
 his vehicle4 ,the etcher employs inked 
scratches upon his plate of zinc or     
copper1 bitten by acid or scratched     
directly by the needle2 these marks of  
ink are the vehicle of etching4 ,to the 
way in which the artist uses his medium 
for practical expression and to his     
methods in the actual handling of his   
vehicle is applied the term technique4  
,the general conception of his picture1 
its total design1 the choice of motive1 
the selection of details1 the main      
scheme of composition1--these belong to 
the great strategy of his art4 ,the     
application of these principles in      
practice and their material working out 
upon his canvas are an affair of tactics

 and fall within the province of        
technique4  ,the ultimate significance  
of a work of art is its content of      
emotion1 the essential controlling idea1
 which inspires the work and gives it   
concrete form4 ,in its actual           
embodiment1 the expressive power of the 
work resides in the medium4 ,the medium 
of any art1 then1 as color and mass in  
painting1 line in drawing and etching1  
form in sculpture1 sound in music1 is   
its means of expression and constitutes 
its language4 ,now the signification of 
language derives from convention4 ,line1
 for example1 which may be so sensitive 
and so expressive1 is only an           
abstraction and does not exist in       
nature4 ,what the draughtsman renders as
 line is objectively in fact the        
boundary of forms4 ,a head1 with all its
 subtleties of color and light and      
shade1 may be represented by a pencil or
 charcoal drawing1 black upon a white   
surface4 ,it is not the head which is   
black and white1 but the drawing4 ,our  

acceptance of the drawing as an adequate
 representation of the head rests upon  
convention4 ,writing is an elementary   
kind of drawing2 the letters of the     
alphabet were originally pictures or    
symbols4 ,so to-day written or printed  
letters are arbitrary symbols of sounds1
 and grouped together in arbitrary      
combinations they form words1 which are 
symbols of ideas4 ,the word sum stood to
 the old ,romans for the idea ,i am2 to 
,english-speaking people the word       
signifies a total and also a problem in 
arithmetic4 ,a painting of a landscape  
does not attempt to imitate the scene2  
it uses colors and forms as symbols     
which serve for expression4 ,the meaning
 attaching to these symbols derives from
 common acceptance and usage1 ,japanese 
painting1 rendering the abstract spirit 
of movement of a wave1 for example1     
rather than the concrete details of its 
surface appearance1 differs             
fundamentally from the painting of the  
western world2 it is none the less      

pregnant with meaning for those who know
 the convention4 ,to understand         
language1 therefore1 we must understand 
the convention and accept its terms4    
,the value of language as a means of    
expression and communication depends    
upon the knowledge1 common to the user  
and to the person addressed1 of the     
signification of its terms4 ,its        
effectiveness is determined by the way  
in which it is employed1 involving the  
choice of terms1 as the true line for   
the false or meaningless one1 the right 
value or note of color out of many that 
would almost do1 the exact and specific 
word rather than the vague and feeble2  
involving also the combination of terms 
into articulate forms4 ,these ways and  
methods in the use of language are the  
concern of technique4 ,technique1       
therefore1 plays an important part in   
the creation and the ultimate fortunes  
of the artist's work4  ,just here arises
 a problem for the layman in his        
approach to art4 ,the man who says1 ,i  

don't know anything about art1 but ,i   
know what ,i like1 is a familiar figure 
in our midst2 of such1 for the most     
part1 the public of art is constituted4 
,what he really means is1 ,i don't know 
anything about technique1 but art       
interests me4 ,i read books1 ,i go to   
concerts and the theatre1 ,i look at    
pictures2 and in a way they have        
something for me4 ,if we make this      
distinction between art and technique1  
the matter becomes simplified4 ,the     
layman does not himself paint pictures  
or write books or compose music2 his    
contact with art is with the purpose of 
appreciation4 ,life holds some meaning  
for him1 as he is engaged in living1 and
 there his chief interest lies4 ,so art 
too has a message addressed to him1 for 
art starts with life and in the end     
comes back to it4 ,if art is not the    
expression of vital feeling1 in its turn
 communicating the feeling to the       
appreciator so that he makes it a real  
part of his experience of life1 then the

 thing called art is only an exercise in
 dexterity for the maker and a pastime  
for the receiver2 it is not art4 ,but   
art is not quite the same as life at    
first hand2 it is rather the distillment
 of it4 ,in order to render the         
significance of life as he has perceived
 and felt it1 the artist selects and    
modifies his facts2 and his work depends
 for its expressiveness upon the        
material form in which the emotion is   
embodied4 ,the handling of material to  
the end of making it expressive is an   
affair of technique4 ,the layman may ask
 himself1 then1 ,to what extent is a    
knowledge of technique necessary for    
appreciation8 ,and how may he win that  
knowledge8  ,on his road to appreciation
 the layman is beset with difficulties4 
,most of the talk about art which he    
hears is either the translation of      
picture or sonata into terms of literary
 sentiment or it is a discussion of the 
way the thing is done4 ,he knows at     
least that painting is not the same as  

literature and that music has its own   
province2 he recognizes that the meaning
 of pictures is not literary but        
pictorial1 the meaning of music is      
musical4 ,but the emphasis laid upon the
 manner of execution confuses and       
disturbs him4 ,at the outset he frankly 
admits that he has no knowledge of      
technical processes as such4 ,yet each  
art must be read in its own language1   
and each has its special technical      
problems4 ,he realizes that to master   
the technique of any single art is a    
career4 ,and yet there are many arts1   
all of which may have some message for  
him in their own kind4 ,if he must be   
able to paint in order to enjoy pictures
 rightly1 if he cannot listen           
intelligently at a concert without being
 able himself to compose or at least to 
perform1 his case for the appreciation  
of art seems hopeless4  ,if the layman  
turns to his artist friends for         
enlightenment and a little sympathy1 it 
is possible he may encounter a rebuff4  

,artists sometimes speak contemptuously 
of the public4 ,a painter1 they say1    
paints for painters1 not for the people2
 outsiders know nothing about painting4 
,true1 outsiders know nothing about     
painting1 but perhaps they know a little
 about life4 ,if art is more than       
intellectual subtlety and manual skill1 
if art is the expression of something   
the artist has felt and lived1 then the 
outsider has after all some standard for
 his estimate of art and a basis for his
 enjoyment4 ,he is able to determine the
 value of the work to himself according 
as it expresses what he already knows   
about life or reveals to him fuller     
possibilities of experience which he can
 make his own4 ,he does not pretend to  
judge painting2 but he feels that he has
 some right to appreciate art4 ,in      
reducing all art to a matter of         
technique artists themselves are not    
quite consistent4 ,my friends ,jones1 a 
painter1 and ,smith1 a composer1 do not 
withhold their opinion of this or that  

novel and poem and play1 and they       
discourse easily on the performances of 
,mr4 ,james and ,mr4 ,swinburne and ,mr4
 ,shaw2 but ,i have no right to talk    
about the meaning to me of ,jones's     
picture or ,smith's sonata1 for my      
business is with words1 and therefore ,i
 cannot have any concern with painting  
or with music4 ,to be sure1 literature  
uses as its vehicle the means of        
communication of daily life1 namely1    
words4 ,but the art in literature1 the  
interpretation of life which it gives   
us1 as distinct from mere entertainment1
 is no more generally appreciated than  
the art in painting4 ,a man's technical 
accomplishment may be best understood   
and valued by his fellow-workmen in the 
same craft2 and often the estimate set  
by artists on their own work is referred
 to the qualities of its technical      
execution4 ,as a classic instance1      
,raphael sent some of his drawings to   
,albert ,drer to show him his hand4 ,so 
a painter paints for the painters4 ,but 

the artist gives back a new fullness and
 meaning to life and addresses all who  
live4 ,that man is fortunate who does   
not allow his progress toward           
appreciation to be impeded by this      
confusion of technique with art4  ,the  
emphasis which workers in any art place 
upon their powers of execution is for   
themselves a false valuation of         
technique1 and it tends to obscure the  
layman's vision of essentials4          
,technique is not1 as it would seem1 the
 whole of art1 but only a necessary     
part4 ,a work of art in its creation    
involves two elements1--the idea and the
 execution4 ,the idea is the emotional  
content of the work2 the execution is   
the practical expressing of the idea by 
means of the medium and the vehicle4    
,the idea of ,millet's ,sower is the    
emotion attending his conception of the 
laborer rendered in visual terms2 the   
execution of the picture is exhibited in
 the composition1 the color1 the        
drawing1 and the actual brush-work4 ,so1

 too1 the artist himself is constituted 
by two qualifications1 which must exist 
together3 first1 the power of the       
subject over the artist2 and second1 the
 artist's power over his subject4 ,the  
first of these without the second       
results simply in emotion which does not
 come to expression as art4 ,the second 
without the first produces sham art2 the
 semblance of art may be fashioned by   
technical skill1 but the life which     
inspires art is wanting4 ,the artist1   
then1 may be regarded in a dual aspect4 
,he is first a temperament and a mind1  
capable of feeling intensely and able to
 integrate his emotions into unified    
coherent form2 in this aspect he is     
essentially the artist4 ,secondly1 for  
the expression of his idea he brings to 
bear on the execution of his work his   
command of the medium1 his intellectual 
adroitness and his manual skill2 in this
 aspect he is the technician4 ,every    
artist has a special kind of means with 
which he works1 requiring knowledge and 

dexterity2 but it may be assumed that in
 addition to his ability to express     
himself he has something to say4 ,we may
 test a man's merit as a painter by his 
ability to paint4 ,as an artist his     
greatness is to be judged with reference
 to the greatness of his ideas2 and in  
his capacity as artist his technical    
skill derives its value from the measure
 in which it is adequate to their       
expression4 ,in the case of an          
accomplished pianist or violinist we    
take his proficiency of technique for   
granted1 and we ask1 ,what1 with all    
this power of expression at his command1
 has he to say8 ,in his rendering of the
 composer's work what has he of his own 
to contribute by way of interpretation8 
,conceding at once to ,mr4 ,sargent his 
supreme competence as a painter1 his    
consummate mastery of all his means1 we 
ask1 ,what has he seen in this man or   
this woman before him worthy of the     
exercise of such skill8 ,in terms of the
 personality he is interpreting1 what   

has he to tell us of the beauty and     
scope of life and to communicate to us  
of larger emotional experience8 ,the    
worth of technique is determined1 not by
 its excellence as such1 but by its     
efficiency for expression4  ,it is      
difficult for an outsider to understand 
why painters1 writers1 sculptors1 and   
the rest1 who are called artists in     
distinction from the ordinary workman1  
should make so much of their skill4 ,any
 man who works freely and with joy takes
 pride in his performance4 ,and         
instinctively we have a great respect   
for a good workman4 ,skill is not       
confined to those who are engaged in    
what is conventionally regarded as art4 
,indeed1 the distinction implied in     
favor of art is unjust to the wide range
 of activities of familiar daily life   
into which the true art spirit may      
enter4 ,a bootblack who polishes his    
shoes as well as he can1 not merely     
because he is to be paid for it1 though 
too he has a right to his pay1 but      

because that is his work1 his means of  
expression1 even he works in the spirit 
of an artist4 ,extraordinary skill is   
often developed by those who are quite  
outside the pale of art4 ,in a circus or
 music-hall entertainment we may see a  
man throw himself from a trapeze        
swinging high in air1 and after         
executing a double somersault varied by 
complex lateral gyrations1 catch the    
extended arms of his partner1 who is    
hanging by his knees on another flying  
bar4 ,or a man leaning backwards over a 
chair shoots at a distance of fifty     
paces a lump of sugar from between the  
foreheads of two devoted assistants4    
,such skill presupposes intelligence4   
,of the years of training and practice1 
of the sacrifice and the power of will1 
that have gone to the accomplishment of 
this result1 the looker-on can form but 
little conception4 ,these men are not   
considered artists4 ,yet a painter who  
uses his picture to exhibit a skill no  
more wonderful than theirs would be     

grieved to be accounted an acrobat or a 
juggler4 ,only such skill as is employed
 in the service of expression is to be  
reckoned with as an element in art2 and 
in art it is of value not for its own   
sake but as it serves its purpose4 ,the 
true artist subordinates his technique  
to expression1 justly making it a means 
and not the end4 ,he cares for the      
significance of his idea more than for  
his sleight of hand2 he effaces his     
skill for his art4  ,a recognition of   
the skill exhibited in the fashioning of
 a work of art1 however1 if seen in its 
right relation to the total scope of the
 work1 is a legitimate source of        
pleasure4 ,knowledge of any subject     
brings its satisfactions4 ,to understand
 with discerning insight the workings of
 any process1 whether it be the         
operation of natural laws1 as in        
astronomy or chemistry1 whether it be   
the construction of a locomotive1 the   
playing of a game of foot-ball1 or the  
painting of a picture1 to see the wheels

 go round and know the how and the      
wherefore1--undeniably this is a source 
of pleasure4 ,in the understanding of   
technical processes1 too1 there is a    
further occasion of enjoyment1 differing
 somewhat from the satisfaction which   
follows in the train of knowledge4      
,there is a pleasure in poetic pains    
,which only poets know1  says the poet  
,cowper4 ,there is a pleasure in the    
sense of difficulties overcome known    
only to those who have tried to overcome
 them4 ,but such enjoyment--the pleasure
 which comes with enlightened           
recognition and the pleasure of mastery 
and triumph--derives from an            
intellectual exercise and is not to be  
confounded with the full appreciation of
 art4 ,art1 finally1 is not the how but 
the what in terms of its emotional      
significance4 ,our pleasure in the      
result1 in the design itself1 is not the
 same as our pleasure in the skill that 
produced the work4 ,the design1 with the
 message that it carries1 not the making

 of it1 is the end of art4  ,too great  
preoccupation with technique conflicts  
with full appreciation4 ,to fix the     
attention upon the manner of expression 
is to lose the meaning4 ,a style which  
attracts notice to itself is in so far  
forth bad style1 because it defeats its 
own end1 which is expression2 but beyond
 this1 our interest in technical        
execution is purely intellectual1       
whereas art reaches the emotions4 ,at   
the theatre a critic sits unmoved2      
dispassionately he looks upon the       
personages of the drama1 as they        
advance1 retreat1 and countermarch1     
little by little yielding up their      
secret1 disclosing all the subtle       
interplay of human motives4 ,from the   
heights of his knowledge the critic     
surveys the spectacle2 with an insight  
born of his learning1 he penetrates the 
mysteries of the playwright's craft4 ,he
 knows what thought and skill have gone 
into this result2 he knows the weary    
hours of toil1 the difficulties of      

invention and selection1 the heroic     
rejections1 the intricacies of          
construction1 the final triumph4 ,he    
sees it all from the point of view of   
the master-workman1 and sympathetically 
he applauds his success2 his recognition
 of what has been accomplished is his   
pleasure4 ,but all the while he has     
remained on the outside4 ,not for a     
moment has he become a party to the     
play4 ,he brings to it nothing of his   
own feeling and power of response4      
,there has been no union of his spirit  
with the artist's spirit1--that union in
 which a work of art achieves its       
consummation4 ,the man at his side1 with
 no knowledge or thought of how the     
effect has been won1 surrenders himself 
to the illusion4 ,these people on the   
stage are more intensely and vividly    
real to him than in life itself2 the    
artist has distilled the significance of
 the situation and communicates it to   
him as emotion4 ,the man's reaction is  
not limited to the exercise of his      

intellect1--he gives himself4 ,in the   
experience which the dramatist conveys  
to him beautifully1 shaping discords    
into harmony and disclosing their       
meaning for the spirit1 he lives4  ,a   
true artist employs his medium as an    
instrument of expression2 and he values 
his own technical skill in the handling 
of it according to the measure that he  
is enabled thereby to express himself   
more effectively4 ,on the layman's part 
so much knowledge of technique is       
necessary as makes it possible for him  
to understand the artist's language and 
the added expressiveness wrought out of 
language by the artist's cunning use of 
it4 ,and such knowledge is not beyond   
his reach4  ,in order to understand the 
meaning of any language we must first   
understand the signification of its     
terms1 and then we must know something  
of the ways in which they may be        
combined into articulate forms of       
expression4 ,the terms of speech are    
words2 in order to speak coherently and 

articulately we must group words into   
sentences according to the laws of the  
tongue to which they belong4 ,similarly1
 every art has its terms1 or parts of   
speech1 and its grammar1 or the ways in 
which the terms are combined4 ,the terms
 of painting are color and form1 the    
terms of music are tones4 ,colors and   
forms are brought together into harmony 
and balance that by their juxtaposition 
they may be made expressive and         
beautiful4 ,tones are woven into a      
pattern according to principles of      
harmony1 melody1 and rhythm1 and they   
become music4 ,when technique is turned 
to such uses1 not for the vainglory of a
 virtuoso1 but for the service of the   
artist in his earnest work of           
expression1 then it identifies itself   
with art4  ,a knowledge of the          
signification of the terms of art the   
layman may win for himself by a         
recognition of the expressive power of  
all material and by sensitiveness to it4
 ,the beholder will not respond to the  

appeal of a painting of a landscape     
unless he has himself felt something of 
the charm or glory of landscape in      
nature2 he will not quicken and expand  
to the dignity or force caught in rigid 
marble triumphantly made fluent in      
statue or relief until he has realized  
for himself the significance of form and
 movement which exhales from every      
natural object4 ,gesture is a universal 
language4 ,the mighty burden of meaning 
in ,millet's picture of the ,sower is   
carried by the gesture of the laborer as
 he swings across the background of     
field and hill1 whose forms also are    
expressive2 here1 too1 the elemental    
dignity of form and movement is         
reinforced by the solemnity of the      
color4 ,gesture is but one of nature's  
characters wherewith she inscribes upon 
the vivid1 shifting surface of the world
 her message to the spirit of man4 ,a   
clue to the understanding of the terms  
of art1 therefore1 is found in the      
layman's own appreciation of the        

emotional value of all objects of sense 
and their multitudinous power of        
utterance1--the sensitive decision of   
line1 the might or delicacy of form1 the
 splendor and subtlety of color1 the    
magic of sound1 the satisfying virtue of
 harmony in whatever embodiment1 all the
 beauty of nature1 all the significance 
of human life4 ,and this appreciation is
 to be won largely by the very          
experience of it4 ,the more we feel1 the
 greater becomes our power for deeper   
feeling4 ,every emotion to which we     
thrill is the entrance into larger      
capacity of emotion4 ,we may allow for  
growth and trust to the inevitable      
working of its laws4 ,in the            
appreciation of both life and art the   
individual may be his own teacher by    
experience4  ,the qualities of objects  
with their inherent emotional values    
constitute the raw material of art1 to  
be woven by the artist into a fabric of 
expressive form and texture4 ,equipped  
with a knowledge of the terms of any    

art1 the layman has yet to understand   
something of the ways in which the terms
 may be combined4 ,every artist has his 
idiom or characteristic style4          
,rembrandt on the flat surface of his   
canvas secures the illusion of form in  
the round by a system of light and      
shade2 modeling is indicated by painting
 the parts in greater relief in light   
and the parts in less relief in shadow4 
,manet renders the relief of form by a  
system of values1 or planes of more and 
less light4 ,the local color of objects 
is affected by the amount of light they 
receive and the distance an object or   
part of an object is from the eye of the
 spectator4 ,manet paints with degrees  
of light1 and he wins his effects1 not  
by contrasts of color1 but by subtle    
modulations within a given hue4         
,landscape painters before the middle of
 the nineteenth century1 working with   
color in masses1 secured a total harmony
 by bringing all their colors1 mixed    
upon the palette1 into the same key4    

,the ,luminarists1 like ,claude ,monet1 
work with little spots or points of     
color laid separately upon the canvas2  
the fusion of these separate points into
 the dominant tone is made by the eye of
 the beholder4 ,the characteristic      
effect of a work of art is determined by
 the way in which the means are         
employed4 ,some knowledge1 therefore1 of
 the artist's aims as indicated in his  
method of working is necessary to a full
 understanding of what he wants to say4 
,in his effort to understand for his own
 purposes of appreciation what the      
artist has accomplished by his          
technique1 the layman may first of all  
distinguish between processes and       
results4 ,a landscape in nature is      
beautiful to the beholder because he    
perceives in it some harmony of color   
and form which through the eye appeals  
to the emotions4 ,his vision does not   
transmit every fact in the landscape2   
instinctively his eye in its sweep over 
meadow and trees and hill selects those 

details that compose4 ,by this act of   
integration he is for himself in so far 
forth an artist4 ,if he were a painter  
he would know what elements in the      
landscape to put upon his canvas4 ,but  
he has no skill in the actual practice  
of drawing and of handling the brush1 no
 knowledge of mixing colors and matching
 tones2 he understands nothing of       
perspective and values and the relations
 of light and shade4 ,he knows only what
 he sees1 that the landscape as he sees 
it is beautiful2 and equally he         
recognizes as beautiful the presentment 
of it upon canvas4 ,he is ignorant of   
the technical problems with which the   
painter in practice has had to contend  
in order to reach this result2 it is the
 result only that is of concern to him  
in so far as it is or is not what he    
desires4 ,the painter's color is        
significant to him1 not because he knows
 how to mix the color for himself1 but  
because that color in nature has spoken 
to him unutterable things and he has    

responded to it4 ,the layman cannot make
 a sunset and he cannot paint a picture2
 but he can enjoy both4 ,so he cares1   
then1 rather for what the painter has   
done than for how he has done it1       
because the processes do not enter into 
his own experience4 ,the picture has a  
meaning for him in the measure that it  
expresses what he perceives and feels1  
and that is the beauty of the landscape4
  ,any knowledge of technical processes 
which the layman may happen to possess  
may be a source of intellectual         
pleasure4 ,but for appreciation1 only so
 much understanding of technique is     
necessary as enables him to receive the 
message of a given work in the degree of
 expressiveness which the artist by his 
use of his medium has attained4 ,a clue 
to this understanding may come to him by
 intuition1 by virtue of his own native 
insight and intelligence4 ,he may gain  
it by reading or by instruction4 ,he may
 go out and win it by intrepid          
questioning of those who know2 and it is

 to be hoped that such will be very     
patient with him1 for after all even a  
layman has the right to live4 ,once     
started on the path1 then1 in the       
mysteries of art as in the whole complex
 infinite business of living1 he becomes
 his own tutor by observation and       
experience2 and he may develop into a   
fuller knowledge in obedience to the law
 of growth4 ,each partial clue to       
understanding brings him a step farther 
on his road2 each new glimmer of insight
 beckons him to ultimate illumination4  
,though baffled at the outset1 yet      
patient under disappointment1           
undauntedly he pushes on in spite of    
obstacles1 until he wins his way at last
 to true appreciation4  ,if the layman  
seeks a standard by which to test the   
value of any technical method1 he finds 
it in the success of the work itself4   
,every method is to be judged in and for
 itself on its own merits1 and not as   
better or worse than some other method4 
,individually we may prefer ,velasquez  

to ,frans ,hals2 ,whistler may minister 
to our personal satisfaction in larger  
measure than ,mr4 ,sargent2 we may enjoy
 ,mr4 ,james better than ,stevenson2    
,richard ,strauss may stir us more      
deeply than ,brahms4 ,we do not affirm  
thereby that impressionism is inherently
 better than realism1 or that subtlety  
is more to be desired than strength2 the
 psychological novel is not necessarily 
greater than romance2 because of our    
preference programme music is not       
therefore more significant than absolute
 music4 ,the greatness of an artist is  
established by the greatness of his     
ideas1 adequately expressed4 ,and the   
value of any technical method is        
determined by its own effectiveness for 
expression4  ,there is1 then1 no        
invariable standard external to the work
 itself by which to judge technique4    
,for no art is final4 ,a single work is 
the manifestation of beauty as the      
individual artist has conceived or felt 
it4 ,the perception of what is beautiful

 varies from age to age and with each   
person4 ,so1 too1 standards of beauty in
 art change with each generation2       
commonly they are deduced from the      
practice of preceding artists4          
,classicism formulates rules from works 
that have come to be recognized as      
beautiful1 and it requires of the artist
 conformity to these rules4 ,by this    
standard1 which it regards as absolute1 
it tries a new work1 and it pretends to 
adjudge the work good or bad according  
as it meets the requirements4 ,then a   
,titan emerges who defies the canons1   
wrecks the old order1 and in his own    
way1 to the despair or scorn of his     
contemporaries1 creates a work which the
 generation that follows comes to see is
 beautiful4 ,every author1 says         
,wordsworth1 as far as he is great and  
at the same time original1 has had the  
task of creating the taste by which he  
is to be enjoyed4 ,wordsworth in his own
 generation was ridiculed2 ,millet1 when
 he ceased painting nudes for           

art-dealers' windows and ventured to    
express himself1 faced starvation4      
,every artist is in some measure an     
innovator2 for his own age he is a      
romanticist4 ,but the romanticist of one
 age becomes a classic for the next2 and
 his performance in its turn gives laws 
to his successors4 ,richard ,strauss1   
deriving in some sense from ,wagner1    
makes the older man seem a classic and  
conservative4 ,then a new mind again is 
raised up1 a new temperament1 with new  
needs2 and these shape their own        
adequate new expression4 ,the cleanest  
expression1 says ,whitman1 is that which
 finds no sphere worthy of itself and   
makes one4 ,as all life is growth1 as   
there are no bounds to the possibilities
 of human experience1 so the workings of
 the art-impulse cannot be compressed   
within the terms of a hard and narrow   
definition1 and any abstract formula for
 beauty is in the very nature of things 
foredoomed to failure4 ,no limit can be 
set to the forms in which beauty may be 

made manifest4  ,the true poets are not 
followers of beauty1 but the august     
masters of beauty4 ,and ,whitman's own  
verse is a notable example of a new     
technique forged in response to a new   
need of expression4 ,dealing as he did  
with the big basic impulses of common   
experience accessible to all men1       
,whitman needed a largeness and freedom 
of expression which he did not find in  
the accepted and current poetic forms4  
,to match the limitlessly diversified   
character of the people1 occupations1   
and aspirations of these ,states1 as yet
 undeveloped but vital and inclosing the
 seed of unguessed-at possibilities1 to 
tally the fluid1 indeterminate1         
outward-reaching spirit of democracy and
 a new world1 the poet required a medium
 of corresponding scope and flexibility1
 all-inclusive and capable of endless   
modulation and variety4 ,finding none   
ready to his hand1 he created it4 ,not  
that ,whitman did not draw for his      
resources on the great treasury of      

world-literature2 and he profited by the
 efforts and achievement of             
predecessors4 ,but the form in his hands
 and as he uses it is new4 ,whatever we 
may think of the success of his total   
accomplishment1 there are very many     
passages to which we cannot deny the    
name of poetry4 ,nor did ,whitman work  
without conscious skill and deliberate  
regard for technical processes4 ,his    
note-books and papers reveal the extreme
 calculation and pains with which he    
wrote1 beginning with the collection of 
synonyms applying to his idea and mood1 
and so building them up gradually1 with 
many erasures1 corrections1 and         
substitutions1 into the finished poem4  
,much of the vigor of his style is due  
to his escape from conventional literary
 phrase-making and his return to the    
racy idiom of common life4 ,his verse1  
apparently inchoate and so different    
from classical poetic forms1 is shaped  
with a cunning incredible skill4 ,and   
more than that1 it is art1 in that it is

 not a bare statement of fact1 but      
communicates to us the poet's emotion1  
so that we realize the emotion in       
ourselves4 ,when his purpose is         
considered1 it is seen that no other    
technique was possible4 ,his achievement
 proves that a new need creates its own 
means of expression4  ,what is true of  
,whitman in respect to his technique is 
true in greater or less degree of every 
artist1 working in any form4 ,it is true
 of ,pheidias1 of ,giotto and           
,michelangelo and ,rembrandt1 of ,dante 
and ,shakespeare1 of ,beethoven and     
,wagner1 of ,monet1 of ,rodin1 in fine1 
from the beginnings of art to the day   
that now is4 ,all have created out of   
existing forms of expression their own  
idiom and way of working4 ,every artist 
owes something to his predecessors1 but 
language is re-created in the hands of  
each master and becomes a new           
instrument4 ,there can be then no single
 formula for technical method nor any   
fixed and final standard of judgment4   

,an artist himself is justified from his
 own point of view in his concern with  
technique1 for upon his technique       
depends his effectiveness of expression4
 ,his practice serves to keep alive the 
language and to develop its resources4  
,art in its concrete manifestations is  
an evolution4 ,from ,velasquez through  
,goya to ,manet and ,whistler is a line 
of inheritance4 ,but a true artist      
recognizes that technique is only a     
means4 ,as an artist he is seeking to   
body forth in external form the vision  
within1 and he tries to make his medium 
faithful to the coloring of his own     
spirit4 ,every artist works out his     
characteristic manner2 but the progress 
must be from within outwards4 ,toward   
the shaping of his own style he is      
helped by the practice of others1 but he
 is helped and not hindered only in so  
far as the manner of others can be made 
genuinely the expression of his own     
feeling4 ,direct borrowing of a trick of
 execution and servile imitation of a   

style have no place in true art4 ,a     
painter who would learn of ,velasquez   
should study the master's technique1 not
 that in the end he may paint like      
,velasquez1 but that he may discover    
just what it was that the master1 by    
means of his individual style1 was      
endeavoring to express1 and so bring to 
bear on his own environment here in     
,america to-day the same ability to see 
and the same power of sympathetic and   
imaginative penetration that ,velasquez 
brought to his environment at the court 
of seventeenth-century ,spain4 ,the way 
to paint like ,velasquez is to be       
,velasquez4 ,no man is a genius by      
imitation4 ,every man may seek to be a  
master in his own right4 ,technique does
 not lead2 it follows4 ,style is the    
man4  ,from within outwards4 ,art is the
 expression of sincere and vital        
feeling2 the material thing1 picture1   
statue1 poem1 which the artist conjures 
into being is only a means4 ,the moment 
art is worshiped for its own sake1 that 

moment decadence begins4 ,no one1 says  
,leonardo1 will ever be a great painter 
who takes as his guide the paintings of 
other men4 ,in general the history of   
art exhibits this course4 ,in the       
beginning arises a man of deep and      
genuine feeling1 the language at whose  
command1 however1 has not been developed
 to the point where it is able to carry 
the full burden of his meaning4 ,such a 
man is ,giotto2 and we have the burning 
messages of prophecy delivered by the   
stammering lips of infants4 ,in the     
generations which supervene1 artists    
with less fervor of spirit but with     
growing skill of hand1 increased with   
each inheritance1 turn their efforts to 
the development of their means4 ,the    
names of this period of experiment and  
research are ,masaccio1 ,uccello1       
,pollaiuolo1 ,verrocchio4 ,at length1   
when the fullness of time is come1      
emerges the master-mind1 of original    
insight and creative power4 ,heir to the
 technical achievements of his          

predecessors1 he is able to give his    
transcendent idea its supremely adequate
 expression4 ,content is perfectly      
matched by form4 ,on this summit stand  
,michelangelo1 ,raphael1 ,leonardo4     
,then follow the ,carracci1             
,domenichino1 ,guercino1 ,guido ,reni1  
,carlo ,dolci1 men who mistake the      
master's manner for his meaning4 ,the   
idea1 the vital principle1 has spent    
itself4 ,the form only is left1 and that
 is elaborated into the exuberance of   
decay4 ,painters find their impulse no  
longer in nature and life but in paint4 
,technique is made an end in itself4    
,and art is dead1 to be reborn in       
another shape and guise4  ,the relation 
of technique to appreciation in the     
experience of the layman begins now to  
define itself4 ,technique serves the    
artist for efficient expression2 an     
understanding of it is of value to the  
layman in so far as the knowledge helps 
him to read the artist's language and   
thus to receive his message4 ,both for  

artist and for layman technique is only 
a means4 ,out of his own intelligent and
 patient experience the layman can win  
his way to an understanding of methods2 
and his standard of judgment1 good      
enough for his own purposes1 is the     
degree of expressiveness which the work 
of art1 by virtue of its qualities of   
execution1 is able to achieve4 ,skill   
may be enjoyed intellectually for its   
own sake as skill2 in itself it is not  
art4 ,technique is most successful when 
it is least perceived4 ,ars celare      
artem3 art reveals life and conceals    
technique4 ,we must understand something
 of technique and then forget it in     
appreciation4 ,when we thrill to the    
splendor and glory of a sunset we are   
not thinking of the laws of refraction4 
,appreciation is not knowledge1 but     
emotion4    ,,iv  ,,the ,,value ,,of    
,,the ,,medium  ,,as ,i swing through   
the wide country in the freshness and   
fullness of a blossoming1 sun-steeped   
morning in ,may1 breathing the breath of

 the fields and the taller by inches for
 the sweep of the hills and the reaches 
of sky above my head1 every nerve in my 
body is alive with sensation and        
delight4 ,my joy is in the fragrance of 
earth1 the ingratiating warmth of the   
fresh morning1 the spacious1 inclosing  
air4 ,my pleasure in this direct contact
 with the landscape is a physical       
reaction1 to be enjoyed only by the     
actual experience of it2 it cannot be   
reproduced by any other means2 it can be
 recalled by memory but faintly and as  
the echo of sensation4 ,there is1       
however1 something else in the landscape
 which can be reproduced2 and this      
recall may seem more glorious than the  
original in nature4 ,there are elements 
in the scene which a painter can render 
for me more intensely and vividly than  
,i perceived them for myself4 ,these    
elements embody the value that the      
landscape has for my emotions4 ,the     
scene appeals to something within me    
which lies beyond my actual physical    

contact with it and the mere sense of   
touch4 ,the harmony that the eye        
perceives in these open fields1 the     
gracious line of trees along the        
stream's edge1 the tossing hills beyond1
 and the arch of the blue sky above     
impregnating the earth with light1 is   
communicated to my spirit1 and ,i feel  
that this reach of radiant country is an
 extension of my own personality4 ,a    
painter1 by the manipulation of his     
color and line and mass1 concentrates   
and intensifies the harmony of it and so
 heightens its emotional value4 ,the    
meaning of the scene for the spirit is  
conveyed in terms of color and mass4    
,color and mass are the painter's       
medium1 his language4 ,the final import 
of art is the idea1 the emotional       
content of the work4 ,on his way to the 
expression of his idea the artist avails
 himself of material to give his feeling
 concrete actuality and visible or      
audible realization4 ,he paints a       
picture1 glorious in color and          

compelling in the concentration of its  
massing2 he carves a statue1 noble in   
form or subtly rhythmic2 he weaves a    
pattern of harmonious sounds4 ,he values
 objects not for their own sake but for 
the energies they possess1--their power 
to rouse his whole being into heightened
 activity4 ,and they have this power by 
virtue of their material qualities1 as  
color and form or sound4 ,a landscape is
 gay in springtime or sad in autumn4    
,the difference in its effect upon us is
 not due to our knowledge that it is    
spring or autumn and our consciousness  
of the associations appropriate to each 
season4 ,the emotional quality of the   
scene is largely a matter of its color4 
,let the spring landscape be shrouded in
 gray mist sifting down out of gray     
skies1 and we are sad4 ,let the autumn  
fields and woodland sparkle and dance in
 the crisp golden sunlight1 and our     
blood dances with them and we want to   
shout from full lungs4 ,in music the    
major key wakens a different emotion    

from the minor4 ,the note of a violin is
 virgin in quality2 the voice of the    
'cello is the voice of experience4 ,the 
distinctive emotional value of each     
instrument inheres in the character of  
its sound4 ,these qualities of objects  
art uses as its language4  ,though all  
art is one in essence1 yet each art     
employs a medium of its own4 ,in order  
to understand a work in its scope and   
true significance we must recognize that
 an artist thinks and feels in terms of 
his special medium4 ,his impulse to     
create comes with his vision1 actual or 
imaginative1 of color or form1 and his  
thought is transmitted to his hand1     
which shapes the work1 without the      
intervention of words4 ,the nature of   
his vehicle and the conditions in which 
he works determine in large measure the 
details of the form which his idea      
ultimately assumes4 ,thus a potter      
designs his vessel first with reference 
to its use and then with regard to his  
material1 its character and             

possibilities4 ,as he models his plastic
 clay upon a wheel1 he naturally makes  
his bowl or jug round rather than       
sharply angular4 ,a pattern for a       
carpet1 to be woven by a system of      
little squares into the fabric1 will    
have regard for the conditions in which 
it is to be rendered1 and it will differ
 in the character of its lines and      
masses from a pattern for a wall-paper1 
which may be printed from blocks4 ,the  
designer in stained glass will try less 
to make a picture in the spirit of      
graphic representation than to produce  
an harmonious color-pattern whose       
outlines will be guided and controlled  
by the possibilities of the leading of  
the window4 ,the true artist uses the   
conditions and very limitations of his  
material as his opportunity4 ,the       
restraint imposed by the sonnet form is 
welcomed by the poet as compelling a    
collectedness of thought and an         
intensity of expression which his idea  
might not achieve if allowed to flow in 

freer channels4 ,the worker in iron has 
his triumphs2 the goldsmith has his4    
,the limitations of each craft open to  
it effects which are denied to the      
other4 ,there is an art of confectionery
 and an art of sculpture4 ,the designer 
of frostings who has a right feeling for
 his art will not emulate the sculptor  
and strive to model in the grand style2 
the sculptor who tries to reproduce     
imitatively the textures of lace or     
other fabrics and who exuberates in     
filigrees and fussinesses so far departs
 from his art as to rival the           
confectioner4 ,in the degree that a     
painter tries to wrench his medium from 
its right use and function and attempts 
to make his picture tell a story1 which 
can better be told in words1 to that    
extent he is unfaithful to his art4     
,painting1 working as it does with color
 and form1 should confine itself to the 
expression of emotion and idea that can 
be rendered visible4 ,on the part of the
 appreciator1 likewise1 the emotion     

expressed in one kind of medium is not  
to be translated into any other terms   
without a difference4 ,every kind of    
material has its special value for      
expression4 ,the meaning of pictures1   
accordingly1 is limited precisely to the
 expressive power of color and form4    
,the impression which a picture makes   
upon the beholder maybe phrased by him  
in words1 which are his own means of    
expression2 but he suggests the import  
of the picture only incompletely4 ,if ,i
 describe in words ,millet's painting of
 the ,sower according to my             
understanding of it1 ,i am telling in my
 own terms what the picture means to me4
 ,what it meant to ,millet1 the full and
 true significance of the situation as  
the painter felt it1 is there expressed 
upon his canvas in terms of visible     
aspect2 and correspondingly1 ,millet's  
meaning is fully and truly received in  
the measure that we feel in ourselves   
the emotion roused by the sight of his  
color and form4  ,the essential content 

of a work of art1 therefore1 is modified
 in its effect upon us by the kind of   
medium in which it is presented4 ,if an 
idea phrased originally in one medium is
 translated into the terms of another1  
we have illustration4 ,turning the pages
 of an illustrated novel1 we come upon a
 plate showing a man and a woman against
 the background of a divan1 a chair1 and
 a tea-table4 ,the man1 in a frock coat1
 holding a top hat in his left hand1    
extends his right hand to the woman1 who
 has just risen from the table4 ,the    
legend under the picture reads1 ,taking 
his hat1 he said good-by4 ,here the     
illustrator has simply supplied a       
visible image of what was suggested in  
the text2 the drawing has no interest   
beyond helping the reader to that image4
 ,it is a statement of the bare fact in 
other terms4 ,in the hands of an artist1
 however1 the translation may take on a 
value of its own1 changing the original 
idea1 adding to it1 and becoming in     
itself an independent work of art4 ,this

 value derives from the form into which 
the idea is translated4 ,the frescoes of
 the ,sistine ,chapel are only sublime  
illustration2 but how little of their   
power attaches to the subject they      
illustrate1 and how much of their       
sublimity lies in the painter's         
rendering6 ,conversely1 an example of   
the literary interpretation of a picture
 is ,walter ,pater's description of     
,leonardo's ,mona ,lisa4  ,the presence 
that thus rose so strangely beside the  
waters1 is expressive of what in the    
ways of a thousand years men had come to
 desire4 ,hers is the head upon which   
all the ends of the world are come1 and 
the eyelids are a little weary4 ,it is a
 beauty wrought out from within upon the
 flesh1 the deposit1 little cell by     
cell1 of strange thoughts and fantastic 
reveries and exquisite passions4 ,set it
 for a moment beside one of those white 
,greek goddesses or beautiful women of  
antiquity1 and how would they be        
troubled by this beauty1 into which the 

soul with all its maladies has passed6  
,all the thoughts and experience of the 
world have etched and moulded there1 in 
that which they have of power to refine 
and make expressive the outward form1   
the animalism of ,greece1 the lust of   
,rome1 the reverie of the middle age    
with its spiritual ambition and         
imaginative loves1 the return of the    
,pagan world1 the sins of the ,borgias4 
,she is older than the rocks among which
 she sits2 like the vampire1 she has    
been dead many times1 and learned the   
secrets of the grave2 and has been a    
diver in deep seas1 and keeps their     
fallen day about her2 and trafficked for
 strange webs with ,eastern merchants2  
and1 as ,leda1 was the mother of ,helen 
of ,troy1 and1 as ,saint ,anne1 the     
mother of ,mary2 and all this has been  
to her but as the sound of lyres and    
flutes1 and lives only in the delicacy  
with which it has moulded the changing  
lineaments1 and tinged the eyelids and  
the hands4 ,the fancy of a perpetual    

life1 sweeping together ten thousand    
experiences1 is an old one2 and modern  
thought has conceived the idea of       
humanity as wrought upon by1 and summing
 up in itself1 all modes of thought and 
life4 ,certainly ,lady ,lisa might stand
 as the embodiment of the old fancy1 the
 symbol of the modern idea4  ,it is     
,leonardo's conception1 yet with a      
difference4 ,here the critic has woven  
about the subject an exquisite tissue of
 associations1 a whole wide background  
of knowledge and thought and feeling    
which it lay beyond the painter's range 
to evoke2 but the critic is denied the  
vividness1 the immediateness and        
intimate warmth of vital contact1 which 
the painter was able to achieve4 ,the   
,lisa whom ,leonardo shows us and the   
,lisa whom ,pater interprets for us are 
the same in essence yet different in    
their power to affect us4 ,the          
difference resulting from the kind of   
medium employed is well exemplified by  
,rossetti's ,blessed ,damozel4 ,the     

fundamental concept of both poem and    
picture is identical1 but picture and   
poem have each its distinctive range and
 limitations and its own peculiar       
appeal4 ,if we cancel the common element
 in the two1 the difference remaining   
makes it possible for us to realize how 
much of the effect of a work of art     
inheres in the medium itself4 ,painting 
may be an aid to literature in that it  
helps us to more vivid images2 the      
literary interpretation of pictures or  
music gives to the works with which it  
deals an intellectual definiteness4 ,but
 the functions peculiar to each art are 
not to be confounded nor the            
distinctions obscured4  ,pictures are   
not a substitute for literature1 and    
their true meaning is finally not to be 
translated into words4 ,their beauty is 
a visible beauty2 the emotions they     
rouse are such as can be conveyed       
through the sense of sight4 ,in the end 
they carry their message sufficingly as 
color and mass4 ,midway1 however1 our   

enjoyment may be complicated by other   
elements which have their place in our  
total appreciation4 ,thus a painting of 
a landscape may appeal to us over and   
above its inherent beauty because we are
 already1 out of actual experience1     
familiar with the scene it represents1  
and the sight of it wakens in our memory
 a train of pleasant allied             
associations4 ,a ruined tower1 in itself
 an exquisite composition in color and  
line and mass1 may gather about it      
suggestions of romance1 elemental       
passions and wild life1 and may         
epitomize for the beholder the whole    
,middle ,age4 ,associated interest1     
therefore1 may be sentimental or        
intellectual4 ,it may be sensuous also1 
appealing to other senses than those of 
sight4 ,the sense of touch plays a large
 part in our enjoyment of the world4 ,we
 like the feel of objects1 the catch of 
raw silk1 the chill smoothness of       
burnished brass1 the thick softness of  
mists1 the amorous wet of green depths  

of sea4 ,the senses of taste and smell  
may be excited imaginatively and        
contribute to our pleasure4 ,winslow    
,homer's breakers bring back to us the  
salt fragrance of the ocean1 and in the 
presence of these white mad surges we   
feel the stinging spray in our faces and
 we taste the cosmic exhilaration of the
 sea-wind4 ,but the final meaning of a  
picture resides in the total harmony of 
color and form1 a harmony into which we 
can project our whole personality and   
which itself constitutes the emotional  
experience4  ,all language in its       
material aspect has a sensuous value1 as
 the wealth of color of ,venetian       
painting1 the sumptuousness of          
,renaissance architecture1 the melody of
 ,mr4 ,swinburne's verse1 the gem-like  
brilliance of ,stevenson's prose1 the   
all-inclusive sensuousness1 touched with
 sensuality1 of ,wagner's music-dramas4 
,because of the charm of beautiful      
language there are many art-lovers who  
regard the sensuous qualities of the    

work itself as making up the entire     
experience4 ,apart from any             
consideration of intention or           
expressiveness1 the material thing which
 the artist's touch summons into form is
 held to be its own excuse for being4   
,this order of enjoyment1 valid as far  
as it goes1 falls short of complete     
appreciation4 ,it does not pass the     
delight one has in the radiance of gems 
or the glowing tincture of some fabric4 
,the element of meaning does not enter  
in4 ,there is a beauty for the eye and a
 beauty for the mind4 ,the qualities of 
material may give pleasure to the       
senses2 the object embodying these      
qualities becomes beautiful only as it  
is endowed with a significance wakened  
in the human spirit4 ,a landscape1 says 
,walter ,crane1 owes a great part of its
 beauty to the harmonious relation of   
its leading lines1 or to certain        
pleasant contrasts1 or a certain        
impressiveness of form and mass1 and at 
the same time we shall perceive that    

this linear expression is inseparable   
from the sentiment or emotion suggested 
by that particular scene4 ,in the       
appreciation of art1 to stop with the   
sensuous appeal of the medium is to     
mistake means for an end4 ,rhyme1 says  
the author of ,intentions1 in the hands 
of a real artist becomes not merely a   
material element of metrical beauty1 but
 a spiritual element of thought and     
passion also4 ,an artist's color1       
glorious or tender1 is only a symbol and
 manifestation to sense of his emotion4 
,at first glance ,titian's portrait of  
the ,man with the ,glove is an ineffable
 color-harmony4 ,but truly seen it is   
infinitely more4 ,by means of color and 
formal design ,titian has embodied here 
his vision of superb young manhood2 by  
the expressive power of his material    
symbols he has rendered visible his     
sense of dignity1 of fineness1 of       
strength in reserve4 ,the color is      
beautiful because his idea was          
beautiful4 ,through the character of    

this young man as revealed and          
interpreted by the artist1 the beholder 
is brought into contact with a vital    
personality1 whose influence is         
communicated to him2 in the appreciation
 of ,titian's message he sees and feels 
and lives4  ,the value of the medium    
resided not in the material itself but  
in its power for expression4 ,when      
language is elaborated at the expense of
 the meaning1 we have in so far forth   
sham art4 ,it should be easy to         
distinguish in art between what is vital
 and what is mechanical4 ,the mechanical
 is the product of mere execution and   
calls attention to the manner4 ,the     
vital is born out of inspiration1 and   
the living idea transmutes its material 
into emotion4 ,too great an effort at   
realization defeats the intended        
illusion1 for we think only of the skill
 exercised to effect the result1 and the
 operation of the intellect inhibits    
feeling4 ,in the greatest art the medium
 is least perceived1 and the beholder   

stands immediately in the presence of   
the artist's idea4 ,the material is     
necessarily fixed and finite2 the idea  
struggles to free itself from its medium
 and untrammeled to reach the spirit4   
,it is mind speaking to mind4 ,however  
complete the material expression may    
seem1 it is only a part of what the     
artist would say2 imagination transcends
 the actual4  ,in the art which goes    
deepest into life1 the medium is        
necessarily inadequate4 ,the artist     
fashions his work in a sublime despair  
as he feels how little of the mighty    
meaning within him he is able to convey4
 ,in the greatest works rightly seen the
 medium becomes transparent4 ,within the
 ,sistine ,chapel the visitor1 when once
 he has yielded to the illusion1 is not 
conscious of plaster surface and        
pigment2 indeed1 he hardly sees color   
and design as such at all2 through them 
he looks into the immensity of heaven1  
peopled with gods and godlike men4      
,consummate acting is that which makes  

the spectator forget that it is acting4 
,the part and the player become one4    
,the actor1 in himself and in the words 
he utters1 is the unregarded vehicle of 
the dramatist's idea4 ,in a play like   
,ibsen's ,ghosts1 the stage1 the actors1
 the dialogue merge and fall away1 and  
the overwhelming meaning stands revealed
 in its complete intensity4 ,as the play
 opens1 it cuts out a segment from the  
chaos of human life2 step by step it    
excludes all that is unessential1 stroke
 by stroke with an inevitableness that  
is crushing1 it converges to the great  
one-thing that the dramatist wanted to  
say1 until at the end the spectator1    
conscious no longer of the medium but   
only of the idea and all-resolving      
emotion1 bows down before its           
overmastering force with the cry1 ,what 
a mind is there6  ,in the art which most
 completely achieves expression the     
medium is not perceived as distinct from
 the emotion of which the medium is the 
embodiment4 ,in order to render         

expressive the material employed in its 
service1 art seeks constantly to        
identify means and end1 to make the form
 one with the content4 ,the wayfarer out
 of his need of shelter built a hut1    
using the material which chance gave    
into his hand and shaping his design    
according to his resources2 the purpose 
of his work was not the hut itself but  
shelter4 ,so the artist in any form is  
impelled to creation by his need of     
expression2 the thing which he creates  
is not the purpose and end of his       
effort1 but only the means4 ,each art   
has its special medium1 and each medium 
has its peculiar sensuous charm and its 
own kind of expressiveness4 ,this power 
of sensuous delight is incidental to the
 real beauty of the work2 and that      
beauty is the message the work is framed
 to convey to the spirit4 ,in the       
individual work1 the inspiring and      
shaping idea seeks so to fuse its       
material that we feel the idea could not
 have been phrased in any other way as  

we surrender to its ultimate            
appeal1--the sum of the emotional       
content which gave it birth and in which
 it reaches its fulfillment4    ,v      
,,the ,,background ,,of ,,art  ,,scene3 
,the main hall of the ,accademia in     
,venice4  ,time3 ,noon of a ,july day4  
,dramatis personae3 ,a guide2 two       
drab-colored and tired men2 a group of  
women1 of various ages1 equipped with   
red-covered little volumes1 and         
severally expressive of great           
earnestness1 wide-eyed rapture1 and     
giggles4  ,the guide1 in strident1      
accentless tones3 ,last work of ,titian4
 ,ninety-nine years old4 ,he died of    
smallpox4  ,a woman3 ,is that it8  ,a   
high voice on the outskirts3 ,i'm going 
to get one for forty dollars4  ,another 
voice3 ,well1 ,i'm not going to pay more
 than fifty for mine4  ,a straggler3    
,eliza1 look at those people4 ,oh1 you  
missed it6 7,stopping suddenly87 ,my1   
isn't that lovely6  ,chorus3 ,yes1      
that's ,paris ,bordone4 ,which one is   

that8 ,he has magnificent color4  ,the  
guide3 ,the thing you want to look at is
 the five figures in front4  ,a voice3  
,oh1 that's beautiful4 ,i love that4  ,a
 man3 ,foreshortened2 well1 ,i should   
say so6 ,but ,i say1 you can't remember 
all these pictures4  ,the other man3    
,let's get out of this6  ,the guide1    
indicating a picture of the ,grand      
,canal3 ,this one has been restored4  ,a
 girl's voice3 ,why1 that's the house   
where we are staying6  ,the guide3 ,the 
next picture 4 4 4  ,the squad shuffles 
out of range4  ,this little comedy1     
enacted in fact and here faithfully     
reported1 is not without its pathos4    
,these people are studying art4 ,they   
really want to understand1 and if       
possible1 to enjoy4 ,they have visited  
galleries and seen many pictures1 and   
they will visit other galleries and see 
many more pictures before their return  
home4 ,they have read guide-books1      
noting the stars and double stars2 they 
have dipped into histories of art and   

volumes of criticism4 ,they have been   
told to observe the dramatic force of   
,giotto1 the line of ,botticelli1 the   
perfect composition of ,raphael1 the    
color of ,titian2 all this they have    
done punctiliously4 ,they know in a     
vague way that ,giotto was much earlier 
than ,raphael1 that ,botticelli was     
rather pagan than ,christian1 that      
,titian belonged to the ,venetian       
school4 ,they have come to the fountain 
head of art1 the very works themselves  
as gathered in the galleries2 they have 
tried to remember what they have read   
and to do what they have been told2 and 
now they are left still perplexed and   
unsatisfied4  ,the difficulty is that   
these earnest seekers after knowledge of
 art have laid hold on partial truths1  
but they have failed to see these       
partial truths in their right relation  
to the whole4 ,the period in which an   
artist lived means something4 ,his way  
of thinking and feeling means something4
 ,the quality of his color means        

something4 ,but what does his picture   
mean8 ,these people have not quite found
 the key by which to piece the fragments
 of the puzzle into the complete design4
 ,they miss the central fact with regard
 to art2 and as a consequence1 the ways 
of approach to the full enjoyment of    
art1 instead of bringing them nearer the
 centre1 become for them a network of   
by-paths in which they enmesh           
themselves1 and they are left to wander 
helplessly up and down and about in the 
blind-alleys of the labyrinth4 ,the     
central fact with regard to art is this1
 that a work of art is the expression of
 some part of the artist's experience of
 life1 his vision of some aspect of the 
world4 ,for the appreciator1 the work   
takes on a meaning as it becomes for him
 in his turn the expression of his own  
actual or possible experience and thus  
relates itself by the subtle links of   
feeling to his own life4 ,this is the   
central fact2 but there are side issues4
 ,any single work of art is in itself   

necessarily finite4 ,because of         
limitations in both the artist and the  
appreciator the work cannot express     
immediately and completely of itself all
 that the author wished to convey2 it   
can present but a single facet of his   
many-sided radiating personality4 ,what 
is actually said may be reinforced by   
some understanding on the beholder's    
part of what was intended4 ,in order to 
win its fullest message1 therefore1 the 
appreciator must set the work against   
the large background out of which it has
 proceeded4  ,a visitor in the ,salon   
,carr of the ,louvre notes that there   
are arrayed before him pictures by ,jan 
van ,eyck and ,memling1 ,raphael and    
,leonardo1 ,giorgione and ,titian1      
,rembrandt and ,metsu1 ,rubens and ,van 
,dyck1 ,fouquet and ,poussin1 ,velasquez
 and ,murillo4 ,each one bears the      
distinctive impress of its creator4 ,how
 different some of them1 one from       
another1--the ,virgin of ,van ,eyck from
 the ,virgin of ,raphael1 ,rembrandt's  

,pilgrimsat ,emmaus from the ,entombment
 by ,titian4 ,yet between others there  
are common elements of likeness4        
,raphael and ,titian are distinguished  
by an opulence of form and a luxuriance 
of color which reveal supreme technical 
accomplishment in a fertile land under  
light-impregnated skies4 ,the rigidity  
and restraint of ,van ,eyck and ,memling
 suggest the tentative early efforts of 
the art of a sober northern race4 ,to a 
thoughtful student of these pictures    
sooner or later the question comes1     
,whence are these likenesses and these  
differences8  ,hitherto ,i have referred
 to the creative mind and executive hand
 as generically the artist4 ,i have     
thought of him as a type1 representative
 of all the great class of those who    
feel and express1 and who by means of   
their expression communicate their      
feeling4 ,similarly ,i have spoken of   
the work of art1 as though it were      
complete in itself and isolated1 sprung 
full-formed and panoplied from the brain

 of its creator1 able to win its way and
 consummate its destiny alone4 ,the type
 is conceived intellectually2 in actual 
life the type resolves itself into      
individuals4 ,so there are individual   
artists1 each with his own distinctive  
gifts and ideals1 each with his own     
separate experience of life1 with his   
personal and special vision of the      
world1 and his characteristic manner of 
expression4 ,similarly1 a single work of
 art is not an isolated phenomenon2 it  
is only a part of the artist's total    
performance1 and to these other works it
 must be referred4 ,the kind of work an 
artist sets himself to do is determined 
to some extent by the period into which 
he was born and the country in which he 
lived4 ,the artist himself1 heir to the 
achievements of his predecessors1 is a  
development1 and his work is the product
 of an evolution4 ,a work of art1       
therefore1 to be judged aright and truly
 appreciated1 must be seen in its       
relation to its background1 from which  

it detaches itself at the moment of     
consideration1--the background of the   
artist's personality and accomplishment 
and of the national life and ideals of  
his time4  ,if the layman's interest in 
art is more than the casual touch-and-go
 of a picture here1 a concert there1 and
 an entertaining book of an evening1 he 
is confronted with the important matter 
of the study of art as it manifests     
itself through the ages and in diverse  
lands4 ,it is not a question of         
practicing an art himself1 for technical
 skill lies outside his province4 ,the  
study of art in the sense proposed has  
to do with the consideration of an      
individual work in its relation to all  
the factors that have entered into its  
production4 ,the work of an artist is   
profoundly influenced by the national   
ideals and way of life of his race and  
of his age4 ,the art of ,catholic ,italy
 is ecclesiastical2 the art of the      
,protestant ,north is domestic and      
individual4 ,the actual form an artist's

 work assumes is modified by the        
resources at his disposal1--resources   
both of material and of technical       
methods4 ,raphael may have no more to   
say than ,giotto had1 but he is able to 
express himself in a fuller and more    
finished way1 because in his time the   
language of painting had become richer  
and more varied and the rhetoric of it  
had been carried to a farther point of  
development4 ,finally1 as all art is in 
essence the expression of personality1 a
 single work is to be understood in its 
widest intention and scope by reference 
to the total personality of the         
individual artist as manifested in his  
work collectively1 and to be interpreted
 by the appreciator through his         
knowledge of the artist's experience of 
life4  ,in order to wrest its fullest   
expressiveness from a work of art it is 
necessary as far as possible to regard  
the work from the artist's own point of 
view4 ,we must try to see with his eyes 
and to feel with him what he was working

 for4 ,to this end we must reconstruct  
imaginatively on a basis of the facts   
the conditions in which he lived and    
wrought4 ,the difference between ,giotto
 and ,raphael is a difference not of    
individuality only4 ,each gives         
expression to the ideals and ways of    
thought of his age4 ,each is a creative 
mind1 but each bases his performance    
upon what has gone before1 and the form 
of their work is conditioned by the     
resources each had at his disposal4 ,to 
discover the artist's purpose more      
completely than he was able to realize  
it for himself in the single work1--that
 is the aim and function of the         
historical study of art4 ,a brief review
 of the achievement of ,giotto and of   
,raphael may serve to illustrate        
concretely the application of the       
principle and to fix its value to       
appreciation4  ,in the period of the    
decline and fall of the ,roman ,empire  
art passed from ,rome to ,byzantium4    
,the arts of sculpture and painting were

 employed in the service of the ,church1
 imposing by its magnificence and       
all-powerful in its domination over the 
lives and minds of men4 ,the function of
 art was to teach2 its character was    
symbolic and decorative4 ,art had no    
separate and independent existence4 ,it 
had no direct reference to nature2 the  
pictorial representation of individual  
traits was quite outside its scope2 a   
few signs fixed by convention sufficed4 
,a fish--derived from the acrostic      
ichtbus--symbolized the ,saviour2 a     
cross was the visible token of redeeming
 grace4 ,and so through several hundred 
years4 ,the twelfth century saw the     
beginnings of a change in the direction 
of spiritual and intellectual           
emancipation4 ,the teachings and example
 of ,francis of ,assisi brought men to  
the consciousness of themselves and to a
 realization of the worth and           
significance of the individual life4    
,the work of ,giotto is the expression  
in art of the new spirit4  ,of necessity

 ,giotto founded his work upon the      
accepted forms of the ,byzantine        
tradition4 ,but ,giotto was a man of    
genius and a creative mind4 ,in the     
expression of his fresh impulse and     
vital feeling1 the assertion of         
new-found individuality1 he tried to    
realize as convincingly and vividly as  
possible the situation with which he was
 dealing2 and with this purpose he      
looked not back upon art but out upon   
nature4 ,where the ,byzantine convention
 had presented but a sign and remote    
indication of form by means of flat     
color1 ,giotto endows his figures with  
life and movement and actuality by      
giving them a body in three dimensions2 
his forms exist in the round4 ,until his
 day1 light and shade had not been      
employed2 and such perspective as he was
 able to achieve he had to discover for 
himself4 ,for the first time in         
,christian painting a figure has bodily 
existence4 ,giotto gives the first      
evidence1 too1 of a sense of the beauty 

of color1 and of the value of movement  
as a means of added expressiveness4 ,his
 power of composition shows an immense  
advance on his predecessors4 ,in dealing
 with traditional subjects1 as the      
,madonna and child1 he follows in       
general the traditional arrangement4    
,but in those subjects where his own    
inventiveness is given free play1 as in 
the series of frescoes illustrating the 
life of ,st4 ,francis1 he reveals an    
extraordinary faculty of design and a   
dramatic sense which is matched by a    
directness and clarity of expression4   
,not only in the technique of his craft 
was ,giotto an innovator1 but also in   
the direction of naturalness and reality
 of feeling4 ,he was the first to       
introduce portraits into his work4 ,his 
,madonnas and saints are no longer mere 
types2 they are human and individual1   
vividly felt and characterized by       
immediate and present actuality4 ,giotto
 was the first realist1 but he was a    
poet too4 ,his insight into life is     

tempered by a deep sincerity and piety2 
his work is genuinely and powerfully    
felt4 ,as a man ,giotto was reverent and
 earnest1 joyous and beautifully sane4  
,as a painter1 by force of the freshness
 of his impulse and the clarity of his  
vision1 he created a new manner of      
expression4 ,as an artist he reveals a  
true power of imaginative               
interpretation4 ,the casual spectator of
 to-day finds him naive and quaint4 ,in 
the eyes of his contemporaries he was   
anything but that2 they regarded him as 
a marvel of reality1 surpassing nature  
itself4 ,when judged with reference to  
the conditions of life in which he      
worked and to the technical resources at
 his command1 ,giotto is seen to be of a
 very high order of creative mind4  ,the
 year #acjj divides the life of ,giotto 
into two nearly equal parts2 the year   
#aejj similarly divides the life of     
,raphael4 ,in the two centuries that    
intervene1 the great age of ,italian    
painting1 initiated by ,giotto1 reaches 

its flower and perfection in            
,michelangelo1 ,leonardo1 and ,raphael4 
,the years which followed the passing of
 these greatnesses were the years of    
decadence and eclipse4 ,if we are to    
understand and justly appreciate the    
work of each man in its own kind1 the   
painting of ,giotto must be tried by    
other standards than those we apply to  
the judgment of ,raphael4 ,giotto was a 
pioneer2 ,raphael is a consummation4    
,the two centuries between were a period
 of development and change1 a           
development in all that regards         
technique1 a change in national ideals  
and in the artist's attitude toward life
 and toward his art4 ,a quick survey of 
the period1 if so hasty a generalization
 permits correctness of statement1 will 
help us in the understanding of the     
craft and art of ,raphael4  ,giotto was 
succeeded by a host of lesser men1      
regarded as his followers1 men who      
sought to apply the principles and      
methods of painting worked out by the   

master1 but who lacked his inspiration  
and his power4 ,thus it was for nearly a
 hundred years4 ,the turn of the        
fourteenth century into the fifteenth   
saw the emergence of new forces in the  
science and the mechanics of painting4  
,the laws of perspective and            
foreshortening were made the object of  
special research and practice by men    
like ,uccello 7#acig-adge71 ,piero dei  
,franceschi 7#adaf-adib71 and ,mantegna 
7#adca-aejf74 ,oh1 what a beautiful     
thing this perspective is6 ,uccello     
exclaimed1 as he stood at his desk      
between midnight and dawn while his wife
 begged him to take some rest4 ,in the  
first thirty years of the fifteenth     
century1 ,masaccio contributed to the   
knowledge of anatomy by his painting of 
the nude form2 and the study of the nude
 was continued by ,pollaiuolo and ,luca 
,signorelli1 in the second half of the  
century4 ,masaccio1 also1 was the first 
to place his figures in air1 enveloping 
them in atmosphere4 ,verrocchio1 a      

generation later than ,masaccio1 was one
 of the first of the ,florentines to    
understand landscape and the part played
 in it by air and light4 ,the realistic 
spirit1 which suffices itself with      
subjects drawn from every-day actual    
experience1 finds expression in the     
first half of the fifteenth century in  
the work of ,andrea del ,castagno4 ,and 
so down through that century of spring  
and summer4 ,each painter in his own way
 carries some detail of his craft to a  
further point of development and        
prepares the path for the supreme       
triumphs of ,michelangelo1 ,leonardo1   
and ,raphael4  ,the growing mastery of  
the principles and technique of painting
 accompanied a change in the painter's  
attitude toward his art4 ,originally1   
painting1 applied in subjection to      
architecture and employed in the service
 of the ,church1 was decorative in      
scope2 its purpose was illustration1 its
 function was to teach4 ,as painters1   
from generation to generation1 went     

deeper into the secrets of their craft1 
they became less interested in the      
didactic import of their work1 and they 
concerned themselves more and more with 
its purely artistic significance4       
,religious subjects were no longer used 
merely as symbols for the expression of 
piety and as incitements to devotion2   
they became inherently artistic motives1
 valued as they furnished the artist an 
opportunity for the exercise of his     
knowledge and skill and for the         
exhibition of lovely color and          
significant form4 ,a change in the      
mechanical methods of painting1 also1   
had its influence on a change in the    
conception of the function of art4 ,with
 a very few exceptions1 the works of    
,giotto were executed in fresco as wall 
decorations4 ,the principles of mural   
painting require that the composition   
shall be subordinated to the            
architectural conditions of the space it
 is to fill and that the color shall be 
kept flat4 ,the fresco method meets     

these requirements admirably1 but       
because of its flatness it has its      
limitations4 ,the introduction of an oil
 vehicle for the pigment material1 in   
the fifteenth century1 made possible a  
much greater range in gradated color1   
and reinforcing the increased knowledge 
of light and shade1 aided in the        
evolution of decoration into the easel  
picture1 complete in itself4 ,released  
from its subjection to architecture1    
increasing its technical resources1 and 
widening its interests in the matter of 
subject so as to include all life1      
painting becomes an independent and     
self-sufficing art4  ,coincident with   
the development of painting as a craft1 
a mighty change was working itself out  
in the national ideals and in men's ways
 of thought and feeling4 ,already in    
,giotto's time the spirit of            
individualism had begun to assert itself
 in reaction from the dominance of an   
all-powerful restrictive                
ecclesiasticism1 but the age was still  

essentially pietistic and according to  
its lights1 religious4 ,the fifteenth   
century witnessed the emancipation from 
tradition4 ,the new humanism1 which took
 its rise with the rediscovery of ,greek
 culture1 extended the intellectual     
horizon and intensified the enthusiasm  
for beauty4 ,men's interest in life was 
no longer narrowly religious1 but human2
 their art became the expression of the 
new spirit4 ,early ,christianity had    
been ascetic1 enjoining negation of life
 and the mortification of the flesh4    
,the men of the ,renaissance1 with      
something of the feeling of the elder   
,greeks1 glorified the body and         
delighted in the pride of life4 ,pagan  
myths and ,greek legends take their     
place alongside of ,bible episodes and  
stories of saints and martyrs1 as       
subjects of representation2 all served  
equally as motives for the expression of
 the artist's sense of the beauty of    
this world4  ,to this new culture and to
 these two centuries of growth and      

accomplishment in the practice of       
painting ,raphael was heir4 ,with a     
knowledge of the background out of which
 he emerges1 we are prepared now to     
understand and appreciate his individual
 achievement4 ,in approaching the study 
of his work we may ask1 ,what is in     
general his ideal1 his dominant motive1 
and in what manner and by what means has
 he realized his ideal8  ,how much was  
already prepared for him1 what does he  
owe to the age and the conditions in    
which he worked1 and what to the common 
store has he added that is peculiarly   
his own8  ,whereas ,giotto1 the shepherd
 boy1 was a pioneer1 almost solitary1 by
 sheer force of mind and by his         
sincerity and intensity of feeling      
breaking new paths to expression1 for   
,raphael1 on the contrary1 the son of a 
painter and poet1 the fellow-worker and 
well-beloved friend of many of the most 
powerful artistic personalities of his  
own or any age1 the way was already     
prepared along which he moved in        

triumphant progress4 ,the life of       
,raphael as an artist extends through   
three well-defined periods1 the         
,umbrian1 the ,florentine1 and the      
,roman1 each one of which contributed a 
distinctive influence upon his          
development and witnessed a special and 
characteristic achievement4  ,to his    
father1 who died when the boy was eleven
 years old1 ,raphael owed his poetic    
nature1 scholarly tastes1 and love of   
beauty1 though he probably received from
 him no training as a painter4 ,his     
first master was ,timoteo ,viti of      
,urbino1 a pupil of ,francia2 from him  
he learned drawing and acquired a       
certain predilection for round and      
opulent forms which is in itself the    
negation of the ascetic ideal4 ,at the  
age of seventeen he went from ,urbino to
 ,perugia2 there he entered the workshop
 of ,perugino as an assistant4 ,the     
ideal of the ,umbrian school was        
tenderness and sweetness1 the outward   
and visible rapture of pietistic        

feeling2 something of these qualities   
,raphael expressed in his ,madonnas     
throughout his career4 ,under the       
teaching of ,perugino he laid hold on   
the principles of space composition     
which he was afterwards to carry to     
supreme perfection4  ,from ,perugia the 
young ,raphael made his way to          
,florence1 and here he underwent many   
influences4 ,at that moment ,florence   
was the capital city of ,italian        
culture4 ,it was here that the new      
humanism had come to finest flower4     
,scholarship was the fashion2 art was   
the chief interest of this beauty-loving
 people4 ,it was the ,florentines who   
had carried the scientific principles of
 painting to their highest point of     
development1 particularly in their      
application to the rendering of the     
human figure4 ,in ,florence were        
collected the art treasures of the      
splendid century2 here ,michelangelo and
 ,leonardo were at work2 here were      
gathered companies of lesser men4 ,by   

the study of ,masaccio ,raphael was led 
out to a fresh contact with nature4 ,fra
 ,bartolomeo revealed to him further    
possibilities of composition and taught 
him some of the secrets of color4 ,in   
,florence1 too1 he acknowledged the     
spell of ,michelangelo and ,leonardo4   
,but though he learned from many        
teachers1 ,raphael was never merely an  
imitator4 ,his scholarship and his skill
 he turned to his own uses2 and when we 
have traced the sources of his motives  
and the influences in the moulding of   
his manner1 there emerges out of the    
fusion a creative new force1 which is   
his genius4 ,what remains after our     
analysis is the essential ,raphael4     
,raphael's residence in ,florence is the
 period of his ,madonnas4 ,from         
,florence ,raphael1 twenty-five years   
old and now a master in his own right1  
was summoned to ,rome by ,pope ,julius  
,,ii2 and here he placed his talents and
 his mastership at the disposal of the  
,church4 ,he found time to paint        

,madonnas and a series of powerful and  
lovely portraits2 but these years in    
,rome1 which brought his brief life to a
 close1 are preeminently the period of  
the great frescoes1 which are his       
supreme achievement4 ,but even in these 
mature years1 and though he was himself 
the founder of a school1 he did not     
cease to learn4 ,michelangelo was       
already in ,rome1 and now ,raphael came 
more immediately under his influence1   
although not to submit to it but to use 
it for his own ends4 ,in ,rome were     
revealed to him the culture of an older 
and riper civilization and the glories  
and perfectness of an elder art4        
,raphael laid antiquity under           
contribution to the consummation of his 
art and the fulfillment and complete    
realization of his genius4  ,this       
analysis of the elements and influences 
of ,raphael's career as an              
artist--inadequate as it necessarily    
is--may help us to define his           
distinctive accomplishment4 ,a          

comparison of his work with that of his 
predecessors and contemporaries serves  
to disengage his essential significance4
 ,by nature he was generous and tender2 
the bent of his mind was scholarly2 and 
he was impelled by a passion for        
restrained and formal beauty4 ,chiefly  
characteristic of his mental make-up was
 his power of assimilation1 which       
allowed him to respond to many and      
diverse influences and in the end to    
dominate and use them4 ,he gathered up  
in himself the achievements of two      
centuries of experiment and progress1   
and fusing the various elements1 he     
created by force of his genius a new    
result and stamped it with the seal     
perfection4 ,giotto1 to whom religion   
was a reality1 was deeply in earnest    
about his message1 and he phrased it as 
best he could with the means at his     
command2 his end was expression4        
,raphael1 under the patronage of wealthy
 dilettanti and in the service of a     
worldly and splendor-loving ,church1    

delighted in his knowledge and his      
skill2 he worshiped art1 and his end was
 beauty4 ,the genius of ,giotto is a    
first shoot1 vigorous and alive1        
breaking ground hardily1 and tentatively
 pushing into freer air4 ,the genius of 
,raphael is the full-blown flower and   
final fruit1 complete1 mature4 ,the step
 beyond is decay4  ,by reference to     
,giotto and to ,raphael ,i have tried to
 illustrate the practical application of
 certain principles of art study4 ,a    
work of art is not absolute2 both its   
content and its form are determined by  
the conditions out of which it proceeds4
 ,all judgment1 therefore1 must be      
comparative1 and a work of art must be  
considered in its relation to its       
background and its conventions4 ,art is 
an interpretation of some aspect of life
 as the artist has felt it2 and the     
artist is a child of his time4 ,it is   
not an accident that ,raphael portrayed 
,madonnas1 serene and glorified1 and    
,millet pictured rude peasants bent with

 toil4 ,raphael's painting is the       
culmination of two centuries of eager   
striving after the adequate expression  
of religious sentiment2 in ,millet's    
work the realism of his age is          
transfigured4 ,as showing further how   
national ideals and interests may       
influence individual production1 we may 
note that the characteristic art of the 
,italian ,renaissance is painting2 and  
,italian sculpture of the period is     
pictorial rather than plastic in motive 
and handling4 ,ghiberti's doors of the  
,florence ,baptistery1 in the grouping  
of figures and the three and four planes
 in perspective of the backgrounds1 are 
essentially pictures in bronze4         
,conversely1 in the ,north the          
characteristic art of the thirteenth and
 fourteenth centuries is carving and    
sculpture2 and the early painters       
represented in their pictures what they 
were familiar with in wood and stone2 so
 that not only are the figures dry and  
hard1 but in the groups they are packed 

one behind another1 heads above heads1  
without really occupying space1 in      
imitation of the method adopted in the  
carved relief4 ,some knowledge of the   
origin and development of a given form  
of technique1 a knowledge to be reached 
through historical study1 enables us to 
measure the degree of expressiveness of 
a given work4 ,the ideas of a child may 
be very well worth listening to1 though 
his range of words is limited and his   
sentences are crude and halting1 ,a     
grown man1 having acquired the trick of 
language1 may talk fluently and say     
nothing4 ,in our endeavor to understand 
a work of art1 a poem by ,chaucer or by 
,tennyson1 a picture by ,greco or by    
,manet1 a prelude by ,bach or a symphony
 by ,brahms1 we may ask1 ,of that which 
the artist wanted to say1 how much could
 he say with the means at his disposal8 
,with a sense of the artist's larger    
motive1 whether religious sentiment1 or 
a love of sheer beauty of color and     
form1 or insight into human character1  

we are aided by a study of the history  
of technique to determine how far the   
artist with the language at his command 
was able to realize his intention4  ,but
 not only is art inspired and directed  
by the time-spirit of its age4 ,a single
 work is the expression for the artist  
who creates it of his ideal4 ,an        
artist's ideal1 what he sets himself to 
accomplish1 is the projection of his    
personality1 and that is determined by  
many influences4 ,he is first of all a  
child of his race and time2 inheritance 
and training shape him to these larger  
conditions4 ,then his ideal is modified 
by his special individuality4 ,a study  
of the artist's character as revealed in
 his biography leads to a fuller        
understanding of the intention and scope
 of his work4 ,the events of his life   
become significant as they are seen to  
be the causes or the results of his     
total personality1 that which he was in 
mind and temperament4 ,what were the    
circumstances that moulded his character

 and decided his course8 ,what events   
did he shape to his own purpose by the  
active force of his genius8 ,what was   
the special angle of vision from which  
he looked upon the world8 ,the answers  
to these questions are the clue to the  
full drift of his work4 ,as style is the
 expression of the man1 so conversely a 
knowledge of the man is an entrance into
 the wider and subtler implications of  
his style4 ,we explore the personality  
of the man in order more amply to       
interpret his art1 and we turn to his   
art as the revelation of his            
personality4 ,in studying an artist we  
must look for his tendency and seek the 
unifying principle which binds his      
separate works into a whole4 ,an artist 
has his successive periods or manners4  
,there is the period of apprenticeship1 
when the young man is influenced by his 
predecessors and his masters4 ,then he  
comes into his own1 and he registers    
nature and life as he sees it freshly   
for himself4 ,finally1 as he has        

mastered his art and won some of the    
secrets of nature1 and as his own       
character develops1 he tends more and   
more to impose his subjective vision    
upon the world1 and he subordinates     
nature to the expression of his         
distinctive individuality4 ,a single    
work1 therefore1 is to be considered in 
relation to its place in the artist's   
development2 it is but a part1 and it is
 to be interpreted by reference to the  
whole4  ,in the study of biography1     
however1 the man must not be mistaken   
for the artist2 his acts are not to be  
confounded with his message4 ,a man is  
the spirit he worked in2 not what he    
did1 but what he became4 ,we must summon
 forth the spirit of the man from within
 the wrappages of material and accident4
 ,in our preoccupation with the external
 details of a man's familiar and daily  
life it is easy to lose sight of his    
spiritual experience1 which only is of  
significance4 ,whistler1 vain1          
aggressive1 quarrelsome1 and yet so     

exquisite and so subtle in extreme      
refinement1 is a notable example of a   
great spirit and a little man4 ,wagner  
wrote to ,liszt3 ,as ,i have never felt 
the real bliss of love1 ,i must erect a 
monument to the most beautiful of my    
dreams1 in which from beginning to end  
that love shall be thoroughly satiated4 
,not the ,wagner of fact1 but the       
,wagner of dreams4 ,life lived in the   
spirit and imagination may be different 
from the life of daily act4 ,so we      
should transcend the material1 trying   
through that to penetrate to the        
spiritual4 ,it is not a visit to the    
artist's birthplace that signifies1 it  
is not to do reverence before his       
likeness or cherish a bit of his        
handwriting4 ,all this may have a value 
to the disciple as a matter of loyalty  
and fine piety4 ,but in the end we must 
go beyond these externals that we may   
enter intelligently and sympathetically 
into the temper of his mind and mood and
 there find disclosed what he thought   

and felt and was able only in part to   
express4 ,it is not the man his         
neighbors knew that is important4 ,his  
work is the essential thing1 what that  
work has to tell us about life in terms 
of emotional experience4  ,studies in   
the history of art and in biography are 
avenues of approach to the understanding
 of a work of art2 they do not in       
themselves constitute appreciation4     
,historical importance must not be      
mistaken for artistic significance4 ,in 
reading about pictures we may forget to 
look at them4 ,the historical study of  
art in its various divisions reduces    
itself to an exercise in analysis1      
resolving a given work into its         
elements4 ,but art is a synthesis4 ,in  
order to appreciate a work the elements 
must be gathered together and fused into
 a whole4 ,a statue or a picture is     
meant not to be read about1 but to be   
looked at2 and its final message must be
 received through vision4 ,our knowledge
 will serve us little if we are not     

sensitive to the appeal of color and    
form4 ,there is danger that             
preoccupation with the history of art   
may betray us if we are not careful to  
keep it in its place4 ,the study of art 
should follow and not lead appreciation4
 ,we are apt to see what we are looking 
for4 ,so we ought to come to each work  
freshly without prejudice or bias2 it is
 only afterwards that we should bring to
 bear on it our knowledge about the     
facts of its production4                
,connoisseurship is a science and may   
hold within itself no element of        
aesthetic enjoyment4 ,appreciation is an
 art1 and the quality of it depends upon
 the appreciator himself4 ,the end of   
historical study is not a knowledge of  
facts for their own sake1 but through   
those facts a deeper penetration and    
fuller true enjoyment4 ,by the aid of   
such knowledge we are enabled to        
recognize in any work more certainly and
 abundantly the expression of an        
emotional experience which relates      

itself to our own life4  ,the final     
meaning of art to the appreciator lies  
in just this sense of its relation to   
his own experience4 ,the greatest works 
are those which express reality and     
life1 not limited and temporary         
conditions1 but life universal and for  
all time4 ,without commentary these     
carry their message1 appealing to the   
wisest and the humblest4 ,gather into a 
single room a fragment of the ,parthenon
 frieze1 ,michelangelo's ,day and       
,night1 ,botticelli's ,spring1 the      
sprites and children of ,donatello and  
,delia ,robbia1 ,velasquez's ,pope      
,innocent1 ,rembrandt's ,cloth-weavers1 
,frans ,hals' ,musician1 ,millet's      
,sower1 ,whistler's ,carlyle4 ,there is 
here no thought of period or of school4 
,these living1 present1 eternal verities
 are all one company4    ,,vi  ,,the    
,,service ,,of ,,criticism  ,,the       
greatest art is universal4 ,it          
transcends the merely local conditions  
in which it is produced4 ,it sweeps     

beyond the individual personality of its
 creator1 and links itself with the     
common experience of all men4 ,the      
,parthenon1 so far as it can be         
reconstructed in imagination1 appeals to
 a man of any race or any period1       
whatever his habit of mind or degree of 
culture1 as a perfect utterance4 ,the   
narrow vault of the ,sistine ,chapel    
opens into immensity1 and every one who 
looks upon it is lifted out of himself  
into new worlds4 ,shakespeare's plays   
were enjoyed by the apprentices in the  
pit and royalty in the boxes1 and so all
 the way between4 ,the man ,shakespeare1
 of such and such birth and training1   
and of this or that experience in life1 
is entirely merged in his creations2 he 
becomes the impersonal channel of       
expression of the profoundest1 widest   
interpretation of life the world has    
known4 ,such art as this comes closest  
to the earth and extends farthest into  
infinity1 beyond the reaches of our     
souls4  ,but there is another order of  

art1 more immediately the product of    
local conditions1 the personal          
expression of a distinctive             
individuality1 phrased in a language of 
less scope and currency1 and limited as 
to its content in the range of its      
appeal4 ,these lesser works have their  
place2 they can minister to us in some  
moment of need and at some point in our 
development4 ,because of their          
limitations1 however1 their             
effectiveness can be furthered by       
interpretation4 ,a man more sensitive   
than we to the special kind of beauty   
which they embody and better versed in  
their language1 can discover to us a    
significance and a charm in them to     
which we have not penetrated4 ,to help  
us to the fullest enjoyment of the great
 things and to a more enlightened and   
juster appreciation of the lesser works 
is the service of criticism4  ,we do not
 wholly possess an experience until1    
having merged ourselves in it1 we then  
react upon it and become conscious of   

its significance4 ,a novel1 a play1 a   
picture interests us1 and we surrender  
to the enjoyment of the moment4         
,afterwards we think about our pleasure1
 defining the nature of the experience  
and analyzing the means by which it was 
produced1 the subject of the work and   
the artist's method of treating it4 ,it 
may be that we tell our pleasure to a   
friend1 glad also perhaps to hear his   
opinion of the matter4 ,the impulse is  
natural2 the practice is helpful4 ,and  
herein lies the origin of criticism4 ,in
 so far as an appreciator does not rest 
in his immediate enjoyment of a work of 
art1 but seeks to account for his       
pleasure1 to trace the sources of it1 to
 establish the reasons for it1 and to   
define its quality1 so far he becomes a 
critic4 ,as every man who perceives     
beauty in nature and takes it up into   
his own life is potentially an artist1  
so every man is a critic in the measure 
that he reasons about his enjoyment4    
,the critical processes1 therefore1 are 

an essential part of our total          
experience of art1 and criticism may be 
an aid to appreciation4  ,the function  
of criticism has been variously         
understood through the centuries of its 
practice4 ,early modern criticism1      
harking back to the method of           
,aristotle1 concerned itself with the   
form of a work of art4 ,from the usage  
of classic writers it deduced certain   
rules of composition2 these formulas    
were applied to the work under          
examination1 and that was adjudged good 
or bad in the degree that it conformed  
or failed to conform to the established 
rules4 ,it was a criticism of law-giving
 and of judgment4 ,in the eighteenth    
century criticism extended its scope by 
the admission of a new consideration1   
passing beyond the mere form of the work
 and reckoning with its power to give   
pleasure4 ,addison1 in his critique of  
,paradise ,lost1 still applies the      
formal tests of the ,aristotelian       
canons1 but he discovers further that a 

work of art exists not only for the sake
 of its form1 but also for the          
expression of beautiful ideas4 ,this    
power of affecting the imagination he   
declares is the very life and highest   
perfection of poetry4 ,this is a long   
step in the right direction4 ,with the  
nineteenth century1 criticism conceives 
its aims and procedure in new and larger
 ways4 ,a work of art is now seen to be 
an evolution2 and criticism adapts to   
its own uses the principles of          
historical study and the methods of     
scientific investigation4 ,recognizing  
that art is organic1 that an art-form1  
as religious painting or ,gothic        
architecture or the novel1 is born1     
develops1 comes to maturity1 lapses1 and
 dies1 that an individual work is the   
product of race1 environment1 and the   
moment1 that it is the expression also  
of the personality of the artist        
himself1 criticism no longer regards the
 single work as an isolated phenomenon1 
but tries to see it in its relation to  

its total background4  ,present-day     
criticism avails itself of this larger  
outlook upon art4 ,but the ends to be   
reached are understood differently by   
different critics4 ,with ,m4 ,brunetire1
 to cite now a few representative names1
 criticism is authoritative and         
dogmatic3 he looks at the work          
objectively1 refusing to be the dupe of 
his pleasure1 if he has any2 and        
approaching the work in the spirit of   
dispassionate impersonal inquiry as an  
object of historical importance and     
scientific interest1 he decrees that it 
is good or bad4 ,matthew ,arnold        
considers literature a criticism of     
life1 and he values a work with         
reference to the moral significance of  
its ideas4 ,ruskin's criticism is       
didactic2 he wishes to educate his      
public1 and by force of his torrential  
eloquence he succeeds in persuading his 
disciples into acceptance of his        
teaching1 though he may not always      
convince4 ,impressionistic criticism1 as

 with ,m4 ,anatole ,france or ,m4 ,jules
 ,lematre1 does not even try to see the 
work as in itself it really is1 but is  
an account of the critic's own          
subjective reaction on it1 a narrative  
of what he thought and felt in this     
chance corner of experience4 ,with      
,walter ,pater criticism becomes        
appreciation4 ,a given work of art      
produces a distinctive impression and   
communicates a special and unique       
pleasure2 this active power constitutes 
its beauty4 ,so the function of the     
critic as ,pater conceives it is to     
distinguish1 analyze1 and separate from 
its adjuncts1 the virtue by which a     
picture1 a landscape1 a fair personality
 in life or in a book1 produces this    
special impression of beauty or         
pleasure1 to indicate what the source of
 that impression is1 and under what     
conditions it is experienced4 ,the      
interpretative critic--represented in   
the practice of ,pater--stands between a
 work of art and the appreciator as     

mediator and revealer4  ,each kind of   
criticism performs a certain office1 and
 is of use within its own chosen sphere4
 ,to the layman1 for his purposes of    
appreciation1 that order of criticism   
will be most helpful which responds most
 closely and amply to his peculiar      
needs4 ,a work of art may be regarded   
under several aspects1 its quality of   
technical execution1 its power of       
sensuous appeal1 its historical         
importance2 and to each one of these    
aspects some kind of criticism applies4 
,the layman's reception of art includes 
all these considerations1 but           
subordinates them to the total          
experience4 ,his concern1 therefore1 is 
to define the service of criticism to   
appreciation4  ,the analysis of a work  
of art resolves it into these elements4 
,there is first of all the emotion which
 gives birth to the work and which the  
work is designed to express4 ,the       
emotion1 to become definite1 gathers    
about an idea1 conceived in the terms of

 its own medium1 as form1 or color and  
mass1 or musical relations2 and this    
artistic idea presents itself as the    
subject or motive of the work4 ,the     
emotion and artistic idea1 in order that
 they may be expressed and become       
communicable1 embody themselves in      
material1 as the marble of a statue1 the
 pigment of a picture1 the audible tones
 of a musical composition4 ,this        
material form has the power to satisfy  
the mind and delight the senses4        
,through the channel of the senses and  
the mind the work reaches the feelings2 
and the aesthetic experience is         
complete4  ,as art springs out of       
emotion1 so it is to be received as     
emotion2 and a work to be appreciated in
 its true spirit must be enjoyed4 ,but  
to be completely enjoyed it must be     
understood4 ,we must know what the      
artist was trying to express1 and we    
must be able to read his language2 then 
we are prepared to take delight in the  
form and to respond to the emotion4  ,to

 help us to understand a work of art in 
all the components that entered into the
 making of it is the function of        
historical study4 ,such study enables us
 to see the work from the artist's own  
point of view4 ,a knowledge of its      
background1 the conditions in which the 
artist wrought and his own attitude     
toward life1 is the clue to his ideal2  
and by an understanding of the language 
it was possible for him to employ1 we   
can measure the degree of expressiveness
 he was able to achieve4 ,this study of 
the artist's purpose and of his methods 
is an exercise in explanation4  ,the    
interpretation of art1 for which we look
 to criticism1 deals with the picture1  
the statue1 the book1 specifically in   
its relation to the appreciator4 ,what  
is the special nature of the experience 
which the work communicates to us in    
terms of feeling8 ,in so far as the     
medium itself is a source of pleasure1  
by what qualities of form has the work  
realized the conditions of beauty proper

 to it1 delighting thus the senses and  
satisfying the mind8 ,these are the     
questions which the critic1 interpreting
 the work through the medium of his own 
temperament1 seeks to answer4           
,theoretically1 the best critic of art  
would be the artist himself4 ,he above  
all other men should understand the     
subtle play of emotion and thought in   
which a work of art is conceived2 and   
the artist rather than another should   
trace the intricacies and know the      
cunning of the magician processes by    
which the immaterial idea builds itself 
into visible actuality4 ,in practice1   
however1 the theory is not borne out by 
the fact4 ,the artist as such is very   
little conscious of the workings of his 
spirit4 ,he is creative rather than     
reflective1 synthetic and not analytic4 
,from his contact with nature and from  
his experience of life1 out of which    
rises his generative emotion1 he moves  
directly to the fashioning of expressive
 forms1 without pausing on the way to   

scan too closely the meaning of his     
work4 ,mr4 ,bernard ,shaw remarks that  
,ibsen1 giving the rein to the creative 
impulse of his poetic nature1 produced  
in ,brand and ,peer ,gynt a great puzzle
 for his intellect4 ,wagner1 he says1   
has expressly described how the         
intellectual activity which he brought  
to the analysis of his music dramas was 
in abeyance during their creation4 ,just
 so do we find ,ibsen1 after composing  
his two great dramatic poems1 entering  
on a struggle to become intellectually  
conscious of what he had done4          
,moreover1 the artist is in the very    
nature of things committed to one way of
 seeing4 ,his view of life is limited by
 the trend of his own dominant and      
creative personality2 what he gains in  
intensity and penetration of insight he 
loses in breadth4 ,he is less quick to  
see beauty in another guise than that   
which his own imagination weaves for    
him2 he is less receptive of other ways 
of envisaging the world4  ,the ideal    

critic1 on the contrary1 is above       
everything else catholic and tolerant4  
,it is his task to discover beauty in   
whatever form and to affirm it4 ,by     
nature he is more sensitive than the    
ordinary man1 by training he has        
directed the exercise of his powers     
toward their fullest scope1 and by      
experience of art in its diverse        
manifestations he has certified his     
judgment and deepened his capacity to   
enjoy4 ,the qualifications of an        
authentic critic are both temperament   
and scholarship4 ,mere temperament      
uncorrected by knowledge may vibrate    
exquisitely when swept by the touch of a
 thing of beauty1 but its music may be  
in a quite different key from the       
original motive4 ,criticism must relate 
itself to the objective fact2 it should 
interpret and not transpose4 ,mere      
scholarship without temperament misses  
art at its centre1 that art is the      
expression and communication of         
emotional experience2 and the scholar in

 criticism may wander his leaden way    
down the by-paths of a sterile learning4
 ,to mediate between the artist and the 
appreciator1 the critic must understand 
the artist and he must feel with the    
appreciator4 ,he is at once the artist  
translated into simpler terms and the   
appreciator raised to a higher power of 
perception and response4  ,the service  
of criticism to the layman is to furnish
 him a clue to the meaning of the work  
in hand1 and by the critic's own        
response to its beauty to reveal its    
potency and charm4 ,with technique as   
such the critic is not concerned4       
,technique is the business of the       
artist2 only those who themselves       
practice an art are qualified to judge  
in matters of practice4 ,the form is    
significant to the appreciator only so  
far as regards its expressiveness and   
beauty4 ,it is not the function of the  
critic to tell the artist what his work 
should be2 it is the critic's mission to
 reveal to the appreciator what the work

 is4 ,that revelation will be           
accomplished in terms of the critic's   
own experience of the beauty of the     
work1 an experience imaged forth in such
 phrases that the pleasure the work     
communicates is conveyed to his readers 
in its true quality and foil intensity4 
,it is not enough to dogmatize as       
,ruskin dogmatizes1 to bully the reader 
into a terrified acceptance4 ,it is not 
enough to determine absolute values as  
,matthew ,arnold seeks to do1 to fix    
certain canons of intellectual judgment1
 and by the application of a formula as 
a touchstone1 to decide that this work  
is excellent and that another is less   
good4 ,really serviceable criticism is  
that which notes the special and        
distinguishing quality of beauty in any 
work and helps the reader to live out   
that beauty in his own experience4      
,these generalizations may be made more 
immediate and practical by examples4 ,in
 illustration of the didactic manner in 
criticism ,i may cite a typical         

paragraph of ,ruskin1 chosen from his   
,mornings in ,florence4  ,first1 look at
 the two sepulchral slabs by which you  
are standing4 ,that farther of the two  
from the west end is one of the most    
beautiful pieces of fourteenth-century  
sculpture in this world4 4 4 4 ,and now1
 here is a simple but most useful test  
of your capacity for understanding      
,florentine sculpture or painting4 ,if  
you can see that the lines of that cap  
are both right1 and lovely2 that the    
choice of the folds is exquisite in its 
ornamental relations of line2 and that  
the softness and ease of them is        
complete1--though only sketched with a  
few dark touches1--then you can         
understand ,giotto's drawing1 and       
,botticelli's2--,donatello's carving1   
and ,luca's4 ,but if you see nothing in 
this sculpture1 you will see nothing in 
theirs1 of theirs4 ,where they choose to
 imitate flesh1 or silk1 or to play any 
vulgar modern trick with marble--7and   
they often do7--whatever1 in a word1 is 

,french1 or ,american1 or ,cockney1 in  
their work1 you can see2 but what is    
,florentine1 and for ever great--unless 
you can see also the beauty of this old 
man in his citizen's cap1--you will see 
never4  ,the earnest and docile though  
bewildered layman is intimidated into   
thinking that he sees it1 whether he    
really does or not4 ,but it is a        
question if the contemplation of the    
beauty of this old man in his citizen's 
cap1 however eager and serious the      
contemplation may be1 adds much to his  
experience2 it may be doubted whether as
 a result of his effort toward the      
understanding of the rightness and      
loveliness of the lines of the cap and  
the exquisiteness of the choice of      
folds1 which the critic has pointed out 
to him with threatening finger1 he feels
 that life is a fuller and finer thing  
to live4  ,an example of the            
intellectual estimate1 the valuation by 
formulas1 and the assignment of abstract
 rank1 is this paragraph from ,matthew  

,arnold's essay on ,wordsworth4         
,wherever we meet with the successful   
balance1 in ,wordsworth1 of profound    
truth of subject with profound truth of 
execution1 he is unique4 ,his best poems
 are those which most perfectly exhibit 
this balance4 ,i have a warm admiration 
for ,laodameia and for the great ,ode2  
but if ,i am to tell the very truth1 ,i 
find ,laodameia not wholly free from    
something artificial1 and the great ,ode
 not wholly free from something         
declamatory4 ,if ,i had to pick out     
poems of a kind most perfectly to show  
,wordsworth's unique power1 ,i should   
rather choose poems such as ,michael1   
,the ,fountain1 ,the ,highland ,reaper4 
,and poems with the peculiar and unique 
beauty which distinguishes these1       
,wordsworth produced in considerable    
number2 besides very many other poems of
 which the worth1 although not so rare  
as the worth of these1 is still         
exceedingly high4  ,thus does the       
judicial critic mete out his estimate by

 scale and measuring-rod4 ,we are told  
dogmatically what is good and what is   
less good2 but of distinctive quality   
and energizing life-giving virtues1 not 
a word4 ,the critic does not succeed in 
communicating to us anything of         
,wordsworth's special charm and power4  
,we are informed1 but we are left cold  
and unresponding4  ,the didactic critic 
imposes his standard upon the layman4   
,the judicial critic measures and       
awards4 ,the appreciative critic does   
not attempt to teach or to judge2 he    
makes possible to his reader an         
appreciation of the work of art simply  
by recreating in his own terms the      
complex of his emotions in its presence4
 ,instead of declaring the work to be   
beautiful or excellent1 he makes it     
beautiful in the very telling of what it
 means to him4 ,as the artist interprets
 life1 disclosing its depths and        
harmonies1 so the appreciative critic in
 his turn interprets art1 reconstituting
 the beauty of it in his own terms4     

,through his interpretation1 the layman 
is enabled to enter more fully into the 
true spirit of the work and to share its
 beauty in his own experience4  ,in     
contrast to the passage from ,arnold is 
this paragraph from an essay on         
,wordsworth by ,walter ,pater4  ,and so 
he has much for those who value highly  
the concentrated presentment of passion1
 who appraise men and women by their    
susceptibility to it1 and art and poetry
 as they afford the spectacle of it4    
,breaking from time to time into the    
pensive spectacle of their daily toil1  
their occupations near to nature1 come  
those great elementary feelings1 lifting
 and solemnizing their language and     
giving it a natural music4 ,the great1  
distinguishing passion came to ,michael 
by the sheepfold1 to ,ruth by the       
wayside1 adding these humble children of
 the furrow to the true aristocracy of  
passionate souls4 ,in this respect1     
,wordsworth's work resembles most that  
of ,george ,sand1 in those of her novels

 which depict country life4 ,with a     
penetrative pathos1 which puts him in   
the same rank with the masters of the   
sentiment of pity in literature1 with   
,meinhold and ,victor ,hugo1 he collects
 all the traces of vivid excitement     
which were to be found in that pastoral 
world--the girl who rung her father's   
knell2 the unborn infant feeling about  
its mother's heart2 the instinctive     
touches of children2 the sorrows of the 
wild creatures1 even--their             
home-sickness1 their strange yearnings2 
the tales of passionate regret that hang
 by a ruined farm-building1 a heap of   
stones1 a deserted sheepfold2 that gay1 
false1 adventurous1 outer world1 which  
breaks in from time to time to bewilder 
and deflower these quiet homes2 not     
passionate sorrow only1 for the         
overthrow of the soul's beauty1 but the 
loss of1 or carelessness for personal   
beauty even1 in those whom men have     
wronged--their pathetic wanness2 the    
sailor who1 in his heart1 was half a    

shepherd on the stormy seas2 the wild   
woman teaching her child to pray for her
 betrayer2 incidents like the making of 
the shepherd's staff1 or that of the    
young boy laying the first stone of the 
sheepfold2--all the pathetic episodes of
 their humble existence1 their longing1 
their wonder at fortune1 their poor     
pathetic pleasures1 like the pleasures  
of children1 won so hardly in the       
struggle for bare existence2 their      
yearning towards each other1 in their   
darkened houses1 or at their early toil4
 ,a sort of biblical depth and solemnity
 hangs over this strange1 new1          
passionate1 pastoral world1 of which he 
first raised the image1 and the         
reflection of which some of our best    
modern fiction has caught from him4     
,here is the clue to ,wordsworth's      
meaning2 and the special quality and    
power of his work1 gathering amplitude  
and intensity as it plays across the    
critic's temperament1 is reconstituted  
in other and illuminating images which  

communicate the emotion to us4 ,the     
critic has felt more intimately than we 
the appeal of this poetry1 and he       
kindles in us something of his own      
enthusiasm4 ,so we return to ,wordsworth
 for ourselves1 more alert to divine his
 message1 more susceptible to his spell1
 that he may work in us the magic of    
evocation4  ,criticism is of value to us
 as appreciators in so far as it serves 
to recreate in us the experience which  
the work was designed to convey4 ,but   
criticism is not a short cut to         
enjoyment4 ,we cannot take our pleasure 
at second hand4 ,we must first come to  
the work freshly and realize our own    
impression of it2 then afterwards we may
 turn to the critic for a further       
revelation4 ,criticism should not shape 
our opinion1 but should stimulate       
appreciation1 carrying us farther than  
we could go ourselves1 but always in the
 same direction with our original       
impression4 ,there is a kind of literary
 exercise1 calling itself criticism1    

which takes a picture or a book as its  
point of departure and proceeds to      
create a work of art in its own right1  
attaching itself only in name to the    
work which it purports to criticise4    
,who cares1 exclaims a clever maker of  
epigrams1 whether ,mr4 ,ruskin's views  
on ,turner are sound or not8 ,what does 
it matter8 ,that mighty and majestic    
prose of his1 so fervid and so          
fiery-coloured in its noble eloquence1  
so rich in its elaborate symphonic      
music1 so sure and certain1 at its best1
 in subtle choice of word and epithet1  
is at least as great a work of art as   
any of those wonderful sunsets that     
bleach or rot on their corrupted        
canvases in ,england's ,gallery4 ,a very
 good appreciation of ,ruskin1 this4    
,but the answer is that such writing as 
is here attributed to ,ruskin is        
magnificent3 it may be art2 but it is   
not true criticism4 ,a work of art is   
not impressive merely1 but expressive   
too4 ,criticism in its relation to the  

work itself has an objective base1 and  
it must be steadied and authenticated by
 constant reference to the original     
feet4 ,criticism is not the source of   
our enjoyment but a medium of           
interpretation4  ,before we turn to     
criticism1 therefore1 we must first1 as 
,pater suggests1 know our own impression
 as it really is1 discriminate it1 and  
realize it distinctly4 ,only so shall we
 escape becoming the dupe of some more  
aggressive personality4 ,in our mental  
life suggestion plays an important and  
perhaps unrecognized part4 ,in a certain
 frame of mind we can be persuaded into 
believing anything and into liking      
anything4 ,when1 under the influence of 
authority or fashion1 we think we care  
for that which has no vital and         
consciously realized relation to our own
 experience1 we are the victims of a    
kind of hypnotism1 and there is little  
hope of our ultimate adjustment over    
against art4 ,it is far better honestly 
to like an inferior work and know why we

 like it than to pretend to like a good 
one4 ,in the latter case no real        
progress or development is possible1 for
 we have no standards that can be       
regarded as final2 we are swayed by the 
authority or influence which happens at 
that moment to be most powerful4 ,in the
 former case we are at least started in 
the right direction4 ,year by year1     
according to the law of natural growth1 
we come to the end of the inferior work 
which up to that time has been able to  
minister to us1 and we pass on to new   
and greater works that satisfy the      
demands of our deepening experience4 ,it
 is sometimes asked if we ought not to  
try to like the best things in art4 ,i  
should answer1 the very greatest things 
we do not have to try to like2 the      
accent of greatness is unmistakable1 and
 greatness has a message for every one4 
,as regards the lesser works1 we ought  
to be willing to grow up4 ,there was a  
time when ,i enjoyed ,robinson ,crusoe  
in words of one syllable4 ,if ,i had    

tried then to like ,mr4 ,george         
,meredith1 ,i should not really have    
enjoyed him1 and ,i should have missed  
the fun of ,robinson ,crusoe4           
,everything in its time and place4 ,the 
lesser works have their use3 they may be
 a starting-point for our entrance into 
life2 and they furnish a basis of       
comparison by which we are enabled to   
realize the greatness of the truly      
great4 ,we must value everything in its 
own kind1 affirming what it is1 and not 
regretting what it is not4 ,but the     
prerequisite of all appreciation1       
without which our contact with art is a 
pastime or a pretense1 is that we be    
honest with ourselves4 ,in playing      
solitaire at least we ought not to      
cheat4  ,so the layman must face the    
situation squarely and accept the       
responsibility of deciding finally for  
himself4 ,on the way we may look to     
criticism to guide us to those works    
which are meant for us4 ,in art as in   
the complex details of living1 there is 

need of selection2 and criticism helps  
toward that4 ,in literature alone1 to   
name but a single art1 there is so much 
to be left unread which the length of   
our life would not otherwise permit us  
to escape1 that we are grateful to the  
critic who aids us to omit gracefully   
and with success4 ,but the most         
serviceable criticism is positive and   
not destructive4 ,the lesser works may  
have a message for us1 and it is that   
message in its distinctive quality which
 the critic should affirm4 ,in the end1 
however1 the use we make of criticism   
should not reduce itself to an          
unquestioning acceptance of authority4  
,in the ceremonial of the ,roman        
service1 at the moment preceding the    
elevation of the ,host1 two acolytes    
enter the chancel1 bearing candles1 and 
kneel between the congregation and the  
ministrants at the altar2 the tapers1   
suffusing the altar in their golden     
radiance1 throw the dim figures of the  
priests into a greater gloom and        

mystery4 ,so it happens that art often  
is enshrouded by the off-giving of those
 who would seem to illuminate it2 and   
dark with excess of light1 the obscurity
 is intensified4 ,the layman is told of 
the virginal poetry of early ,italian   
painting2 he is bidden to sit at the    
homely1 substantial feast of the frank  
actuality of ,dutch art2 he listens in  
puzzled wonder to the glorification of  
,velasquez and ,goya2 he reads in       
eloquent1 glowing language of the       
splendor of ,turner4 ,he is more than   
half persuaded2 but he does not quite   
understand4 ,from this tangle of        
contending interests there seems for the
 moment to be no way out4 ,it is assumed
 that the layman has no standard of his 
own2 and he yields himself to the appeal
 which comes to him immediately at the  
instant4 ,the next day1 perhaps1 brings 
a new interest or another judgment which
 runs counter to the old4 ,back and     
forth and back again1 without purpose   
and without reason2 it is only an       

endless recurrence of the conflict      
instead of development and progress4    
,taking all his estimates at second     
hand1 so for his opinion even of a      
concert or a play he is at the mercy of 
a critic who may have dined badly4 ,some
 boy1 caught young at the university and
 broken to miscellaneous tasks on a big 
newspaper1 is sent to do a              
picture-exhibition1 a concert1 and the  
theatre in the same day4 ,he is expected
 to criticise in an hour the work of a  
lifetime of struggle and effort and     
knowledge and thought and feeling4 ,this
 is the guide of opinion and the        
foundation of artistic creed4 ,i have   
stated the reduction to absurdity of the
 case for authority in criticism4 ,if   
the layman who leans too heavily upon   
criticism comes to realize the          
hopelessness of his position and thinks 
the situation through to its necessary  
conclusion1 he sees that the authority  
of criticism is not absolute1 but varies
 with the powers and range of the       

individual critic1 and that at the last 
he must find his standard within        
himself4  ,there are1 of course1 certain
 standards of excellence recognized     
universally and certain principles of   
taste of universal validity2 and to     
these standards and these principles    
must be referred our individual         
estimates for comparison and correction4
 ,given a native sensibility to the     
worth of life and to the appeal of      
beauty1 the justice of our estimate will
 be in proportion to the extent of our  
knowledge of life and of our contact    
with art4 ,our individual judgment1     
therefore1 must be controlled by        
experience1--our momentary judgments by 
the sum of our own experience1 and our  
total judgment by universal experience4 
,in all sound criticism and right       
appreciation there must be a basis of   
disciplined taste4 ,we must guard       
ourselves against whims and caprice1    
even our own4 ,so the individual may not
 cut loose altogether from external     

standards4 ,but these must be brought   
into relation to his personal needs and 
applied with reference to his own       
standard4 ,finally1 for his own uses1   
the individual has the right to         
determine the meaning and value to him  
of any work of art in the measure that  
it links itself with his own actual or  
possible experience and becomes for him 
a revelation of fuller life4 ,for beauty
 is the power possessed by objects to   
quicken us with a sense of larger       
personality2 and art1 whether the arts  
of form or of representation1 is the    
material bodying forth of beauty as the 
artist has perceived it and the means by
 which his emotion in its presence is   
communicated4 ,upon this conception of  
beauty and this interpretation of the   
scope and function of art rests the     
justice of the personal estimate4       
,,vii  ,,beauty ,,and ,,common ,,life   
,,to become sensitive to the meaning of 
color and form and sound as the artist  
employs them for expression1 to feel a  

work of art in its relation to its      
background1 to find in criticism        
enlightenment and guidance but not a    
substitute for one's own                
experience1--these are methods of       
approach to art4 ,but the appreciator   
has yet to penetrate art's inmost       
secret4 ,at the centre1 as the motive of
 all his efforts to understand the      
language of art and the processes of    
technique1 as the goal of historical    
study and the purpose of his recourse to
 criticism1 stands the work itself with 
its power to attract and charm4 ,here is
 ,millet's painting of the ,sower4 ,in  
the actual presence of the picture the  
appreciator's experience is complex4    
,analysis resolves it into              
considerations of the material form of  
the work1 involving its sensuous        
qualities and the processes of          
execution1 considerations also of the   
subject of the picture1 which gathers   
about itself many associations out of   
the beholder's own previous knowledge of

 life4 ,but the clue to the final       
meaning of the work1 its meaning both to
 the artist and to the appreciator1 is  
contained in the answer to the question1
 ,why did ,millet paint this picture8   
,and just what is it designed to        
express8  ,art is born out of emotion4  
,though the symbols it may employ to    
expression1 the forms in which it may   
manifest itself1 are infinitely various 
in range and character1 essentially all 
art is one4 ,a work of art is the       
material bodying forth of the artist's  
sense of a meaning in life which unfolds
 itself to him as harmony and to which  
his spirit responds accordantly4 ,it may
 be a pattern he has conceived2 or he   
adapts material to a new use in response
 to a new need3 the artist is here a    
craftsman4 ,he is stirred by the tone   
and incident of a landscape or by the   
force or charm of some personality3 and 
he puts brush to canvas4 ,he apprehends 
the complex rhythms of form3 and the    
mobile clay takes shape under his       

fingers4 ,he feels the significance of  
persons acting and reacting in their    
contact with one another3 and he pens a 
novel or a drama4 ,he is thrilled by the
 emotion attending the influx of a great
 idea2 philosophy is touched with       
feeling3 and the thinker becomes a poet4
 ,the discords of experience resolve    
themselves within him into harmonies3   
and he gives them out in triumphant     
harmonies of sound4 ,the particular     
medium the artist chooses in which to   
express himself is incidental to the    
feeling to be conveyed4 ,the stimulus to
 emotion which impels the artist to     
create and the essential content of his 
work is beauty4 ,as beauty1 then1 is the
 very stuff and fibre of art1           
inextricably bound up with it1 so in our
 effort to relate art to our experience 
we may seek to know something of the    
nature of beauty and its place in common
 life4  ,during a visit in ,philadelphia
 ,i was conducted by a member of the    
firm through the great ,locomotive      

,works in that city4 ,from the vast     
office1 with its atmosphere of busy1    
concentrated quiet1 punctuated by the   
clicking of many typewriters1 ,i was led
 through doors and passages1 and at     
length came upon the shrieking inferno  
of the shops4 ,the uproar and din were  
maddening4 ,overhead1 huge cranes were  
swinging great bulks of steel from one  
end of the cavernous shed to the other2 
vague figures were moving obscurely in  
the murk2 the floor was piled and       
littered with heaps of iron-work of     
unimaginable shapes4 ,after a time we   
made our way into another area where    
there was more quiet but no less        
confusion4 ,i yelled to my guide1 ,such 
a rumpus and row ,i never saw2 it is    
chaos come again6 ,and he replied1 ,why1
 to me it is all a perfect order4       
,everything is in its place4 ,every man 
has his special job and does it4 ,i know
 the meaning and purpose of all those   
parts that seem to you to be thrown     
around in such a mess4 ,if you could    

follow the course of making from the    
draughting-rooms to the finishing-shop1 
if you could see the process at once as 
a whole1 you would understand that it is
 all a complete harmony1 every part     
working with every other part to a      
definite end4 ,it was not ,i but my     
friend who had the truth of the matter4 
,where for me there was only chaos1 for 
him was order4 ,and the difference was  
that he had the clue which ,i had not4  
,his sense of the meaning of the parts  
brought the scattering details into a   
final unity2 and therein he found       
harmony and satisfaction4  ,i went away 
much impressed by what ,i had seen4     
,when ,i had collected my wits a little 
in the comparative calm of the streets1 
it occurred to me that the immense      
workshops were a symbol of man's life in
 the world4 ,in the instant of          
experience all seems chaos4 ,at close   
range1 in direct contact with the facts 
and demands of every day1 we feel how   
confusing and distracting it all is4    

,life is beating in upon us at every    
point2 all our senses are assailed at   
once4 ,each new day brings its          
conflicting interests and obligations4  
,now1 whether we are aware of it or not1
 our constant effort is1 out of the     
great variety of experience pressing in 
upon us1 to select such details as make 
to a definite purpose and end4          
,instinctively we grope toward and      
attract to us that which is special and 
proper to our individual development4   
,our progress is toward harmony4 ,by the
 adjustment of new material to the      
shaping principle of our experience1 the
 circle of our individual lives widens  
its circumference4 ,we are able to bring
 more and more details into order1 and  
correspondingly fuller and richer our   
life becomes4  ,the mental perception of
 order in the parts gives the whole its 
significance4 ,this quick grasp of the  
whole is like the click of the          
kaleidoscope which throws the tumbling1 
distorted bits into a design4 ,the      

conduct of practical life on the mental 
plane is the process also of art on the 
plane of the emotions4 ,not only does   
experience offer itself to us as the    
subject of thought2 our contact with the
 world is also the stimulus of feeling4 
,in my account of the visit to the      
,locomotive ,works ,i have set down but 
a part and not the sum of my reaction4  
,after ,i had come away1 ,i fell to     
thinking about what ,i had seen1 and    
intellectually ,i deduced certain       
abstract principles with regard to unity
 and significance4 ,but at the moment of
 experience itself ,i simply felt4 ,i   
was overwhelmed by the sense of         
unloosened power4 ,the very confusion of
 it all constituted the unity of        
impression4 ,the emotion roused in me by
 the roar and riotous movement and the  
vast gloom torn by fitful yellow gleams 
from opened furnaces and shapes of      
glowing metal was the emotion           
appropriate to the experience of chaos4 
,that ,i can find a single word by which

 to characterize it1 is evidence that   
the moment had its harmony for me and   
consequent meaning4 ,all the infinite   
universe external to us is everywhere   
and at every instant potentially the    
stimulus to emotion4 ,but unless feeling
 is discriminated1 it passes unregarded4
 ,when the emotion gathers itself into  
design1 when the moment reveals within  
itself order and significance1 then and 
not till then the emotion becomes       
substance for expression in forms of    
art4  ,if ,i were able to phrase what ,i
 saw and what ,i felt in the ,locomotive
 ,works1 so that by means of presenting 
what ,i saw ,i might communicate to     
another what ,i felt and so rouse in him
 the same emotion1 ,i should be an      
artist4 ,whistler or ,monet might       
picture for us the murk and mystery of  
this pregnant gloom4 ,wagner might sound
 for us the tumultuous1 weird emotions  
of this ,niebelungen workshop of the    
twentieth century4 ,dante or ,milton    
might phrase this inferno and           

pandemonium of modern industry and leave
 us stirred by the sense of power in the
 play of gigantic forces4 ,whether the  
medium be the painter's color1 the      
musician's tones1 or the poet's words1  
the purpose of the representation is    
fulfilled in so far as the work         
expresses the emotion which the artist  
has felt in the presence of this        
spectacle4 ,he1 the artist1 more than ,i
 or another1 has thrilled to its        
mystery1 its tumult1 its power4 ,it is  
this effect1 received as a unity of     
impression1 that he wants to            
communicate4 ,this power of the object  
over him1 and consequently the content  
of his work1 is beauty4  ,in the        
experience of us all there are objects  
and situations which can stir us1--the  
twilight hour1 a group of children at   
play1 the spectacle of the great human  
crowd1 it may be1 or solitude under the 
stars1 the works of man as vast cities  
or cunningly contrived machines1 or     
perhaps it is the mighty1 shifting      

panorama which nature unrolls for us at 
every instant of day and night1 her     
endless pageant of color and light and  
shade and form4 ,out of them at the     
moment of our contact is unfolded a new 
significance2 because of them life      
becomes for us larger1 deeper4 ,this    
power possessed by objects to rouse in  
us an emotion which comes with the      
realization of inner significance       
expressed in harmony is beauty4 ,a brief
 analysis of the nature and action of   
beauty may help us in the understanding 
and appreciation of art1 though the     
value to us of any explanation is to    
quicken us to a more vivid sensitiveness
 to the effect of beauty in the domain  
of actual experience of it4  ,because   
the world external to us1 which         
manifests beauty1 is received into      
consciousness by the senses1 it is      
natural to seek our explanation in the  
processes involved in the functioning of
 our organism4 ,our existence as        
individual human beings is conditioned  

by our embodiment in matter4 ,without   
senses1 without nerves and a brain1 we  
should not be4 ,our feelings1 which     
determine for us finally the value of   
experience1 are the product of the      
excitement of our physical organism     
responding to stimulation4 ,the         
rudimentary and most general feelings   
are pleasure and pain4 ,all the complex 
and infinitely varied emotions that go  
to make up our conscious life are       
modifications of these two elementary   
reactions4 ,the feeling of pleasure     
results when our organism functions     
harmoniously with itself2 pain is the   
consequence of discord4 ,in the words of
 a recent admirable statement of the    
psychologists' position3 ,when rhythm   
and melody and forms and colors give me 
pleasure1 it is because the imitating   
impulses and movements that have arisen 
in me are such as suit1 help1 heighten  
my physical organization in general and 
in particular4 4 4 4 ,the basis1 in     
short1 of any aesthetic                 

experience--poetry1 music1 painting and 
the rest--is beautiful through its      
harmony with the conditions offered by  
our senses1 primarily of sight and      
hearing1 and through the harmony of the 
suggestions and impulses it arouses with
 the whole organism4 ,beauty1 then1     
according to the psychologists1 is the  
quality inherent in things1 the         
possession of which enables them to     
stimulate our organism to harmonious    
functioning4 ,and the perception of     
beauty is a purely physiological        
reaction4  ,this explanation1 valid     
within its limits1 seems to me to fall  
short of the whole truth4 ,for it fails 
to reckon with that faculty and that    
entity within us whose existence we know
 but cannot explain1--the faculty we    
call mind1 which operates as            
imagination1 and the entity we recognize
 as spirit or soul4 ,i mean the faculty 
which gives us the idea of ,god and the 
consciousness of self1 the faculty which
 apprehends relations and significance  

in material transcending their material 
embodiment4 ,i mean the entity within us
 which expresses itself in love and     
aspiration and worship1 the entity which
 is able to fuse with the harmony       
external to it in a larger unity4 ,when 
,i glance out upon a winter twilight    
drenching earth and sky with luminous   
blue1 a sudden delight floods in upon   
me1 gathering up all my senses in a     
surging billow of emotion1 and my being 
pulses and vibrates in a beat of joy4   
,something within me goes out to meet   
the landscape2 so far as ,i am at all   
conscious of the moment1 ,i feel1       
,there1 that is what ,i am6 ,this deep  
harmony of tone and mass is the         
expression of a fuller self toward which
 ,i yearn4 ,my being thrills and dilates
 with the sensation of larger life4     
,then1 after the joy has throbbed itself
 out and my reaction takes shape as     
consciousness1 ,i set myself to consider
 the sources and the processes of my    
experience4 ,i note that my eye has     

perceived color and form4 ,my intellect1
 as ,i summon it into action1 tells me  
that ,i am looking upon a scene in      
nature composed of material elements1 as
 land and trees and water and           
atmosphere4 ,my senses1 operating       
through channels of matter1 receive1 and
 my brain registers1 impressions of     
material objects4 ,but this analysis1   
though defining the processes1 does not 
quite explain my joy4 ,i know that      
beyond all this1 transcending my        
material sense-perception and           
transcending the actual material of the 
landscape1 there is something in me and 
there is something in nature which meet 
and mingle and become one4 ,above all   
embodiment in matter1 there is a plane  
on which ,i feel my community with the  
world external to me1 recognizing that  
world to be an extension of my own      
personality1 a plane on which ,i can    
identify myself with the thing outside  
of me in so far as it is the expression 
of what ,i am or may become4 ,between me

 and the external world there is a      
common term4 ,the effect which nature   
has upon us is determined1 not by the   
object itself alone and not by our      
individual mind and temperament alone1  
but by the meeting of the two1 the      
community between the object and the    
spirit of man4 ,when we find nature     
significant and expressive1 it is       
because we make nature in some way a    
part of our own experience4  ,the       
material of an object is perceived by   
the senses4 ,we see that it is blue or  
green or brown2 we may touch it and note
 that it is rough or smooth1 hard or    
soft1 warm or cold4 ,but the            
expressiveness of the object1 its value 
for the emotions1 does not stop with its
 merely material qualities1 but comes   
with our grasp of the relations which it
 embodies2 and these relations1         
transmitted through material by the     
senses1 are apprehended by the mind4    
,there are1 of course1 elementary data  
of sense-perception1 such as color and  

sound4 ,it may be that ,i prefer red to 
yellow because my eye is so constituted 
as to function harmoniously with a rate 
of vibration represented by #dej        
billions per second1 and discordantly   
with a rate of vibration represented by 
#ebf billions per second4 ,so also with 
tones of a given pitch4 ,but though     
simple color and simple sound have each 
the power to please the senses1 yet in  
actual experience neither color nor     
sound is perceived abstractly1 apart    
from its embodiment in form4 ,color is  
felt as the property of some concrete   
object1 as the crimson of a rose1 the   
dye of some fabric or garment1 the blue 
of the sky1 which1 though we know it to 
be the infinite extension of atmosphere 
and ether1 we nevertheless conceive as a
 dome1 with curvature and the definite  
boundary of the horizon4 ,sound in and  
of itself has pitch and timbre1         
qualities of pure sensation2 but even   
with the perception of sound the element
 of form enters in1 for we hear it with 

a consciousness of its duration--long or
 short--or of its relation to other     
sounds1 heard or imagined4  ,our        
perceptions1 therefore1 give us forms4  
,now form implies relation1 the         
reference of one part to the other parts
 in the composition of the whole4 ,and  
relation carries with it the            
possibilities of harmony or discord1 of 
unity or disorder4 ,before an object can
 be regarded as beautiful it must give  
out a unity of impression4 ,this unity  
does not reside in the object itself1   
but is effected by the mind which       
perceives it4 ,in looking at a          
checkerboard ,i may see it as an        
aggregation of white squares set off by 
black1 or as black squares relieved by  
white4 ,i may read it as a series of    
horizontals1 or of verticals1 or of     
diagonals1 according as ,i attend to it4
 ,the design of the checker-board is not
 an absolute and fixed quantity inherent
 in the object itself1 but is capable of
 a various interpretation according to  

the relative emphasis given to the parts
 by the perceiving mind4 ,so with all   
objects in nature4 ,the twilight        
landscape which stirred me may have been
 quite without interest or meaning to   
the man at my side2 or1 if he responded 
to it at all1 his feelings may have been
 of a different order and quality than  
mine4 ,where ,i felt a deep and intimate
 solemnity in the landscape1 he might   
have received the twilight as chill and 
forbidding4  ,beauty1 then1 which       
consists in harmonious relation1 does   
not lie in nature objectively1 but is   
constituted by the perception in man's  
constructive imagination of a harmony   
and consequent significance drawn out of
 natural forms4  ,it is1 in ,emerson's  
phrase1 the integrity of impression made
 by manifold natural objects4 ,and      
,emerson says further1 ,the charming    
landscape which ,i saw this morning is  
indubitably made up of some twenty or   
thirty farms4 ,miller owns this field1  
,locke that1 and ,manning the woodland  

beyond4 ,but none of them owns the      
landscape4 ,there is a property in the  
horizon which no man has but he whose   
eye can integrate all the parts1 that   
is1 the poet4 ,the mere pleasurable     
excitement of the senses is hardly to be
 called beauty4 ,an object to be        
beautiful must express a harmony of     
relations and hence a meaning1--a       
meaning which goes beyond               
sense-perception and does not stop with 
the intellect1 but reaches the spirit4  
,psychologists tell us that a curved    
line is pleasing because the eye is so  
hung as best to move in it4 ,pleasing1  
yes2 but not beautiful4 ,and precisely  
herein is illustrated the distinction4  
,a life wearied with an undulating      
uniformity of days will find beauty less
 in the curve than in the zigzag1       
because the sight of the broken line    
brings to the spirit suggestions of     
change and adventure4 ,a supine temper  
finds shock1 excitement1 and a meaning  
in the vertical4 ,yet the significance  

of forms is not determined necessarily  
by contrasts4 ,a quiet spirit sees its  
own expression1 a harmony of self with  
external form1 in the even lines and    
flat spaces of some ,dutch etching4 ,or 
a vigorous1 hardy mind takes fresh      
stimulus and courage from the swirling  
clouds of ,turner or the wind-torn      
landscapes of ,constable4 ,an object is 
beautiful1 not because of the physical  
ease with which the eye follows its     
outlines1 but in so far as it has the   
power to communicate to us the feeling  
of larger life1 to express and complete 
for us a harmony within our emotional   
experience4  ,our senses report to us   
the material world2 we see1 we hear1 we 
touch and taste and smell4 ,but we      
recognize also that nature has a value  
for the emotions2 it can delight and    
thrill and uplift1 taking us out of     
ourselves and carrying us beyond the    
confines of the little circle of our    
daily use and wont4 ,as ,i look from my 
window ,i see against the sky a pear    

tree1 radiant with blossom1 an explosion
 of light and sensation4 ,its green and 
white1 steeped in sunshine and quivering
 out of rain-washed depths of blue1 are 
good to behold4 ,but for me1 as my      
spirit goes out to meet it1 the tree is 
spring6 ,in this ,i do not mean to      
characterize a process of intellectual  
deduction1--that as blossoms come in the
 spring1 so the flowering of the tree is
 evidence that spring is here4 ,i mean  
that by its color and form1 all its     
outward loveliness1 the tree            
communicates to me the spirit of the new
 birth of the year4 ,in myself ,i feel  
and live the spring4 ,my joy in the     
tree1 therefore1 does not end with the  
sight of its gray trunk and interwoven  
branches and its gleaming play of       
leaves3 there my joy only begins1 and it
 comes to its fulfillment as ,i feel the
 life of the tree to be an expression   
and extension of the life that is in me4
 ,my physical organism responds         
harmoniously in rhythm with the form of 

the tree1 and so far the tree is        
pleasing4 ,but1 finally1 a form is      
beautiful because it is expressive4     
,beauty1 said ,millet1 does not consist 
merely in the shape or coloring of a    
face4 ,it lies in the general effect of 
the form1 in suitable and appropriate   
action4 4 4 4 ,when ,i paint a mother1  
,i shall try and make her beautiful     
simply by the look she bends upon her   
child4 ,beauty is expression4 ,beauty   
works its effect through significance1 a
 significance which is not always to be 
phrased in words1 but is felt2 conveyed 
by the senses1 it at last reaches the   
emotions4 ,where the spirit of man comes
 into harmony with a harmony external to
 it1 there is beauty4  ,the elements of 
beauty are design1 wholeness1 and       
significance4 ,significance proceeds out
 of wholeness or unity of impression2   
and unity is made possible by design4   
,whatever the flower into which it may  
ultimately expand1 beauty has its roots 
in fitness and utility2 design in this  

case is constituted by the adaptation of
 the means to the end4 ,the owner of a  
saw-mill wanted a support made for a    
shafting4 ,indicating a general idea of 
what he desired1 he applied to one of   
his workmen1 a man of intelligence and  
skill in his craft1 but without a       
conventional education4 ,the man        
constructed the support1 a triangular   
framework contrived to receive the      
shafting at the apex2 where there was no
 stress within the triangle1 he cut away
 the timber1 thus eliminating all       
surplusage of material4 ,when the owner 
saw the finished product he said to his 
workman1 ,well1 ,john1 that is a really 
beautiful thing you have made there4    
,and the man replied1 ,i don't know     
anything about the beauty of it1 but ,i 
know it's strong6 ,the end to be reached
 was a support which should be strong4  
,the strong support was felt to be      
beautiful1 for its lines and masses were
 apprehended as right4 ,had the man1    
with the little learning that is        

dangerous1 attempted embellishment or   
applied ornament1 he would have spoiled 
the effect2 for ornateness would have   
been out of place4 ,the perfect fitness 
of means to end1 without defect and     
without excess1 constituted its beauty2 
and its beauty was perceived            
aesthetically1 as a quality inherent in 
the form1 a quality which apart from the
 practical serviceableness of the       
contrivance was capable of communicating
 pleasure4 ,so in general1 when the     
inherent needs of the work give shape to
 the structure or contrivance1 the      
resulting form is in so far forth       
beautiful4 ,the early horseless         
carriages1 in which a form intended for 
one use was grafted upon a different    
purpose1 were very ugly4 ,today the     
motor-car1 evolved out of structural    
needs1 a thing complete in and for      
itself1 has in its lines and coherence  
of composition certain elements of      
beauty4 ,in his ,song of ,speed1 ,henley
 has demonstrated that the motorcar1    

mechanical1 modern1 useful1 may even be 
material for poetry4 ,that the useful is
 not always perceived as beautiful is   
due to the fact that the design which   
has shaped the work must be regarded    
apart from the material serviceableness 
of the object itself4 ,beauty consists  
not in the actual material1 but in the  
unity of relations which the object     
embodies4 ,we appreciate the art        
involved in the making of the first lock
 and key only as we look beyond the     
merely practical usefulness of the      
device and so apprehend the harmony of  
relations effected through its          
construction4 ,as the lock and key serve
 to fasten the door1 they are useful2   
they are beautiful as they manifest     
design and we feel their harmony4       
,beauty is removed from practical life1 
not because it is unrelated to          
life1--just the reverse of that is      
true1--but because the enjoyment of     
beauty is disinterested4 ,the detachment
 involved in appreciation is a          

detachment from material4 ,the          
appreciator may seem to be a looker-on  
at life1 in that he does not act but    
simply feels4 ,but his spirit is        
correspondingly alert4 ,in the measure  
that he is released from servitude to   
material he gives free play to his      
emotion4  ,although beauty is founded   
upon design1 design is not the whole of 
beauty4 ,not all objects which exhibit  
equal integrity of design are equally   
beautiful4 ,the beauty of a work of art 
is determined by the degree of emotion  
which impelled its creation and by the  
degree in which the work itself is able 
to communicate the emotion immediately4 
,the feeling which entered into the     
making of the first lock and key was    
simply the inventor's desire for such a 
device1 his desire being the feeling    
which accompanied his consciousness of  
his need4 ,at the other extreme is the  
emotion such as attended ,michelangelo's
 vision of his ,david and urged his hand
 as he set his chisel to the unshaped   

waiting block4 ,and so all the way      
between4 ,many pictures are executed in 
a wholly mechanical spirit1 as so much  
manufacture2 and they exhibit           
correspondingly little beauty4 ,many    
useful things1 as a candle-stick1 a pair
 of andirons1 a chair1 are wrought in   
the spirit of art2 into them goes       
something of the maker's joy in his     
work2 they become the expression of his 
emotion3 and they are so far beautiful4 
,it is asserted that ,millet's ,angelus 
is a greater picture than the painting  
entitled ,war by ,franz ,stuck1 because 
the idea of peasants telling their beads
 is more beautiful than the idea of a   
ruthless destroyer only in so far as it 
is morally higher4 ,the moral value as  
such has very little to do with it4 ,it 
is a question of emotion4 ,if ,stuck    
were to put on canvas his idea of       
peasants at prayer and if ,millet had   
phrased in pictorial terms his feeling  
about war1 there is little doubt that   
,millet's painting would be the more    

telling and beautiful4 ,the degree of   
beauty is fixed by the depth of the     
man's insight into life and the         
corresponding intensity of his emotion4 
,beauty is not limited to one class of  
object or experience and excluded from  
another4 ,a chair may be beautiful1     
although turned to common use2 a picture
 is not beautiful necessarily because it
 is a picture4 ,nothing out of its place
 is good1 nothing in its place is bad1  
says ,whitman1 ,whistler speaks of art  
as seeking and finding the beautiful in 
all conditions and in all times1 as did 
her high priest1 ,rembrandt1 when he saw
 picturesque grandeur and noble dignity 
in the ,jews' quarter of ,amsterdam1 and
 lamented not that its inhabitants were 
not ,greeks4 ,the beautiful must exhibit
 an integrity of relations within       
itself1 and it must be in integral      
relation with its surroundings4 ,the    
standard of beauty varies with every    
age1 with every nation1 indeed with     
every individual4 ,as beauty is not in  

the object itself1 but is in the mind   
which integrates the relations which the
 object manifests1 so our appreciation  
of beauty is determined by our          
individuality4 ,and individuality is the
 resultant of many forces4 ,the self1   
inexplicable in essence1 is the product 
of inheritance1 and is modified by      
environment and training4 ,more than we 
realize1 our judgment is qualified by   
tradition and habit and even fashion4   
,because men have been familiar for so  
many centuries with the idea that       
sculpture should find its vehicle in    
white marble1 the knowledge that ,greek 
marbles originally were painted comes   
with something of a shock2 and for the  
moment they have difficulty in          
persuading themselves that a ,parthenon 
frieze colored could possibly be        
beautiful4 ,until within comparatively  
recent years the ,french have regarded  
,shakespeare as a barbarian4 ,the heroic
 couplet1 which was the last word in    
poetical expression in the age of ,queen

 ,anne1 we consider to-day as little    
more than a mechanical jingle4 ,last    
year's fashions in dress1 which seemed  
at the time to have their merits1 are   
this year amusingly grotesque4 ,in our  
judgment of beauty1 therefore1 allowance
 must be made for standards which merely
 are imposed upon us from without4 ,it  
is necessary to distinguish between a   
formula and the reality4 ,as far as     
possible we should seek to come into    
original relation with the universe1    
freshly for ourselves4 ,so we must      
return upon our individual              
consciousness1 and thus determine what  
is vitally significant to us4 ,for the  
man who would appreciate beauty1 it is  
not a question between this or that     
school in art1 whether the truth lies   
with the classicists or the             
romanticists2 it is not a question of   
this or that subject or method to the   
exclusion of all others4 ,beauty may be 
anywhere or everywhere4 ,it is our task 
and joy to find it1 wherever it may be4 

,and we shall find it1 if we are able to
 recognize it and we hold ourselves     
responsive to its multitudinous appeal4 
,the conception of beauty which limits  
its manifestation to one kind of        
experience is so far false and leads to 
mischievous acceptances and narrowing   
rejections4 ,we mistake the pretty for  
the beautiful and so fail of the true   
value of beauty2 we are blind to the    
significance which all nature and all   
life1 in the lowest and commonest as in 
the highest and rarest1 hold within     
them4 ,if beauty1 says ,hamerton1 were  
the only province of art1 neither       
painters nor etchers would find anything
 to occupy them in the foul stream that 
washes the ,london wharfs4 ,by beauty   
here is meant the merely agreeable4     
,pleasing the river may not be1 to the  
ordinary man2 but for the poet and the  
painter1 those to whom it is given to   
see with the inner eye1 the foul stream 
and its wharfs may be lighted with      
mysterious and tender beauty4           

,earth has not anything to show more    
fair3      ,dull would he be of soul who
 could pass by      ,a sight so touching
 in its majesty3      ,this city now    
doth1 like a garment1 wear      ,the    
beauty of the morning4       4 4 4 4 4  
,never did sun more beautifully steep   
,in his first splendour1 valley1 rock1  
or hill2      ,ne'er saw ,i1 never felt1
 a calm so deep6      ,the river glideth
 at his own sweet will3      ,dear ,god6
 the very houses seem asleep2      ,and 
all that mighty heart is lying still6   
,and ,whistler1 by the witchery of his  
brush and his needle1 has transmuted the
 confusion and sordidness and filth of  
this ,thames-side into exquisite        
emotion4 ,the essence of beauty is      
harmony1 but that harmony is not to be  
reduced to rule and measure4 ,in the    
very chaos of the ,locomotive ,works we 
may feel beauty2 in the thrill which    
they communicate we receive access of   
power and we are1 more largely1 more    
universally4 ,the harmony which is      

beauty is that unity or integrity of    
impression by force of which we are able
 to feel significance and the relation  
of the object to our own experience4 ,it
 is an error to suppose that beauty must
 be racked on a procrustean bed of      
formula4 ,such false conceptions result 
in sham art4 ,to create a work which    
shall be beautiful it is not necessary  
to smooth1 inlay1 and clip1 and fit4    
,beauty is not imposed upon material    
from without1 according to a recipe2 it 
is drawn out from within by the         
integrating power of imagination4 ,art  
is not artificiality4 ,art is the       
expression of vital emotion and         
essential significance4 ,the beauty of  
architecture1 for example1 consists not 
in applied ornament but in structural   
fitness and adaptability1 and grows out 
of the inherent needs of the work4 ,the 
cathedral-builders of old time did not  
set themselves to create a work of art4 
,they wanted a church2 and it was a     
church they built4 ,it is we who1       

perceiving the rightness of their       
achievement1 pronounce it to be         
beautiful4 ,beauty is not manufactured1 
but grows2 it cannot be laid on as      
ornament4 ,beauty is born out of the    
contact of the spirit of man with       
natural forms1 that contact which gives 
to objects their significance4  ,the    
recognition of the true nature of beauty
 may change for us the face of the      
world4 ,some things are universally     
regarded as beautiful because their     
appeal is universal4 ,there are         
passions1 joys1 aspirations1 common to  
all the race2 and the forms which       
objectify these emotions are beautiful  
universally4 ,we can all enter into the 
feelings that gather about a group of   
children dancing round a ,maypole in the
 ,park2 but in the murk and din and     
demoniacal activity of the ,locomotive  
,works the appeal is not so obvious4    
,the stupendous workshops become        
beautiful to me as my being merges into 
harmony with them and dilates with the  

emotion of intenser and fuller life4    
,the ,sistine ,madonna is generally     
regarded as beautiful4 ,but what is the 
beauty in the unspeakable witch on the  
canvas of ,frans ,hals8 ,harmony of     
color and of composition is employed by 
,raphael in the rendering of a figure   
and in the expression of an emotion both
 of which relate themselves to the      
veneration of mankind4 ,maternity1      
,christian or pagan1 divine or human1   
evokes its universal tribute of feeling4
 ,on ,raphael's canvas complete harmony 
is made visible2 and the beauty of the  
picture for us is measured by its power 
to stir us4 ,in the painting by ,frans  
,hals the subject represented is in     
itself not pleasing4 ,the technical     
execution of the picture is masterly4   
,but our delight goes beyond any        
enjoyment of the skill here exhibited1  
goes beyond even the satisfaction of the
 senses in its color and composition4   
,what the picture expresses is not      
merely the visible aspect of this woman1

 but the painter's own sympathy and     
appreciation4 ,he saw a beauty in       
ugliness1 a beauty to which we were     
blind1 for he felt the significance of  
her life1 the eternal rightness to      
herself of what she was4 ,his joy in    
this inner harmony has transfigured the 
object and made it beautiful4 ,beauty   
penetrates deeper than grace and        
comeliness2 it is not confined to the   
pretty and agreeable4 ,indeed1 beauty is
 not always immediately pleasant1 but is
 received often with pain4 ,the emotion 
of pleasure1 which is regarded as the   
necessary concomitant of beauty1 ensues 
as we are able to merge ourselves in the
 experience and so come to feel its     
ultimate harmony4 ,what is commonly     
accepted as ugly1 as shocking or sordid1
 becomes beautiful for us so soon as we 
apprehend its inner significance4       
,judged by the canons of formal beauty1 
the sky-line of ,new ,york city1 seen   
from the ,north ,river1 is ugly and     
distressing4 ,but the responsive spirit1

 reaching ever outward into new forms of
 feeling1 can thrill at sight of those  
,titanic structures out-topping the     
,palisades themselves1 thrusting their  
squareness adventurously into the       
smoke-grayed air1 and telling the       
triumph of man's mind over the forces of
 nature in this fulfillment of the needs
 of irrepressible activity1 this        
expression of tremendous actuality and  
life4 ,not that the reaction is so      
definitely formulated in the moment of  
experience2 but this is something of    
what is felt4 ,the discovery of such a  
harmony is the entrance into fuller     
living4 ,so it is that the boundaries of
 beauty enlarge with the expansion of   
the individual spirit4  ,to extend the  
boundaries of beauty by the revelation  
of new harmonies is the function of art4
 ,with the ordinary man1 the plane of   
feeling1 which is the basis of          
appreciation1 is below the plane of his 
attention as he moves through life from 
day to day4 ,as a clock may be ticking  

in the room quite unheeded1 and then    
suddenly we hear it because our         
attention is called to it2 so only that 
emotion really counts to us as          
experience which comes to our           
cognizance4 ,when once the ordinary man 
is made aware of the underlying plane of
 feeling1 the whole realm of            
appreciation is opened to him by his    
recognition of the possibilities of     
beauty which life may hold4 ,consciously
 to recognize that forces are operating 
which lie behind the surface aspect of  
things is to open ourselves to the play 
of these forces4 ,with persons in whom  
intellect is dominant and the           
controlling power1 the primary need is  
to understand2 and for such1 first to   
know is to be helped finally to feel4   
,to comprehend that there is a soul in  
every fact and that within material     
objects reside meanings for the spirit1 
or beauty1 is to be made more sensitive 
to their influence4 ,with the artist1   
however1 the case is different4 ,at the 

moment of creation he is little         
conscious of the purport of the work to 
which he sets his hand4 ,he is not      
concerned1 as we have been1 with the why
 of beauty2 from the concrete directly  
to the concrete is his progress4 ,life  
comes to him not as thought but as      
emotion4 ,he is moved by actual         
immediate contact with the world about  
him1--by the sight of a landscape1 by   
the mood of an hour or place1 by the    
power of some personality2 it may be1   
too1 a welter of recollected sensations 
and impressions that plays upon his     
spirit4 ,the resultant emotion1 not     
reasoned about but nevertheless directed
 to a definite end1 takes shape in      
external concrete forms which are works 
of art4 ,just because he is so quick to 
feel the emotional value of life he is  
an artist2 and much of his power as an  
artist derives from the concreteness of 
his emotion4 ,the artist is the creative
 mind1 creative in this sense1 that in  
the outward shows of things he feels    

their inward and true relations1 and by 
new combinations of material elements he
 rembodies his feeling in forms whose   
message is addressed to the spirit4 ,the
 reason why ,millet painted the ,sower  
was that he felt the beauty of this     
peasant figure interpreted as           
significance and life4 ,and it is this  
significance and life1 in which we are  
made to share1 that his picture is      
designed to express4  ,experience comes 
to us in fragments2 the surface of the  
world throws back to us but broken      
glimpses4 ,in the perspective of a      
lifetime the fragments flow together    
into order1 and we dimly see the purpose
 of our being here2 in moments of       
illumination and deeper insight a       
glimpse may disclose a sudden harmony1  
and the brief segment of nature's circle
 becomes beautiful4 ,for then is        
revealed the shaping principle4 ,within 
the fact1 behind the surface1 are       
apprehended the relations of which the  
fact and the surface are the expression4

 ,the rhythm thus discovered wakens an  
accordant rhythm in the spirit of man4  
,the moment gives out its meaning as man
 and nature merge together in the       
inclusive harmony4 ,if the human spirit 
were infinite in comprehension1 we      
should receive all things as beautiful1 
for we should apprehend their rightness 
and their harmony4 ,to our finite       
perception1 however1 design is not      
always evident1 for it is overlaid and  
confounded with other elements which are
 not at the moment fused4 ,just here is 
the office of art4 ,for art presents a  
harmony liberated from all admixture of 
conflicting details and purged of all   
accidents1 thus rendering the single    
meaning salient4 ,to compel disorder    
into order and so reveal new beauty is  
the achievement of the artist4 ,the     
world is commonplace or fraught with    
divinest meanings1 according as we see  
it so4 ,to art we turn for revelation1  
knowing that ideals of beauty may be    
many and that beauty may manifest itself

 in many forms4    ,,viii  ,,the ,,arts 
,,of ,,form  ,,the maker of the first   
bowl moulds the plastic clay into the   
shape best adapted to its purpose1 a    
vessel to hold water1 from which he can 
drink easily2 the half-globe rather than
 the cube affords the greatest holding  
capacity with the least expenditure of  
material4 ,he finds now that the form   
itself--over and above the practical    
serviceableness of the bowl--gives him  
pleasure4 ,with a pointed stick or bit  
of flint he traces in the yielding      
surface a flowing line or an ordered    
series of dots or crosses1 allowing free
 play to his fancy and invention4 ,the  
design does not resemble anything else1 
nor does it relate itself to any object 
external to the maker2 it has no meaning
 apart from the pleasure which it gave  
him as he conceived and traced it1 and  
the pleasure it now gives him to look at
 it4 ,to another man who sees the bowl1 
its form and its decoration afford      
likewise a double pleasure3 there is    

first the satisfaction of senses and    
mind in the contemplation of harmonious 
form and rhythmic pattern2 and second1  
there is communicated to him a feeling  
of the maker's delight in his handiwork1
 and sympathetically and imaginatively  
the beholder realizes that delight in   
his own experience4  ,i am walking with 
a friend along a road which climbs a    
wooded hillside4 ,a few steps bring us  
to the top and the edge of a clearing4  
,there1 suddenly a sweep of country is  
rolled out before us4 ,a quick intake of
 the breath1 and then the cry1 ,ah6     
,consciousness surges back over me1 and 
turning to my friend1 ,i exclaim1 ,see  
the line of those hills over there      
across the tender sky and those clouds  
tumbling above them2 see how the hills  
dip down into the meadows2 look at the  
lovely group of willows along the bank  
of the river1 how graciously they come  
in1 and then that wash of purple light  
over everything6 ,my simple cry1 ,ah6   
was the expression of emotion1 the      

unconscious1 involuntary expression2 it 
was not art4 ,it did not formulate my   
emotion definitely1 and although it was 
an expression of emotion1 it had no     
power to communicate the special quality
 of it4 ,so soon1 however1 as ,i        
composed the elements in the landscape1 
which stimulated my emotion1 into a     
distinct and coherent whole and by means
 of that ,i tried to convey to my friend
 something of what ,i was feeling1 my   
expression tended to become art4 ,my    
medium of expression happened to be     
words4 ,if ,i had been alone and wanted 
to take home with me a record of my     
impression of the landscape1 a          
pencil-sketch of the little composition 
might have served to indicate the       
sources of my feeling and to suggest its
 quality4 ,whether in words or in line  
and mass1 my work would be in a         
rudimentary form a work of              
representative art4 ,the objective fact 
of the landscape which ,i point out to  
my friend engages his interest2 his     

pleasure derives from those aspects of  
it which my emotion emphasizes and which
 constitute its beauty2 and something of
 the same emotion that ,i felt he       
realizes in his own experience4  ,the   
impulse to expression which fulfills    
itself in a work of art is directed in  
general by one of two motives1--the     
motive of representation and the motive 
of pure form4 ,these two motives are    
coexistent with human activity itself4  
,the earliest vestiges of prehistoric   
races and the remains of the remotest   
civilizations are witnesses of man's    
desire to imitate and record1 and also  
of his pleasure in harmony of form4     
,certain caves in ,france1 inhabited by 
man some thousands of years before      
history begins1 have yielded up reindeer
 horns and bones1 carved with reliefs   
and engraved with drawings of mammoths1 
reindeer1 and fish4 ,on the walls and   
roofs of these caves are paintings in   
bright colors of animals1 rendered with 
correctness and animation4 ,flint axes  

of a still remoter epoch are carved with
 great dexterity by means of small chips
 flaked off the stone1 and show a       
regularity of outline which testifies to
 the delight of primitive man in        
symmetry499 ,burial mounds1 of unknown  
antiquity1 and the rude stone monuments 
such as ,stonehenge and the dolmens of  
,brittany and ,wales1 emerging out of   
prehistoric dawns1 are evidence of man's
 striving after architectural unity in  
design and harmony of proportion4  99   
,s4 ,reinach1 ,the ,story of ,art       
throughout the ,ages1 chapter i4  ,the  
existence of these two separate motives 
which impel creation1 man's desire to   
imitate and his delight in harmony1     
gives rise to a division of the arts    
into two general classes1 namely1 the   
representative arts and the arts of pure
 form4 ,the representative arts comprise
 painting and sculpture1 and literature 
in its manifestations of the drama1     
fiction1 and dramatic and descriptive   
poetry4 ,these arts draw their subjects 

from nature and human life1 from the    
world external to the artist4 ,the arts 
of form comprise architecture and music1
 and that limitless range of human      
activities in design and pattern-making 
for embellishment--including also the   
whole category of useful arts--which may
 be subsumed under the comprehensive    
term decoration4 ,in these arts the     
subject is self-constituted and does not
 derive its significance from its       
likeness to any object external to it2  
the form itself is the subject4 ,lyric  
poetry stands midway between the two    
classes4 ,it is the expression of inner 
states but it externalizes itself in    
terms of the outer world4 ,it has a core
 of thought1 and it employs images from 
nature which can be visualized1 and it  
recalls sounds whose echo can be wakened
 in imaginative memory4       ,hark6    
hark6 the lark at heaven's gate sings1  
,and ,phoebus 'gins arise1      ,his    
steeds to water at those springs        
,on chaliced flowers that lies2         

,and winking ,mary-buds begin           
,to ope their golden eyes2      ,with   
everything that pretty bin1             
,my lady sweet1 arise6                  
,arise1 arise6  ,the intellectual and   
sensuous elements which lyric poetry    
embodies are finally submerged under the
 waves of emotional stimulus which flow 
from the form as form4 ,such poetry does
 not depend upon the fact of            
representation for its meaning2 the very
 form itself1 as in music1 is its medium
 of communicating the emotion4 ,art1    
therefore1 to phrase the same matter in 
slightly different terms1 has a         
subjective and an objective aspect4 ,in 
the one case1 the artist projects his   
feeling into the forms which he himself 
creates2 in the other case1 the forms   
external to him1 as nature and human    
life1 inspire the emotion1 and these    
external forms the artist reproduces1   
with of course the necessary            
modifications1 as the symbol and means  
of expression of his emotion4  ,the     

distinction between the representative  
arts and the arts of form is not        
ultimate1 nor does it exclude one class 
wholly from the other2 it defines a     
general tendency and serves to mark     
certain differences in original motive  
and in the way in which the two kinds of
 work may be received and appreciated4  
,in actual works of art themselves1     
though they differ as to origin and     
function1 the line of division cannot be
 sharply drawn4 ,the dance may be an art
 of form or a representative art        
according as it embodies the rhythms of 
pure movement or as it numerically      
figures forth dramatic ideas4 ,painting1
 as in the frescoes of the ,sistine     
,chapel and the wall paintings of       
,tintoretto and ,veronese in the ,ducal 
,palace of ,venice1 may be employed in  
the service of decoration4 ,decoration1 
as in architectural sculpture and in    
patterns for carpets and wall-coverings1
 often draws its motives from nature1   
such as leaves1 flowers1 fruits1 and    

animals2 but when the function of the   
work is decorative and not              
representative1 the naturalistic and    
graphic character of the subject is     
subordinated to the purposes of abstract
 and formal design4 ,a picture1 on the  
other hand1 which is frankly            
representative in purpose1 must submit  
its composition and color-harmony to the
 requirements of unity in design2 in a  
sense it must make a pattern4 ,and a    
statue1 as the ,victory of ,samothrace1 
bases its ultimate appeal1 not upon the 
fact of representation1 but upon        
complete1 rhythmic1 beautiful form4  ,to
 the appreciator the arts of form carry 
a twofold significance4 ,there is first 
the pleasure which derives from the     
contemplation and reception of a harmony
 of pure form1 including harmony of     
color1 of line1 and of flat design as   
well as form in the round1 a pleasure of
 the senses and the mind4 ,second1 works
 of art in this category1 as they are   
the expression for the artist of his    

emotion1 become therefore the           
manifestation to the appreciator and    
means of communication of that emotion4 
,man's delight in order1 in unity1 in   
harmony1 rhythm1 and balance1 is inborn4
 ,the possession of these qualities by  
an object constitutes its form4 ,form1  
in the sense of unity and totality of   
relations1 is not to be confounded with 
mere regularity4 ,it may assume all     
degrees of divergence from geometric    
precision1 all degrees of variety1      
ranging from the visual perfectness of  
the ,parthenon to the sublime and       
triumphant inconsequence of the sky-line
 of ,new ,york city4 ,it may manifest   
all degrees of complexity from a cup to 
a cathedral or from ,home1 ,sweet ,home 
to ,tschaikowski's ,pathetic ,symphony4 
,whatever the elements and the          
incidents1 our sense of order in the    
parts and of singleness of impression   
endows the object with its form4 ,the   
form as we apprehend it of an object    
constitutes its beauty1 its capability  

to arouse and to delight4  ,because of  
the essential make-up of man's mind and 
spirit1 powers that are innate and      
determined by forces still beyond the   
scope of analysis1 the perception of a  
harmony of relations1 which is beauty1  
is attended with pleasure1 a pleasure   
that is felt and cannot be explained4   
,this inborn1 inexplicable delight is at
 once the origin of the arts of form and
 the basis of our appreciation4 ,each   
art1 as the fashioning of objects of    
use1 as decoration1 architecture1 and   
music1 is governed by its own intrinsic1
 inherent laws and rests its appeal upon
 man's pleasure in form4 ,there is no   
standard external to the laws of the art
 itself by which to judge the rightness 
and the beauty of the individual work4  
,in the arts of use and in decoration   
and architecture1 the beauty of a work1 
as the beauty of a chair1 as in the     
ordering and appointments of a room1 as 
the beauty of a temple1 a theatre1 a    
dwelling1 derives primarily from the    

fitness of the object to its function1  
and finally from the rhythm of its lines
 and the harmony of its masses and      
proportions1--its total form4 ,a chair  
which cannot be sat in may be           
interesting and agreeable to look at1   
but it is not truly beautiful2 for then 
it is not a chair but a curiosity1 a    
bijou1 and a superfluity2 to be         
beautiful it must be first of all       
frankly and practically a chair4 ,a     
living-room which cannot be lived in    
with comfort and restfulness and peace  
of mind is not a living-room1 but a     
museum or a concentrated department     
store2 at best it is only an inclosed   
space4 ,a beautiful building declares   
its function and use1 satisfies us with 
the logic and coherence of its parts1   
and delights us with its reticence or   
its boldness1 its simplicity or its     
inventiveness1 in fine1 its personality1
 as expressed in its parts and their    
confluence into an ordered1             
self-contained1 and self-sufficing      

whole4 ,music1 using sound for its      
material1 is a pattern-weaving in tones4
 ,the power of music to satisfy and     
delight resides in the sensuous value of
 its material and in the character of   
its pattern as form1 the balance and    
contrast of tonal relations1 the folding
 and unfolding of themes1 their         
development and progress to the final   
compelling unity-in-variety which       
constitutes its form and which in its   
own inherent and self-sufficing way is  
made the expression of the composer's   
emotion and musical idea4 ,lyric poetry 
is the fitting of rhythmic1 melodious1  
colored words to the emotion within1 to 
the point where the very form itself    
becomes the meaning1 and the essence and
 mystery of the song are in the singing4
 ,beauty is harmony materialized2 it is 
emotion ordered and made visible1       
audible1 tangible4 ,if in the arts of   
form we seek further a standard of      
truth1 their truth is not found in their
 relation to any external verity1 but is

 determined by their correspondence with
 inner experience4  ,in the category of 
the arts of form the single work is to  
be received in its entirety and         
integrity as form4 ,the whole1 however1 
may be resolved into its parts1 and the 
individual details may be interesting in
 themselves4 ,thus into decorative      
patterns are introduced elements of     
meaning which attach themselves to the  
world and experience external to the    
artist4 ,many ornamental motives1 like  
the zigzag and the egg-and-dart1 for    
example1 had originally a symbolic      
value4 ,sometimes they are drawn from   
primitive structures and fabrics1 as the
 checker-board pattern1 with its        
likeness to the plaitings of rush       
mattings1 and the volute and spiral     
ornaments1 which recall the curves and  
involutions of wattle and wicker work4  
,again1 decoration may employ in its    
service details that in themselves are  
genuinely representative art4 ,the      
frieze of the ,parthenon shows in relief

 a procession of men and women and      
horses and chariots and animals4 ,the   
sculptures of ,gothic churches represent
 men and women1 and the carvings of     
mouldings1 capitals1 and traceries are  
based on naturalistic motives1 taking   
their designs from leaves and flowers4  
,the essential function of ornament is  
to emphasize form and not to obscure it1
 though nowadays in machine-made things 
a kind of pseudo-embellishment is laid  
on to distract attention from the       
badness and meaninglessness of the form2
 in true decoration the representative  
elements are subordinated to the formal 
character of the whole4 ,the            
representative interest may be enjoyed  
separately and in detail2 but finally   
the graphic purpose yields to the       
decorative1 and the details take their  
place as parts of the total design4     
,thus a ,gothic cathedral conveys its   
complete and true impression first and  
last as form4 ,midway we may set        
ourselves to a reading of the details4  

,the figure of this saint on the jamb or
 the archivolt of the portal is         
expressive of such simple piety and     
enthusiasm6 ,in this group on the       
tympanum what animation and spirit6     
,this moulding of leaves and blossoms is
 cut with such loving fidelity and      
exquisite feeling for natural truth6    
,but at the last the separate members   
fulfill their appointed office as they  
reveal the supreme function of the      
living total form4  ,music1 too1 in some
 of its manifestations1 as in song1 the 
opera1 and programme music1 has a       
representative and illustrative         
character4 ,in ,chopin's ,funeral ,march
 we hear the tolling of church bells1   
and it is easy to visualize the slow1   
straggling file of mourners following   
the bier2 the composition here has a    
definite objective base drawn from      
external fact1 and the idea is not      
exclusively musical1 but admits an      
infusion of pictorial and literary      
elements4 ,in listening to the love duet

 of the second act of ,tristan1 although
 the lovers are before us in actual     
presence on the stage1 ,i find myself   
involuntarily closing my eyes1 for the  
music is so personal and so             
spiritualized1 it is in and of itself so
 intensely the realization of the       
emotion1 that the objective presentment 
of it by the actors becomes unnecessary 
and is almost an intrusion4 ,the        
representative1 figurative element in   
music may be an added interest1 but its 
appeal is intellectual2 if as we hear   
the ,funeral ,march1 we say to          
ourselves1 ,this is so and so1 and1     
,here they do this or that1 we are      
thinking rather than feeling4 ,music is 
the immediate expression of emotion     
communicated immediately2 and the       
composition will not perfectly satisfy  
unless it is music1 compelling all      
relations of melody1 harmony1 and rhythm
 into a supreme and triumphant order4   
,whereas the representative arts are    
based upon objective fact1 drawing their

 subjects from nature and life external 
to the artist2 in decoration1 in        
architecture1 and in music the artist   
creates his own forms as the projection 
of his emotion and the means of its     
expression4 ,richard ,wagner1 referring 
to the composition of his ,tristan1     
writes3 ,here1 in perfect trustfulness1 
,i plunged into the inner depth of soul 
events1 and from out this inmost centre 
of the world ,i fearlessly built up its 
outer form4 4 4 4 ,life and death1 the  
whole import and existence of the outer 
world1 here hang on nothing but the     
inner movements of the soul4 ,the whole 
affecting ,action comes about for the   
reason only that the inmost soul demands
 it1 and steps to light with the very   
shape foretokened in the inner shrine4  
,the form1 thus self-constituted1 has   
the power to delight us1 and the work is
 at the same time the expression of     
emotion4 ,the arts of form please us    
with the pleasure that attends the      
perception of formal beauty2 but this   

pleasure docs not exhaust their         
capability to minister to us4 ,what     
differentiates art from manufacture is  
the element of personal expression4     
,born out of need1 whether the need be  
physical or spiritual1 fulfilling the   
urge to expression1 a work of art       
embodies its maker's delight in         
creating4 ,correspondingly1 beyond our  
immediate enjoyment of the work as form1
 we feel something of what the man felt 
who was impelled to create it4 ,his     
handiwork1 his pattern1 his composition1
 becomes the means of communicating to  
us his emotional experience4  ,obviously
 the significance of any work is        
determined primarily by the intensity   
and scope of emotion which has prompted 
it4 ,the creation of works of art       
involves all degrees of intention1 from 
the hut in the wilderness rudely thrown 
together1 whose purpose was shelter1 to 
a ,gothic cathedral1 in its             
multitudinousness eloquent of man's     
worship and aspiration4 ,the man who    

moulded the first bowl1 adapting its    
form as closely as possible to its use  
and shaping its proportions for his own 
pleasure to satisfy his sense of harmony
 and rhythm1 differs from the builders  
of the ,parthenon only in the degree of 
intensity of his inspiring emotion and  
in the measure of his controlling       
thought4 ,the beauty of accomplished    
form of cathedral and of temple is      
compelling2 and we may forget that they 
rose out of need4 ,both hut and bowl are
 immediately useful1 and their beauty is
 not so evident1--that little touch of  
feeling which wakens a response in us4  
,but in their adaptation to their       
function they become significant2 the   
satisfaction which accompanies          
expression is communicated to us as we  
apprehend in the work the creator's     
intention and we realize in ourselves   
what the creation of it meant to him as 
the fulfillment of his need and the     
utterance of his emotion4  ,so the      
expressive power of an individual work  

is conditioned originally by the amount 
of feeling that enters into the making  
of it4 ,every phrase of a ,beethoven    
symphony is saturated with emotion1 and 
the work leads us into depths and up to 
heights of universal experience1        
disclosing to us tortuous ways and      
infinite vistas of the possibilities of 
human feeling4 ,a simple earthen jug may
 bear the impress of loving fingers1 and
 the crudely turned form may be eloquent
 of the caress of its maker4 ,so we come
 to value even in the humblest objects  
of use this autographic character1 which
 is the gate of entrance into the       
experience of the men who fashioned     
them4 ,every maker strives toward       
perfection1 the completest realization  
of his ideal within his power of        
execution4 ,but the very shortcomings of
 his work are significant as expressive 
of what he felt and was groping after2  
they are so significant that by a       
curious perversion1 machinery1 which in 
our civilized day has supplanted the    

craftsman1 tries by mechanical means to 
reproduce the roughness and supposed    
imperfections of hand work4 ,music is   
the consummate art1 in which the form   
and the content are one and             
inextricable2 its medium is the purest1 
least alloyed means of expression of    
instant emotion4 ,architecture1 in its  
harmonies and rhythms1 the gathering up 
of details into the balanced and perfect
 whole1 partakes of the nature of music4
 ,but the arts of use and decoration    
also have their message for the spirit4 
,there is no object fashioned by the    
hand of man so humble that it may not   
embody a true thought and a sincere     
delight4 ,there is no pattern or design 
so simple and so crude that it may not  
be the overflow of some human spirit1 a 
mind and heart touched to expression4   
,,ix  ,,representation  ,,before me is a
 little bowl of old ,satsuma4 ,as ,i    
look at it there wakens in me a         
responsive rhythm1 and involuntarily my 
fingers move as if to caress its suave  

and lovely lines4 ,the rich gold and    
mingled mellow browns of its surface    
pattern intricately woven are a gracious
 harmony and a delight4 ,gradually1 as  
,i continue to look on it1 a feeling is 
communicated to me of the maker's own   
joy in his work2 and the bowl1 its      
harmonies and rhythms1 and all that it  
expresses1 become part of me4 ,there it 
is1 complete in itself1 gathering up and
 containing within itself the entire    
experience4 ,my thoughts1 sensations1   
feelings do not go beyond the bowl4     
,another time ,i am standing in the hall
 of the ,academy in ,florence4 ,at the  
end of the corridor towers a superb     
form4 ,i see that it is the figure of a 
youth4 ,his left hand holds a sling     
drawn across his shoulder2 his right arm
 hangs by his side1 his hand grasping a 
pebble close to his thigh2 calm and     
confident1 his head erect1 his strength 
held in leash waiting to be loosed1 he  
fronts the oncoming of the foe4 ,the    
statue is the presentation of noble     

form1 and it wakens in me an accordant  
rhythm2 ,i feel in myself something of  
what youthful courage1 life1 and        
conscious power mean4 ,but my experience
 does not stop there4 ,the statue is not
 only presentation but representation4  
,it figures forth a youth1 ,david1 the  
,hebrew shepherd-boy1 and he stands     
awaiting the ,philistine4 ,i have read  
his story1 ,i have my own mental image  
of him1 and about his personality       
cluster many thoughts4 ,to what         
,michelangelo shows me ,i add what ,i   
already know4 ,recognition1 memory1     
knowledge1 facts and ideas1 a whole     
store of associations allied with my    
previous experience1 mingle with my     
instant emotion in its presence4 ,the   
sculptor1 unlike the potter1 has not    
created his own form2 the subject of his
 work exists outside of him in nature4  
,he uses the subject for his own ends1  
but in his treatment of it he is bound  
by certain responsibilities to external 
truth4 ,his work as it stands is not    

completely self-contained1 but is linked
 with the outer world2 and my           
appreciation of it is affected by this  
reference to extrinsic fact4  ,an artist
 is interested in some scene in nature  
or a personality or situation in human  
life2 it moves him4 ,as the object      
external to him is the stimulus of his  
emotion and is associated with it1 so he
 uses the object as the symbol of his   
experience and means of expression of   
his emotion4 ,here1 then1 the feeling1  
to express which the work is created1   
gathers about a subject1 which can be   
recognized intellectually1 and the fact 
of the subject is received as in a      
measure separate from the feeling which 
flows from it4 ,in a painting of a      
landscape1 we recognize as the basis of 
the total experience the fact that it is
 a landscape1 so much water and field   
and sky2 and then we yield ourselves to 
the beauty of the landscape1 the emotion
 with which the artist suffuses the     
material objects and so transfigures    

them4 ,into representative art1         
therefore1 there enters an element not  
shared by the arts of pure form1 the    
element of the subject1 carrying with it
 considerations of objective truth and  
of likeness to external fact4 ,toward   
the understanding of the total scope of 
a picture or a statue1 and by inference 
and application of the principles1      
toward the understanding of literature  
as well1 it may help us if we determine 
the relation of beauty to truth and the 
function and value of the subject in    
representative art4  ,the final         
significance of a work of art is beauty1
 received as emotional experience4      
,nature becomes beautiful to us at the  
point where it manifests a harmony to   
which we feel ourselves attuned4 ,at the
 moment of enjoyment we unconsciously   
project our personality into this       
harmony outside of us1 identifying      
ourselves with it and finding it at that
 instant the expression of something    
toward which we reach and aspire4 ,when 

we come consciously to reason about our 
experience1 we see that the harmony     
external to us which we feel as the     
extension of ourselves does not stop    
with the actual material itself of      
nature1 but emanates from it as the     
expression of nature's spirit4 ,the     
harmony is a harmony of relations1 made 
visible through material1 and           
significant to us and beautiful in the  
measure that we respond to it4  ,it is  
the beauty of the object1 its           
significance for the spirit1 that       
primarily moves the artist to           
expression4 ,why one landscape and not  
another impels him to render it upon his
 canvas is not to be explained4 ,this   
impulse to immediate and concrete       
utterance is inspiration4 ,and          
inspiration would seem to be a          
confluence of forces outside of the     
individual consciousness or will1       
focused at the instant into desire1     
which becomes the urge to creation4 ,the
 mind in creation1 says ,shelley1 is as 

a fading coal1 which some invisible     
influence1 like an inconstant wind1     
awakens to transitory brightness2 this  
power rises from within1 like the colour
 of a flower which fades and changes as 
it is developed1 and the conscious      
portions of our natures are unprophetic 
either of its approach or its departure4
 ,the artist does not say1 ,lo1 ,i will 
paint a landscape2 let me find my       
subject6 ,the subject presents itself4  
,there it is1 by chance almost1--a      
sudden harmony before him1 long low     
meadows stretching away to the dark     
hills1 the late sun striking on the     
water1 gold and green melting into a    
suffusing flush of purple light1 a      
harmony of color and line and mass which
 his spirit leaps out to meet and with  
which it fuses in a larger unity4 ,in   
the moment of contact all consciousness 
of self as a separate individuality is  
lost4 ,out of the union of the two      
principles1 the spirit of man and the   
beauty of the object1 is born the idea1 

which is to come to expression as a work
 of art4  ,but the artist is a mind as  
well as a temperament4 ,experience is a 
swing of the pendulum between the       
momentary ecstasy of immediate contact  
and the subsequent reaction upon the    
moment1 which is consciousness of it4   
,in order to make his vision actual1 the
 artist rises out of the domain of      
feeling into that of thought4 ,the      
landscape has compelled him2 it is now  
he who must compel the landscape4 ,to   
the shaping of his work he must bring to
 bear all his conscious power of        
selection and organization and all his  
knowledge of the capabilities and       
resources of his means4 ,art springs out
 of emotion2 painting is a science4 ,the
 artist's command of his subject as the 
symbol of his idea derives from the     
stern and vigorous exercise of mind4    
,the rightness of his composition is    
determined by a logic more flexible1    
perhaps1 but no less exacting than the  
laws of geometry4 ,by the flow of his   

line and the disposition of his masses1 
the artist must carry the eye of the    
beholder along the way he wants it to   
travel until it rests upon the point    
where he wants it to rest4 ,there must  
be no leaks and no false directions2    
there must be the cosmos within the     
frame and nothing outside of it4 ,the   
principles of perspective have been     
worked out with a precision that        
entitles them to rank as a science4     
,color has its laws1 which1 again1      
science is able to formulate4 ,these    
processes and formulas and laws are not 
the whole of art1 but they have their   
place4 ,the power to feel1 the          
imaginative vision1 and creative insight
 are not to be explained4 ,but knowledge
 too1 acquired learning and skill1 plays
 its part1 and to recognize its function
 and service is to be helped to a fuller
 understanding of the achievement of the
 artist4  ,gifted with a vibrant1       
sensitive temperament1 endowed with     
discriminating and organizing power of  

mind1 equipped with a knowledge of the  
science and the mechanics of his craft1 
and trained to skill in manual          
execution1 the artist responds to the   
impulse of his inspiration4 ,his subject
 is before him4 ,but what is his        
subject8 ,a scene in nature furnishes   
him the objective base of his picture1  
but properly his work is the expression 
of what he feels4 ,a storm may convey to
 different men entirely different       
impressions4 ,in its presence one man   
may feel himself overwhelmed with       
terror4 ,these wild1 black skies piling 
in upon him1 the hilltops that seem to  
race through the clouds1 the swaying1   
snapping trees1 the earth caught up in  
the mad grasp of the tempest1 may smite 
his soul with the pitilessness of nature
 and her inexorable blind power4        
,another thrills with joy in this cosmic
 struggle1 the joy of conflict which he 
has known in his own life1 the meeting  
of equal forces in fair fight1 where the
 issue is still doubtful and victory    

will fall at last upon the strong1      
though it is not the final triumph but  
the present struggle that makes the joy4
 ,in rendering the subject upon his     
canvas1 by the manipulation of          
composition and line and mass and color1
 he makes the storm ominous and         
terrible1 or glorious1 according as he  
feels4 ,the import of his picture is not
 the natural fact of the storm itself1  
but its significance for the emotions4  
,a work of representative art is the    
rendering of a unity of impression and  
harmony of relations which the artist   
has perceived and to which he has       
thrilled in the world external to him4  
,he presents not the facts themselves   
but their spirit1 that something which  
endows the facts with their significance
 and their power to stir him4 ,as the   
meaning of nature to the beholder is    
determined by the effect it produces on 
his mind and temperament1 so the artist1
 in the expression of this meaning1 aims
 less at a statement of objective       

accuracy of exterior appearance than at 
producing a certain effect1 the effect  
which is the equivalent of the meaning  
of nature to him4 ,thus the painter who 
sees beyond the merely intellectual and 
sensuous appeal of his subject and      
enters into its spirit1 tries to render 
on his canvas1 not the actual color of  
nature1 but the sensation of color and  
its value for the emotions4 ,with the   
material splendor of nature1--her       
inexhaustible lavish wealth of color1   
the glory of life which throbs through  
creation1 the mystery of actual         
movement1--art cannot compete4 ,for the 
hues and tones of nature1 infinite in   
number and subtlety1 the painter has    
only the few notes within the poor gamut
 of his palette4 ,how can he quicken his
 dull paint with the life-beat of       
palpitating flesh1 or the sculptor      
animate the rigid marble with the       
vibrations of vivid motion8 ,but where  
nature is infinite in her range she is  
also scattering in her effects4 ,by the 

concentration of divergent forces1 art  
gains in intensity and directness of    
impression what it sacrifices in the    
scope of its material4 ,michelangelo    
uses as his subject ,david1 the         
shepherd-boy2 but the person1 the mere  
name1 does not signify4 ,what his work  
embodies is triumphant youth1 made      
visible and communicable4 ,when ,millet 
shows us the peasant1 it is not what the
 peasant is feeling that the artist     
represents1 but what ,millet felt about 
him4 ,the same landscape will be        
rendered differently by different men4  
,each selects his details according to  
the interest of his eye and mind and    
feeling1 and he brings them into a      
dominant harmony which stands to him for
 the meaning of the landscape4 ,none of 
the pictures is an accurate statement of
 the facts as they are1 off there in    
nature2 all are true to the integrating 
inner vision4 ,the superficial observer 
sees only the accidents1 and he does not
 distinguish relative importance4 ,the  

artist1 with quicker sensibilities and a
 trained mind1 analyzes1 discovers the  
underlying principle1 and then makes a  
synthesis which embodies only the       
essential2 he seizes the distinctive    
aspect of the object and makes it       
salient4 ,there may be1 of course1      
purely descriptive representation1 which
 is a faithful record of the facts of   
appearance as the painter sees them1    
without any feeling toward them2 here he
 works as a scientist1 not as an artist4
 ,merely imitative painting falls short 
of artistic significance1 for it        
embodies no meaning beyond the external 
fact4 ,it is the expressiveness of the  
object that the true artist cares to    
represent2 it is its expressiveness1 its
 value for the emotions1 that           
constitutes its beauty4  ,to achieve    
beauty the representative artist bases  
his work upon the truth of nature4 ,it  
is nature that supplies him with his    
motive1--some glimpse1 some fragment1   
which reveals within itself a harmony4  

,it may be a form1 as a tree1 a man1 a  
mountain range1 the race of clouds      
across the sky2 it may be a             
color-harmony or arrangement1 in which  
color rather than form is the dominant  
interest1 as with a landscape or an     
interior2 it may be the effects of      
light1 as the sunshine playing over     
golden haystacks1 or the glint of light 
on metal1 or the sheen of lovely        
fabrics4 ,out of the complex of         
interests and appeals which an object   
offers1 what is the truth of the object8
 ,the truth of nature resides not in the
 accidents of surface but in the        
essential relations1 of which the       
surface is the manifestation4 ,a birch  
tree and an apple tree are growing side 
by side4 ,their roots strike down into  
the same soil1 their branches are warmed
 by the same sun1 wet by the same rains1
 and swept by the same winds4 ,the birch
 tree is always lithe and gracious and  
feminine2 the apple tree is always bent 
and sternly gnarled like the hand of an 

old man4 ,the life-force which impels   
the tree to growth is distinctive to    
each kind4 ,within all natural objects1 
then1 a crystal1 a tree1 a man1 there is
 a shaping principle which determines   
their essential form4 ,but no two       
individual apple trees are precisely    
alike2 from the essential form of the   
tree there are divergences in the single
 manifestations4 ,though subject to     
accident and variation1 however1 every  
tree exhibits a characteristic1         
inviolate tendency1 and remains true to 
the inner life-principle of its being4  
,the truth of the apple tree is this    
distinctive1 essential form1 by virtue  
of which it is an apple tree and not    
some other kind1 the form which         
underlies and allows for all individual 
variations4 ,what the painter renders on
 his canvas is not the superficial      
accidents of some single tree1 but by   
means of that1 he seeks to image forth  
in color and form the tendency of all   
trees4 ,the truth of an object presents 

itself to the imagination as design1 for
 this organic1 shaping principle of     
things1 expressed in colored myriad     
forms throughout the endless pageantry  
of nature1 is apprehended by the spirit 
of man as a harmony2 and in the         
experience of the artist truth          
identifies itself with beauty4  ,the    
distinction between the accidental      
surface of things and the significance  
that may be drawn out of them is        
exemplified by the difference between   
accuracy and truth in representation4   
,accurate drawing is the faithful record
 of the facts of appearance as offered  
to the eye4 ,truth of drawing is the    
rendering in visible terms of the       
meaning and spirit of the object1 the   
form which the object takes not simply  
for the eye but for the mind4 ,a pencil 
sketch by ,millet shows a man carrying  
in each hand a pail of water4 ,the arms 
are drawn inaccurately1 in that they are
 made too long4 ,what ,millet wanted to 
express1 however1 was not the physical  

shape of the arms1 but the feeling of   
the burden under which the man was      
bending2 and by lengthening the arms he 
has succeeded in conveying1 as mere     
accuracy could not express it1 the      
sensation of weight and muscular strain4
 ,in ,hals' picture of the ,jester the  
left hand is sketched in with a few     
swift strokes of the brush4 ,but so1 it 
keeps its place in relation to the      
whole2 and it is more nearly right than 
if it had been made the centre of       
attention and had been drawn with the   
most meticulous precision4 ,the hand is 
not accurate1 but it is true4           
,similarly1 size is an affair not of    
physical extent but of proportion4 ,a   
figure six inches high may convey the   
same value as a figure six feet high1 if
 the same proportions are observed4 ,a  
statue is the presentation1 not of the  
human body1 but of the human form1 and  
more than that1 of what the form        
expresses4 ,when ,i am talking with my  
friend ,i am aware of his physical      

presence detaching itself from the      
background of the room in which we are4 
,but ,i feel in him something more4 ,and
 that something more goes behind the    
details of his physical aspect4 ,his    
eyes might be blue instead of brown1 his
 nose crooked rather than straight2 he  
might be maimed and disfigured by some  
mishap4 ,these accidents would not      
change for me what is the reality4 ,my  
friend is not his body1 though it is by 
his body that he exists2 the reality of 
my friend is what he essentially is1    
what he is of the spirit4 ,a photograph 
of a man registers certain facts of his 
appearance at that moment4 ,the eye and 
the mind of the artist discern the truth
 which underlies the surface2 the artist
 feels his sitter not as a face and a   
figure1 a mere body1 but as a           
personality2 and the portrait expresses 
a man4  ,as grasped by our finite minds1
 there are partial truths and degrees of
 truth4 ,there are1 for example1 the    
facts of outer appearance1 modified in  

our reception of them by what we know as
 distinct from what we really see4 ,thus
 a tree against the background of hill  
or sky seems to have a greater          
projection and relief than is actually  
presented to the eye1 because we know   
the tree is round4 ,manet's ,girl with a
 ,parrot1 which appears to the ordinary 
man to be too flat1 is more true to     
reality than any portrait that seems to 
come out of its frame4 ,habitually in   
our observation of objects about us1 we 
note only so much as serves our         
practical ends2 and this is the most    
superficial1 least essential aspect4    
,projection is a partial truth1 and to  
it many painters sacrifice other and    
higher truths4 ,manet1 recovering the   
innocence of the eye and faithful to it1
 has penetrated the secrets and won the 
truth of light4 ,botticelli saw the     
world as sonorous undulations of        
exquisite line2 and his subtly          
implicated1 evanescent patterns of line 
movement1 incorrect as they may be      

superficially in drawing1 caress the eye
 as music finds and satisfies the soul4 
,when such is his power over us1 it is  
difficult to say that ,botticelli had   
not some measure of the truth4 ,the     
world of the ,venetians sang            
full-sounding harmonies of glorious     
color4 ,velasquez saw everything laved  
around with a flood of silver quiet     
atmosphere4 ,all in their own way have  
found and shown to us a truth4  ,to     
render what he has seen and felt in the 
essence and meaning of it1 the artist   
seeks to disengage the shaping principle
 of the particular aspect of truth1     
which has impressed him1 from all       
accidents in its manifestation4 ,to make
 this dominant character salient beyond 
irrelevant circumstance1 art works by   
selection4 ,art is necessarily a        
compromise4 ,it isolates some elements  
and sacrifices others2 but it is none   
the less true on that account4 ,the mere
 material of the object is more or less 
fixed1 but the relations which the      

object embodies are capable of many     
combinations and adjustments1 according 
to the mind and temperament of the      
individual artist who is moved by it4   
,all art is in a certain sense          
abstraction2 all art in a measure       
idealizes4 ,it is abstraction in the    
sense that it presents the intrinsic and
 distinctive qualities of things1 purged
 of accident4  ,art does not compete    
with nature2 it is a statement of the   
spirit and intention of nature in the   
artist's own terms4 ,the test of the    
work is not apparent and superficial    
likeness1 but truth4 ,art idealizes in  
the measure that it disengages the      
truth4 ,in this aspect of it the work is
 ideal as distinct from merely actual4  
,there is a practice in art which draws 
its standard of beauty1 its ideal1 not  
from nature but from other art1 and     
which seeks to improve nature by the    
combination of arbitrarily chosen       
elements and by the modification of     
natural truth to fit a preconceived     

formula4 ,the ,eclectics of ,bologna1 in
 the seventeenth century1 sought to     
combine ,raphael's perfection of drawing
 and composition1 ,michelangelo's       
sublimity and his mastery of the figure1
 and ,correggio's sweet sentiment and   
his supremacy in the rendering of light 
and shade1 fondly supposing thus that   
the sum of excellent parts is equivalent
 to an excellence of the whole4 ,this is
 false idealism4 ,the ,greeks carried   
their research for certain truths of the
 human form to the point of perfection  
and complete realization4 ,the truth of 
the ,greeks was mistaken by the         
pseudo-classicists and misapplied4 ,thus
 ,delacroix exclaimed ironically1 ,in   
order to present an ideal head of a     
negro1 our teachers make him resemble as
 far as possible the profile of         
,antinus1 and then say1 ',we have done  
our utmost2 if1 nevertheless1 we fail to
 make the negro beautiful1 then we ought
 not to introduce into our pictures such
 a freak of nature1 the squat nose and  

thick lips1 which are so unendurable to 
the eyes4' ,true idealism treats        
everything after its own kind1 making it
 more intensely itself than it is in the
 play of nature2 the athlete is more    
heroically an athlete1 the negro more   
vividly a negro4 ,true idealism seeks to
 express the tendency by virtue of which
 an object is what it is4 ,the          
abstraction which art effects is not an 
unreality but a higher reality4 ,it is  
not the mere type1 that art presents1   
for the type as such does not exist in  
nature4 ,the individual is not lost but 
affirmed by this reference to the inner 
principle of its being4 ,a good portrait
 has in it an element of caricature2 the
 difference between portraiture and     
caricature is the difference between    
emphasis and exaggeration4 ,art is not  
the falsification of nature1 but the    
fuller realization of it4 ,it is the    
interpretation of nature's truth1 the   
translation of it1 divined by the       
artist1 into simpler terms to be read   

and understood by those of less original
 insight4 ,the deeper the penetration   
into the life-force and shaping         
principle of nature1 the greater is the 
measure of truth4  ,in representative   
art the truth of nature is the work's   
objective base4 ,what the artist finally
 expresses is the relation of the object
 to his own experience4 ,a work of art  
is the statement of the artist's insight
 into nature1 moulded and suffused by   
the emotion attending his perception4   
,of the object1 he uses that aspect and 
that degree of truth which serve him for
 the expression of his feeling toward   
it4 ,what is called realism is one order
 of truth1 one way of seeing4           
,impressionism is another order of      
truth4 ,idealism is still another4 ,but 
all three elements blend in varying     
proportion in any work4 ,even the       
realist1 who paints what he sees1 has   
his ideal1 which is the effect he sets  
himself to produce by his picture1 and  
he paints according to his impression4  

,he renders not the object itself but   
his mental image of it2 and that image  
is the result of his way of seeing and  
feeling1 his habit of mind1 his         
interest1 and his store of memories4    
,the idealist must base his work upon   
some kind of reality1 or it is a        
monstrosity2 he is obliged to refer to  
the external world for his symbols4 ,the
 impressionist1 who concerns himself    
with the play of light over surfaces in 
nature1 is seeking for truth1 and he    
cares to paint at all because that play 
of light1 seemingly so momentary and so 
merely sensuous1 has a value for his    
spirit of which he may or may not be    
wholly conscious2 and these shifting    
effects are the realization of his      
ideal4 ,unwitting at the moment of      
contact itself of the significance that 
afterwards is to flow articulately from 
his work1 the artist1 in the presence of
 his object1 knows only that he is      
impelled to render it4 ,as faithfully as
 possible he tries to record what he    

sees1 conscious simply that what he sees
 gives him delight4 ,his vision wakens  
his feeling1 and then by reaction his   
feeling determines his vision1          
controlling and directing his selection 
of the details of aspect4 ,when         
,velasquez1 engaged on a portrait of the
 king1 saw the maids of honor graciously
 attending on the little princess1 he   
did not set about producing a picture1  
as an end in itself4 ,in the relation of
 these figures to one another and to the
 background of the deep and high-vaulted
 chamber in which they were standing1   
each object and plane of distance       
receiving its just amount of light and  
fusing in the unity of total impression1
 were revealed to him the wonder and the
 mystery of nature's magic of light4    
,this is what he tried to render4 ,his  
revelation of natural truth1 wrung from 
nature's inmost latencies and shown to  
us triumphantly1 becomes a thing of     
beauty4  ,so the differences among the  
various schools in art are after all    

largely differences of emphasis4 ,the   
choice of subject or motive1 the angle  
from which it is viewed1 and the method 
of handling1 all are determined by the  
artist's kind of interest2 and that     
interest results from what the man is   
essentially by inheritance and          
individual character1 and what he is    
moulded into by environment1 training1  
and experience4 ,it may happen that the 
external object imposes itself in its   
integrity upon the artist's mind and    
temperament1 and he tries to express it1
 colored inevitably by his feeling      
toward it1 in all faithfulness to the   
feet as he sees it4 ,millet said1 ,i    
should never paint anything that was not
 the result of an impression received   
from the aspect of nature1 whether in   
landscape or figures4 ,millet painted   
what he saw1 but he painted it as only  
he saw it4 ,or again it happens that an 
artist imposes his feeling upon nature4 
,thus ,burne-,jones said1 ,i mean by a  
picture a beautiful romantic dream of   

something that never was1 never will    
be--in a light better than any that ever
 shone--in a land no one can define or  
remember1 only desire4 ,whether true to 
nature or true to the creative inner    
vision1 the work of both men embodies   
truth4 ,sometimes an artist effaces     
entirely his own individuality1 as in   
,greek sculpture and ,gothic            
architecture1 and the mere name of the  
creator does not signify4 ,george       
,frederick ,watts is reported to have   
said1 ,if ,i were asked to choose       
whether ,i would like to do something   
good1 as the world judges popular art1  
and receive personally great credit for 
it1 or1 as an alternative1 to produce   
something which should rank with the    
very best1 taking a place with the art  
of ,pheidias or ,titian1 with the       
highest poetry and the most elevating   
music1 and remain unknown as the        
perpetrator of the work1 ,i should      
choose the latter4 ,sidney ,lanier      
wrote1 ,it is of little consequence     

whether ,i fail2 the ,i in the matter is
 small business4 4 4 4 ,let my name     
perish1--the poetry is good poetry and  
the music is good music1 and beauty     
dieth not1 and the heart that needs it  
will find it4 ,or on the contrary1 a    
work may bear dominantly1 even          
aggressively1 the impress of the        
distinctive individuality of its        
creator1 as with ,carlyle's prose and   
,browning's poetry4 ,whistler seems at  
times to delight less in the beauty of  
his subject than in the exercise of his 
own power of refinement4 ,where another 
man's art is personal1 as with          
,velasquez or ,frans ,hals1 ,whistler's 
art becomes egotistical4 ,he does not   
say1 ,lo1 how mysterious is this dusk   
river-side1 how tenderly serene this    
mother1 how wistful and mighty is this  
prophet-seer6 ,he exclaims rather1 ,note
 how subtly ,i1 ,whistler1 have seen4   
,rejoice with me in my powers of vision 
and of execution4 ,there is no single   
method of seeing1 no one formula of     

expression and handling4 ,the truth both
 of nature and of art is great and      
infinitely various4 ,for art1 like      
nature1 is organic1 allowing for endless
 modifications1 while remaining true to 
the inner principle of its being4  ,the 
judgment of truth is a delicate         
business4 ,to test the truth of a work  
of art by reference to the truth of     
nature is to presuppose that our power  
of perception is equal to the artist's  
power1 and that our knowledge of the    
object represented is equal to his      
knowledge of it4 ,the ordinary man's    
habitual contact with the world is      
practical1 and his knowledge of natural 
fact1 based upon the most superficial   
aspect of it and used for practical     
purposes1 tends to falsify his vision4  
,the artist's contact with the world1 in
 his capacity as artist1 is one of      
feeling2 he values life1 not for its    
material rewards and satisfactions1 but 
for what it brings to him of emotional  
experience4 ,the ordinary man uses      

nature for his own workaday ends4 ,the  
artist loves nature1 and through his    
love he understands her4 ,his knowledge 
of natural fact1 instead of falsifying  
his vision1 reinforces it4 ,he studies  
the workings of nature's laws as        
manifested in concrete phenomena around 
him1--the movement of storms1 the growth
 of trees1 the effects of               
light1--penetrating their inmost        
secrets1 that he may make them more     
efficient instruments of expression4 ,he
 uses his understanding of anatomy1 of  
earth-structure1 of the laws of color1  
as the means to a fuller and juster     
interpretation4 ,as he receives the     
truth of nature with reverence and joy1 
so he transmutes truth into beauty4  ,an
 artist's interest in the truth of      
nature is not the scientist's interest1 
an intellectual concern with knowledge  
for the sake of knowledge4 ,the artist  
receives nature's revelation of herself 
with emotion4 ,the deeper he penetrates 
into her hidden ways1 the greater       

becomes her power to stir him4 ,the     
artist values his subject1 therefore1 as
 the stimulus of emotion and as the     
symbol by means of which he expresses   
his emotion and communicates it4 ,the   
value of the subject to the appreciator1
 however1 is not immediately clear4 ,it 
is not easy for us to receive the       
subject purely as the artist shows it to
 us and independently of our own        
knowledge of it4 ,about it already      
gather innumerable associations1        
physical1 practical1 intellectual1      
sentimental1 and emotional1 all of them 
or any of them1 which result from our   
previous contact with it in actual life4
 ,here is a portrait of ,carlyle4 ,i    
cannot help regarding the picture first 
of all from the point of view of its    
likeness to the original4 ,this is a    
person with whom ,i am acquainted1 an   
individual1 by name ,carlyle4 ,and my   
reaction on the picture is determined1  
not by what the artist has to say about 
a great personality interpreted through 

the medium of color and form1 but by    
what ,i already know about ,carlyle4 ,or
 here a painting shows me a landscape   
with which ,i am familiar4 ,then instead
 of trying to discover in the picture   
what the artist has seen in the         
landscape and felt in its presence1     
letting it speak to me in its own       
language1 ,i allow my thoughts to wander
 from the canvas1 and ,i enjoy the      
landscape in terms of my own knowledge  
and remembrance of it4 ,the artist's    
work becomes simply a point of          
departure1 whereas it should be not only
 the beginning but also the end and     
fulfillment of the complete experience4 
,what is1 then1 we may ask1 the relation
 of the fact of the subject to the      
beauty and final message of the work8   
,the pleasure which attends the         
recognition of the subject is a         
legitimate element in our enjoyment of  
art4 ,but the work should yield a       
delight beyond our original delight in  
the subject as it exists in nature4 ,the

 significance of a work of              
representative art depends not upon the 
subject in and of itself1 but upon what 
the artist has to say about it4 ,a rose 
may be made to reveal the cosmos2 a     
mountain range or cloud-swept spaces of 
the upper air may be niggled into       
meanness4 ,the ugly in practical life   
may be transfigured by the artist's     
touch into supreme beauty4 ,il faut     
pouvoir faire servir le trivial         
l'expression du sublime1 c'est la vraie 
force1 said one who was able to invest a
 humble figure with august dignity4     
,millet's peasants reveal more of       
godlike majesty than all the array of   
personages in the pantheon of           
post-,raphaelite ,italy and the classic 
school of ,france4 ,upon his subject the
 artist bases that harmony of relations 
which constitutes the beauty and        
significance of his work4 ,brought thus 
into a harmony1 the object represented  
is made more vivid1 more intensely      
itself1 than it is in nature1 with the  

result that we receive from the         
representation a heightened sense of    
reality and of extended personality4    
,the importance of the subject1         
therefore1 is measured by the           
opportunity it affords the artist1 and  
with him his appreciators1 to share in  
the beauty of nature and life4 ,a       
picture should not standout from its    
frame1 but should go back into it1      
reaching even into infinity4 ,our own   
associations attaching to the subject   
lose themselves as they blend with the  
artist's revelation of the fuller beauty
 of his object2 and finally all becomes 
merged in the emotional experience4     
,eliminating the transient and          
accidental1 a work of art presents the  
essential and eternal4 ,art appeals not 
to the intellect and the reason1 but to 
the imagination and the emotions4 ,the  
single work1 therefore1 is concrete and 
immediate4 ,but universal in its scope1 
it transcends the particularities of    
limited place and individual name4 ,we  

must distinguish between the abstractly 
typical and the universal4 ,the         
representative artist does not conceive 
an abstraction and then seek to find a  
symbol for it4 ,that is the method of   
allegory1 where spring1 for example1 is 
figured as a young woman scattering     
flowers4 ,allegory is decorative rather 
than representative in intention4 ,the  
artist receives his inspiration and     
stimulus from some actual concrete bit  
of nature1 a woodland wrapt in tender   
mists of green1 a meadow gold and softly
 white with blossoms1 a shimmering gauze
 of sun touched air1 moist and          
vibrating1 enfolding it4 ,that is what  
he paints4 ,but he paints it so that it 
is spring1 and instinct with the spirit 
of all springs4 ,michelangelo does not  
intellectually conceive youth and then  
carve a statue4 ,some boy has revealed  
to him the beauty of his young strength1
 and the sculptor moves to immediate    
expression4 ,he calls his statue ,david1
 but the white form radiates the rhythm 

and glory of all youth4 ,and as we      
realize youth in ourselves1 more        
poignantly1 more abundantly1 the mere   
name of the boy does not matter4 ,the   
fact that the portrait shows us ,carlyle
 is an incident4 ,carlyle is the subject
 of the picture1 but its meaning is the 
twilight of a mighty1 indomitable mind1 
made visible and communicable4 ,his work
 is done2 the hour of quiet is given1   
and he finds rest4 ,into this moment1   
eternal in its significance1 into this  
mood1 universal in its appeal1 we enter1
 to realize it in ourselves4 ,the       
subject of picture or statue is but the 
means2 the end is life4 ,objective fact 
is transmuted into living truth4 ,art is
 the manifestation of a higher reality  
than we alone have been able to know4   
,it begins with the particular and then 
transcends it1 admitting us to share in 
the beauty of the world1 the cosmic     
harmony of universal experience4    ,x  
,,the ,,personal ,,estimate  ,,art      
starts from life and in the end comes   

back to it4 ,art is born out of the     
stirring of the artist's spirit in      
response to his need of expression1 and 
it reaches its fulfillment in the spirit
 of the appreciator as it answers his   
need of wider and deeper experience4    
,midway on its course from spirit to    
spirit it traverses devious paths4 ,the 
emotion out of which art springs and of 
which it is the expression is controlled
 and directed by the shaping force of   
mind1 and it embodies itself in material
 form4 ,this material form1 by virtue of
 its qualities1 has the power to delight
 our senses2 the skill which went into  
the fashioning of it1 so far as we can  
recognize the processes of execution1   
gives us pleasure2 the harmony which the
 work of art must manifest satisfies the
 mind and makes it possible for us to   
link the emotion with our own           
experience4  ,these paths which a work  
of art traverses in its course from its 
origin to its fulfillment ,i have tried 
to follow in their ramifications1 and ,i

 have tried to trace them to their issue
 in appreciation4 ,some lovers of art   
may linger on the way and rest content  
with the distance they have come1       
without pressing forward to the end4 ,a 
work of art is complex in its appeal2   
and it is possible to stop with one or  
another of its elements4 ,thus we may   
receive the work intellectually1        
recognizing its subject1 and turning the
 artist's emotion into our thought and  
translating it from his medium of color 
and form or sound into our own medium of
 words4 ,here is a portrait of ,carlyle2
 and ,carlyle we know as an author and  
as a man4 ,this landscape is from the   
,palisades1 where we have roamed in     
leisure hours4 ,before us is a statue of
 ,zeus1 whom our classical reading has  
made a reality to us4 ,this symphony    
gathers about a day in the country1     
suggesting an incident in our own       
experience of which we have pleasant    
remembrances4 ,intellectually1 also1 we 
enjoy the evidence of the artist's skill

 which the work exhibits4 ,or we may    
pass beyond the simple exercise of the  
intellect1 and with a refinement of     
perception we may take a sensuous       
delight in the qualities of the material
 in which the work is embodied4 ,this   
portrait is a subtle harmony of color   
and exquisite adjustment of line and    
mass4 ,the luminous night which enwraps 
the ,palisades is a solemn mighty chord4
 ,the white rhythm of this statue       
caresses the eye that follows it4 ,this 
symphony is an intricate and wonderful  
wave-pattern upon a sea of billowing    
sound in which the listener immerses    
himself voluptuously4 ,the essential    
significance of a work of art is not to 
be received apart from its form1 but the
 form is more than merely sensuous in   
its appeal4 ,finally1 therefore1 the    
color and the composition of the        
portrait are but the point of meeting   
where we touch in energizing contact a  
powerful personality4 ,our spirit goes  
out into the night of these ,palisades  

and dilates into immensity4 ,this statue
 is ,olympian majesty made visible1 and 
in its presence we feel that we too are 
august4 ,the symphony is a resolution of
 the struggle of our own tangled lives1 
a purification1 and the experience of   
joy4  ,art is the expression of         
experience1 whether the experience      
enacts itself within the spirit of the  
artist or derives from his contact with 
the external world4 ,so by the same     
token1 art is finally to be received as 
experience4 ,the ultimate meaning of a  
work of art to the appreciator is what  
it wakens in him of emotion4 ,it is the 
artist's business1 by the manipulation  
of his materials and his elements1 by   
the choice of motive and the rendering1 
by the note and pitch of his color1 the 
ordering of his line1 the disposition of
 his masses1 to compel the direction of 
the emotion2 he must not allow the      
solemnity and awe with which his night  
invests the ,palisades to be mistaken by
 the beholder for terror or for mere    

obscurity4 ,but the quality and the     
intensity of the emotion depend upon the
 temper of the appreciator's            
sensibilities and the depth and range of
 his experience of life4 ,art is not    
fixed and invariable in its effect4     
,vanity ,fair is a great novel4 ,one man
 may read it for the sake of the story1 
and in his amusement and interest in    
following the succession of incident1 he
 may for a while forget himself4 ,a     
possible use to put one's reading to2   
yet for that man the book is not art4   
,another may be entertained by the      
spectacle of the persons as they exhibit
 themselves in ,thackeray's pages1 much 
as he might stop a moment on the        
curbstone and watch a group of children 
at play in the street4 ,here he is a    
looker-on1 holding himself aloof2 and   
for him1 again1 the book is not art4    
,still a third may find in ,vanity ,fair
 a record of the customs and manners of 
,english people at the beginning of the 
nineteenth century2 and he adds this    

much to his stock of information4 ,still
 for him the book is not art4 ,not one  
of the three has touched in vital       
contact the essential meaning of ,vanity
 ,fair4 ,but the man who sees in the    
incidents of the book a situation       
possible in his own life1 who identifies
 himself with the personages and acts   
out with them their adventures1 who     
feels that he actually knows ,rawdon    
,crawley and ,becky ,sharp1 ,jo ,sedley1
 ,dobbin1 and ,amelia1 and understands  
their character and personality better  
here than in the actual world about him 
by force of ,thackeray's greater insight
 and power of portraiture1 who sees in  
,english manners here represented the   
interpretation of his own surroundings1 
so that as a result of it all1 his own  
experience becomes richer for his having
 lived out the life of the fictitious   
persons1 his own acquaintances have     
revealed themselves more fully1 his own 
life becomes more intelligible1--for him
 at last the book is a work of art4 ,so 

any work may be a mirror which simply   
reflects the world as we know it2 it may
 be a point of departure1 from which    
tangentially we construct an experience 
of our own3 it is truly art only in the 
degree that it is revelation4  ,a work  
of art1 therefore1 is to be received by 
the individual appreciator as an added  
emotional experience4 ,it appeals to him
 at all because in some way it relates  
itself to his own life2 and its value to
 him is determined by the measure in    
which it carries him out into wider     
ranges of feeling4 ,there are works     
whose absolute greatness he recognizes  
but yet which do not happen at the      
moment to find him4 ,constable comes to 
him as immensely satisfying2 ,turner1   
though an object of great intellectual  
interest1 leaves him cold4 ,he knows    
,velasquez to be supreme among painters1
 but he turns away to stand before      
,frans ,hals1 whose quick1 sure strokes 
call such very human beings into        
actuality and rouse his spirit to the   

fullest response4 ,why is it that of two
 works of equal depth of insight into   
life1 of equal scope of feeling1 of the 
same excellence of technical            
accomplishment1 one has an appeal and a 
message for him and not the other8 ,what
 is the bridge of transition between the
 work and the spirit of the appreciator 
by which the subtle connection is       
established8  ,it comes back to a matter
 of harmony4 ,experience presents itself
 to us in fragments2 and in so far as   
the parts are scattering and unrelated1 
it is not easy for us to guess the      
purpose of our being here4 ,but so soon 
as details1 which by virtue of some     
selecting principle are related to one  
another1 gather themselves into a whole1
 chaos is resolved into order1 and this 
whole becomes significant1 intelligible1
 and beautiful4 ,instinctively we are   
seeking1 each in his own way1 to bring  
the fragments of experience into order2 
and that order stands to each of us for 
what we are1 for our individual         

personality1 the self4 ,we define thus  
our selecting principle1 by which we    
receive some incidents of experience as 
related to our development and we reject
 others as not related to it4 ,thus the 
individual life achieves its integrity1 
its unity and significance4 ,this1 too1 
is the process of art4 ,a landscape in  
nature is capable of a various1         
interpretation4 ,by bringing its details
 into order and unity1 the artist       
creates its beauty4 ,his perception of  
the harmony which his imagination       
compels out of the landscape is attended
 with emotion1 and the emotion flows    
outward to expression in a form which is
 itself harmonious4 ,this form is a work
 of art4 ,art1 therefore1 is the        
harmonizing of experience4 ,appreciation
 is an act of fusion and identification4
 ,in spirit we become the thing         
presented by the work of art and we     
merge with it in a larger unity4 ,the   
individual harmony which a work of art  
manifests becomes significant to us as  

we can make it an harmonious part of our
 own experience and as it carries us in 
the direction of our development4  ,but 
how to determine1 each man for himself1 
what is the direction of our            
development8 ,a life becomes significant
 to itself so soon as it is conscious of
 its purpose1 and it becomes harmonious 
as it makes all the details of          
experience subserve that purpose4 ,the  
purpose of the individual life1 so far  
as we can guess it1 seems to be that the
 life shall be as complete as possible1 
that it shall fulfill itself and provide
 through its offspring for its          
continuance4 ,it is true that no life is
 isolated2 as every atom throughout the 
universe is bound to every other atom by
 subtlest filaments of influence1 so    
each human life stands related to all   
other lives4 ,but the man best pays his 
debt of service to others who makes the 
most of that which is given him to work 
with2 and that is his own personality4  
,we must begin at the centre and work   

outwards4 ,my concern is with my own    
justice4 ,if ,i worry because my friend 
or another is not just1 ,i not only do  
not make him more just1 but ,i also fail
 of the highest justice ,i can achieve1 
which is my own4 ,we must be true to    
ourselves4 ,we help one another not by  
precept but by being2 and what we are   
communicates itself4 ,as physical life  
propagates and thus continues itself1 so
 personality is transmitted in          
unconscious innumerable ways4 ,the step 
and carriage of the body1 the glance of 
the eye1 the work of our hands1 our     
silences no less than our speech1 all   
express what we are4 ,as everything     
follows upon what we are1 so our        
responsibility is to be1 to be ourselves
 completely1 perfectly4  ,a tender shoot
 pushes its way out of the soil into    
light and air1 and with the years it    
grows into a tree4 ,the tree bears      
fruit1 which contains the seed of new   
manifestations of itself4 ,the fruit    
falls to the ground and rots1 providing 

thus the aliment for the seed out of    
which other trees are to spring4 ,from  
seed to seed the life of the tree is a  
cycle1 without beginning and without    
end4 ,at no one point in the cycle can  
we say1 ,here is the purpose of the     
tree4 ,incidentally the tree may        
minister to the needs and comfort and   
pleasure of man4 ,the tree delights him 
to look upon it2 its branches shade him 
from the noonday sun2 its trunk and     
limbs can be hewn down and turned to    
heat and shelter2 its fruit is good to  
eat4 ,the primary purpose of the fruit1 
however1 is not to furnish food to man1 
but to provide the envelope for the     
transmission of its seed and the        
continuance of its own life4 ,seen in   
its cosmic bearing and scope1 the       
purpose of the tree is to be a tree1 as 
fit1 as strong1 as beautiful1 as        
complete1 as tree-like1 as it can be4   
,the leaf precedes the flower and may be
 thought on that account to be inferior 
to it in the scale of development4 ,if a

 leaf pines and withers in regret that  
it is not a flower1 it not only does not
 become a flower1 but it fails of being 
a good leaf4 ,everything in its place   
and after its own kind4 ,in so far as it
 is perfectly itself1 a leaf1 a blossom1
 a tree1 a man1 does it contribute to   
the well-being of others4 ,man has      
subdued all things under his feet and   
turned them to his own uses4 ,by force  
of mind he is the strongest creature1   
but it is not to be inferred that he is 
therefore the aim and end of all        
creation4 ,like everything else1 he has 
his place2 like everything else he has  
the right to live his own life1         
triumphing over the weaker and in his   
turn going down before a mightier when  
the mightier shall come2 like everything
 else he is but a part in the universal 
whole4 ,only a part2 but as we recognize
 our relation to other parts and through
 them our connection with the whole1 our
 sense of the value of the individual   
life becomes infinitely extended4 ,we   

must get into the rhythm1 keeping step  
with the beat of the universal life and 
finding there our place1 our destiny1   
the meaning of our being here1 and joy4 
,the goods which men set before         
themselves as an end are but by-products
 after all4 ,if we pursue happiness we  
overtake it not4 ,if we do what our     
hands find to do1 devotedly and with our
 might1 then1 some day1 if we happen to 
stop and make question of it1 we        
discover that happiness is already      
there1 in us1 with us1 and around us4   
,the aim of a man's life in the world1  
as it would seem1 is to be perfectly a  
man1 and his end is to fulfill himself2 
as part of this fulfillment of himself1 
he provides for the continuance of his  
life in other lives1 and transmitting   
his character and influence1 he enriches
 other lives because of what he is4 ,the
 purpose of seeing is that we may see   
more1 and the eye is ever striving to   
increase its power2 the health of the   
eye is growth4 ,the purpose of life is  

more life1 individual in the measure    
that it lies within a man's power to    
develop it1 but cosmic in its sources   
and its influence4  ,as the harmony     
which a work of art presents finds a    
place in that harmony of experience and 
outward-reaching desire which           
constitutes our personality1 art becomes
 for us an entrance into more life4 ,in 
the large1 art is a means of            
development4 ,but as any work embraces  
diverse elements and is capable of a    
various appeal1 it may be asked in what 
sense the appreciation of art is related
 to education and culture4 ,before we   
can answer the question intelligently1  
we must know what we mean by our terms4 
,by many people education is regarded as
 they regard any material possession1 to
 be classed with fashionable clothes1 a 
fine house1 a carriage and pair1 or     
touring-car1 or steam yacht1 as the     
credential and card of entre to what is 
called good society4 ,culture is a kind 
of ornamental furniture1 maintained to  

impress visitors4 ,of course we         
ourselves do not think so1 but we know  
people who do4 ,nor do we believe--as   
some believe--that education is simply a
 means of gaining a more considerable   
livelihood4 ,it is pathetic to see young
 men in college struggling in desperate1
 uncomplaining sacrifice to obtain an   
education1 and all the while mistaking  
the end of their effort4 ,not all the   
deeds of daring in a university course  
are enacted on the athletic field2 the  
men ,i am thinking of do not have their 
pictures published in the               
newspapers1--the unrecorded heroisms of 
college life are very moving to those   
who know4 ,but the tragedy ,i have in   
mind is this--for tragedy consists not  
in sacrifice itself but in needless and 
futile sacrifice--that some of these    
young men suppose there is a magic      
virtue in education for its own sake1   
that it is the open-sesame to all the   
wealth and beauty of life4 ,with        
insufficient ability to start with1 they

 are preparing to be unfit professional 
men1 when they might be excellent       
artisans4 ,the knowledge of books is in 
no sense the whole story nor the only   
means of education4 ,in devotion to some
 craft or in the intelligent conduct of 
some business they might find the true  
education1 which is the conscious       
discipline of one's powers4 ,the man who
 can do things1 whether with his hands  
or with his brain1 provided intelligence
 govern the exercise of hand and brain1 
and who finds happiness in his work     
because it is the expression of himself1
 is an educated man4 ,the end of        
education is the building of            
personality1 the making of human power1 
and its fruit is wisdom4  ,wisdom1      
however1 does not consist in the most   
extensive knowledge of facts4           
,oftentimes information overweights a   
man and snuffs out what personal force  
there might otherwise have been4 ,on the
 futility of mere learning there is     
abundant testimony4 ,walt ,whitman1 as  

we might expect from his passion for the
 vital and the human1 has said3 ,you    
must not know too much and be too       
precise and scientific about birds and  
trees and flowers and watercraft4 ,a    
certain free margin1 perhaps ignorance1 
credulity1 helps your enjoyment of these
 things and of the sentiment of         
feather'd1 wooded1 river or marine      
nature generally4 ,i repeat it--don't   
want to know too exactly or the reasons 
why4 ,even ,ruskin1 whose learning was  
extensive and various1 bears witness to 
the same effect4 ,he notes the          
diminution which my knowledge of the    
,alps had made in my impression of them1
 and the way in which investigation of  
strata and structure reduces all        
mountain sublimity to mere debris and   
wall-building4 ,in the same spirit he   
planned an essay on the ,uses of        
,ignorance4 ,from the midst of his      
labors in ,venice he wrote3 ,i am sure  
that people who work out subjects       
thoroughly are disagreeable wretches4   

,one only feels as one should when one  
doesn't know much about the matter4 ,in 
other words1 we are not to let our      
knowledge come between us and our power 
to feel4 ,in thus seeming to assail     
education ,i am not seeking to subvert  
or destroy2 ,i want simply to adjust the
 emphasis4 ,the really wise man is he   
who knows how to make life yield him its
 utmost of true satisfaction and furnish
 him the largest scope for the use of   
his powers and the expression of        
himself4 ,in this sense a newsboy in the
 streets may be wiser than a university 
professor1 in that one may be the master
 of his life and the other may be the   
servant of his information4 ,education  
should have for its end the training of 
capacities and powers1 the discipline   
and control of the intelligence1 the    
quickening of the sympathies1 the       
development of the ability to live4 ,no 
man is superior to his fellows because  
of the fact of his education4 ,his      
education profits him only in so far as 

it makes him more of a man1 more        
responsive because his own emotions have
 been more deeply stirred1 more tolerant
 because his wider range has revealed   
more that is good1 more generous to give
 of his own life and service because he 
has more generously received4 ,it is not
 what we know nor what we have that     
marks our worth1 but what we are4 ,no   
man1 however fortunate and              
well-circumstanced he may be1 can afford
 to thank ,god that he is not as other  
men are4 ,in so far as his education    
tends to withdraw him from life and from
 contact with his fellows of whatever   
station1 in so far as it fosters in him 
the consciousness of class1 so far it is
 an evil4 ,education should lead us not 
to judge lives different from our own1  
but to try to understand and1 to        
appreciate4 ,the educated man1 above all
 others1 should thank ,god that there   
are diversity of gifts and so many kinds
 of good4  ,art is a means of culture1  
but art rightly understood and received4

 ,art does not aim to teach4 ,it may    
teach incidentally1 tangentially to its 
circle1 but instruction1 either         
intellectual or ethical1 is not its     
purpose4 ,it fulfills itself in the     
spirit of the appreciator as it enables 
him in its presence to become something 
that otherwise he had not been4 ,it is  
not enough to be told things2 we must   
make trial of them and live them out in 
our own experience before they become   
true for us4 ,as appreciation is not    
knowledge but feeling1 so we must live  
our art4 ,it is well to have near us    
some work that we want to be like4 ,we  
get its fullest message only as we      
identify ourselves with it4 ,if we are  
willing to be thought ignorant and to   
live our lives as seems good to us1 ,i  
believe it is better to go the whole way
 with a few things that can minister to 
us abundantly and so come to the end of 
them1 than to touch in superficial      
contact a great many lesser works4 ,the 
lesser works have their place2 and so   

far as they can carry us beyond the     
point where we are1 they can serve us4  
,in a hurried touch-and-go1 however1    
there is danger of scattering2 whereas  
true appreciation takes time1 for it is 
less an act than a whole attitude of    
mind4 ,this is an age of handbooks and  
short cuts4 ,but there is no substitute 
for life4 ,if for one reason or another 
the opportunity to realize art in terms 
of life is not accorded us1 it is better
 to accept the situation quite frankly  
and happily1 and not try to cheat       
ourselves with the semblance4 ,but if it
 is indeed the reality1 then we maybe   
content with the minutes of experience1 
though we are denied the hours or the   
years4 ,the messages of great poems1    
says ,whitman1 to each man and woman    
are1 ,come to us on equal terms2 only   
then can you understand us4 ,the power  
of response must be in us1 and that     
power is the fruit of experience4 ,the  
only mystery of art is the mystery of   
all life itself4 ,in nature the artist  

finds the manifestation of a larger self
 toward which he aspires1 and this is   
what his work expresses4 ,alone with his
 spirit1 he cries to us for that        
intimate mystic companionship which is  
appreciation1 and our response gives    
back the echo of his cry4 ,he reaches   
out across the distance to touch other  
and kindred spirits and draw them to    
himself4 ,says the poet1--       ,thou  
reader throbbest life and pride and love
 the same as ,i1      ,therefore for    
thee the following chants4  ,we         
appreciate the artist's work as in it we
 live again and doubly4  ,thus art links
 itself with life4 ,the message of art  
to the individual defines itself        
according to his individual needs4 ,life
 rises with each man1 to him a new      
opportunity and a new destiny4 ,we      
create our own world2 and life means to 
us what we are in ourselves4 ,in art we 
are seeking to find ourselves expressed 
more fully4 ,the works that we care for1
 if we consider it a moment1 are the    

works we understand2 and we understand  
them because they phrase for us our own 
experience4 ,life and the truth of life 
are relative4 ,truth is not in the      
object but in our relation to it4 ,what 
is true for me may or may not be true   
for another4 ,this much is true for me1 
namely1 whatever tallies with my        
experience and reveals to me more of the
 underlying purpose of the universe4 ,we
 are all1 each in his own way1 seeking  
the meaning of life2 and that meaning is
 special and personal to the individual1
 each man deciding for himself4 ,by     
selection here1 by rejection there1 we  
are trying to work toward harmony4 ,the 
details of life become increasingly     
complex with the years1 but living grows
 simpler because we gradually fix a     
selecting and unifying principle4 ,when 
we have truly found ourselves1 we come  
to feel that the external incidents do  
not signify2 which chance happens1      
whether this or that1 is indifferent4   
,it is the spirit in which the life is  

lived that determines its quality and   
value4 ,the perception of purpose in the
 parts brings them into order and gives 
them meaning4 ,a man's life is an       
expanding circle1 the circumference of  
which is drawn around an order or       
interplay and adjustment of part with   
part4 ,whatever lies without the circle 
does not pertain to the individual--as  
yet4 ,so soon as any experience reveals 
its meaning to us and we feel that it   
takes its place in our life1 then it    
belongs to us4 ,whatever serves to bring
 details1 before scattering and         
unrelated1 into order1 is for that      
moment true4 ,art has a message for us  
as it tallies with what we already know 
about life2 and1 quickening our         
perceptions1 disclosing depths of       
feeling1 it carries us into new ranges  
of experience4  ,in this attitude toward
 life lies the justice of the personal  
estimate4 ,the individual is finally his
 own authority4 ,to find truth we return
 upon our own consciousness1 and we seek

 thus to define our original relation to
 the universal order4 ,so as one stands 
before the works of the ,italian        
painters and sculptors1 for example1 in 
the endeavor rightly to appreciate what 
they have achieved1 one may ask3 ,how   
much of life has this artist to express 
to me1 of life as ,i know it or can know
 it8 ,has the painter through these     
forms1 however crude or however         
accomplished1 uttered what he genuinely 
and for himself thought and felt8 ,the  
measure of these pictures for me is the 
degree of reality1 of vital feeling1    
which they transmit4 ,whether it be     
spring or divine maternity or the beauty
 of a pagan idea1 which ,botticelli     
renders1 the same power is there1 the   
same sense of gracious life4 ,whether it
 be ,credi's nave womanhood1 or         
,titian's abounding1 glorious women and 
calm and forceful men1 or ,delia        
,robbia's joyous children and           
,donatello's sprites1 the same great    
meaning is expressed1 the same          

appreciation of the goodness and beauty 
of all life4 ,this beauty is for me1    
here1 to-day4 ,in the experience of a   
man who thinks and feels1 there is a    
time when his imagination turns toward  
the past4 ,at the moment1 as the world  
closes in about him1 his spirit1 dulled 
by the attrition of daily use and wont1 
is unable to discern the beauty and     
significance of the present life around 
him4 ,for a time his imagination finds  
abundant nourishment in the mighty past4
 ,many spirits are content there to     
remain4 ,but life is of the present4 ,to
 live greatly is to live now1 inspired  
by the past1 corrected and encouraged by
 it1 impelled by forward-looking        
thoughts' and providing for the future1 
but living in to-day4 ,life is neither  
remembrance nor anticipation1 neither   
regret nor deferment1 but present       
realization4 ,often one feels in a      
gallery that the people are more        
significant than the pictures4 ,two     
lovers furtively holding hands and      

stopping before a canvas to press closer
 together1 shoulder to shoulder2 a young
 girl erect and firm1 conscious of her  
young womanhood and rejoicing in it1    
radiating youth and life2 an old man1   
whose years are behind him yet whose    
interest reveals his eager welcome of   
new experience1 unconsciously rebuking  
the jaded and indifferent3 here is      
reality4 ,before it the pictures seem to
 recede and become dimmed4 ,our         
appreciation of these things makes the  
significance of it all4 ,only in so far 
as art can communicate this sensation1  
this same impression of the beauty and  
present reality of life1 has it a       
meaning for us4 ,the painter must have  
registered his appreciation of immediate
 reality and must impart that to us     
until it becomes1 heightened and        
intensified1 our own4 ,the secret of    
successful living lies in compelling the
 details of our surroundings to our own 
ends4 ,michelangelo lived his life2     
,leonardo lived his2 neither could be   

the other4 ,a man must paint the life   
that he knows1 the experience into which
 he enters4 ,so we must live our lives  
immediately and newly4 ,we have         
penetrated the ultimate mystery of art  
when we realize the inseparable oneness 
of art with life4  ,art is a call to    
fuller living4 ,its real service is to  
increase our capacity for experience4   
,the pictures1 the music1 the books1    
which profit us are those which1 when we
 have done with them1 make us feel that 
we have lived by just so much4 ,often we
 purchase experience with enthusiasm2 we
 become wise at the expense of our power
 to enjoy4 ,what we need in relation to 
art is not more knowledge but greater   
capability of feeling1 not the          
acquisition of more facts but the       
increased power to interpret facts and  
to apply them to life4 ,in appreciation 
it is not what we know about a work of  
art1 it is not even what we actually see
 before us1 that constitutes its        
significance1 but what in its presence  

we are able to feel4 ,the paradox that  
nature imitates art has in it this much 
of truth1 that art is the revelation of 
the possibilities of life1 and we try to
 make these possibilities actual in our 
own experience4 ,art is not an escape   
from life and a refuge2 it is a         
challenge and renforcement4 ,its action 
is not to make us less conscious but    
more2 in it we are not to lose ourselves
 but to find ourselves more truly and   
more fully4 ,its effect is to help us to
 a larger and juster appreciation of the
 beauty and worth of nature and of life4
  ,art is within the range of every man 
who holds himself open to its appeal4   
,but art is not the final thing4 ,it is 
a means to an end2 its end is           
personality4 ,there are exalted moments 
in the experience of us all which we    
feel to be finer than any art4 ,then we 
do not need to turn to painting1 music1 
literature1 for our satisfaction4 ,we   
are living4 ,art is aid and inspiration1
 but its fulfillment and end is life4   

,we live1 says ,wordsworth1 by          
admiration1 hope1 and love4 ,admiration 
is wonder and worship1 a sense of the   
mystery and the beauty of life as we    
know it now1 and thankfulness for it1   
and joy4 ,hope is the vision of things  
to be4 ,and love is the supreme         
enfolding unity that makes all one4 ,art
 is life at its best1 but life is the   
greatest of the arts1--life harmonious1 
deep in feeling1 big in sympathy1 the   
life that is appreciation1              
responsiveness1 and love4