DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42067#0019
INTRODUCTION
No people known to us, however hard their lives may be, spend
all their time, all their energies in the acquisition of food and
shelter, nor do those who live under more favorable conditions and
who are free to devote to other pursuits the time not needed for
securing their sustenance occupy themselves with purely industrial
work or idle away the days in indolence. Even the poorest tribes
have produced work that gives to them esthetic pleasure, and those
whom a bountiful nature or a greater wealth of inventions has granted
freedom from care, devote much of their energy to the creation of
works of beauty.
In one way or another esthetic pleasure is felt by all members
of mankind. No matter how diverse the ideals of beauty may be, the
general character of the enjoyment of beauty is of the same order
everywhere; the crude song of the Siberians, the dance of the
African Negroes, the pantomime of the Californian Indians, the stone
work of the New Zealanders, the carvings of the Melanesians, the
sculpture of the Alaskans appeal to them in a manner not different
from that felt by us when we hear a song, when we see an artistic
dance, or when we admire ornamental work, painting or sculpture.
The very existence of song, dance, painting and sculpture among
all the tribes known to us is proof of the craving to produce things
that are felt as satisfying through their form, and of the capability
of man to enjoy them.
All human activities may assume forms that give them esthetic
values. The mere cry, or the word does not necessarily possess
the elements of beauty. If it does so it is merely a matter of
accident. Violent, unrestrained movements induced by excitement;
the exertions of the chase and the movements required by daily
occupations are partly reflexes of passion, partly practically deter-
mined. They have no immediate esthetic appeal. The same is
No people known to us, however hard their lives may be, spend
all their time, all their energies in the acquisition of food and
shelter, nor do those who live under more favorable conditions and
who are free to devote to other pursuits the time not needed for
securing their sustenance occupy themselves with purely industrial
work or idle away the days in indolence. Even the poorest tribes
have produced work that gives to them esthetic pleasure, and those
whom a bountiful nature or a greater wealth of inventions has granted
freedom from care, devote much of their energy to the creation of
works of beauty.
In one way or another esthetic pleasure is felt by all members
of mankind. No matter how diverse the ideals of beauty may be, the
general character of the enjoyment of beauty is of the same order
everywhere; the crude song of the Siberians, the dance of the
African Negroes, the pantomime of the Californian Indians, the stone
work of the New Zealanders, the carvings of the Melanesians, the
sculpture of the Alaskans appeal to them in a manner not different
from that felt by us when we hear a song, when we see an artistic
dance, or when we admire ornamental work, painting or sculpture.
The very existence of song, dance, painting and sculpture among
all the tribes known to us is proof of the craving to produce things
that are felt as satisfying through their form, and of the capability
of man to enjoy them.
All human activities may assume forms that give them esthetic
values. The mere cry, or the word does not necessarily possess
the elements of beauty. If it does so it is merely a matter of
accident. Violent, unrestrained movements induced by excitement;
the exertions of the chase and the movements required by daily
occupations are partly reflexes of passion, partly practically deter-
mined. They have no immediate esthetic appeal. The same is