DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68516#0074
VITALITY
I mean by it all those human faculties and activities which are over and
above our mere existence as living organisms. Used in this sense it
avoids any prejudgment of what particular faculties come into play,
whether intellectual, affectional or what not. I say then that the ideal
work of art is the outcome of a free spiritual activity and its reception
implies a correspondingly free spiritual activity on the part of the
appreciator. But it is evident to anyone who reflects on human life that
our biological needs are so insistent and overwhelming that no activity
is likely altogether to escape their influence, and I think it is evident that
works of art are no exception to this.
Works of art have always had a great prestige value. Invading
conquerors of a country do not only carry off gold and silver, they
transport even at great cost large works of sculpture and painting. The
possession of these works confers national prestige. And similarly the
conquering millionaire carries off great works of art. He may of course
desire to indulge in a pure spiritual pleasure in contemplating them, but
he cannot be unaware that the knowledge that he possesses them causes
him to be envied and sought after, even by a great many people who are
themselves but little moved by works of art. They give him personal
prestige in the society to which he belongs.
This is only one of many ways in which biological needs exert pressure
upon works of art. But it is one, I think, which has a powerful influence
on the expression of the artist’s sensibility.
The art-object (forgive this unpleasant but convenient word), the
art-object which is regarded by its owner primarily as evidence and
symbol of his social prepotency ought by preference to be of a rare and
precious material, and in its execution it ought to declare the high
degree of skill of the craftsman, since the most skilful craftsmen are them-
selves rare and difficult to employ; and this craftsman should be shown
to have spent great care and pains in the execution. And one of the
ways of proving this is that when the object is already finished from the
artist’s point of view, he should devote a great deal of further time and
care to obliterating all traces of his own handiwork—smoothing out and
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I mean by it all those human faculties and activities which are over and
above our mere existence as living organisms. Used in this sense it
avoids any prejudgment of what particular faculties come into play,
whether intellectual, affectional or what not. I say then that the ideal
work of art is the outcome of a free spiritual activity and its reception
implies a correspondingly free spiritual activity on the part of the
appreciator. But it is evident to anyone who reflects on human life that
our biological needs are so insistent and overwhelming that no activity
is likely altogether to escape their influence, and I think it is evident that
works of art are no exception to this.
Works of art have always had a great prestige value. Invading
conquerors of a country do not only carry off gold and silver, they
transport even at great cost large works of sculpture and painting. The
possession of these works confers national prestige. And similarly the
conquering millionaire carries off great works of art. He may of course
desire to indulge in a pure spiritual pleasure in contemplating them, but
he cannot be unaware that the knowledge that he possesses them causes
him to be envied and sought after, even by a great many people who are
themselves but little moved by works of art. They give him personal
prestige in the society to which he belongs.
This is only one of many ways in which biological needs exert pressure
upon works of art. But it is one, I think, which has a powerful influence
on the expression of the artist’s sensibility.
The art-object (forgive this unpleasant but convenient word), the
art-object which is regarded by its owner primarily as evidence and
symbol of his social prepotency ought by preference to be of a rare and
precious material, and in its execution it ought to declare the high
degree of skill of the craftsman, since the most skilful craftsmen are them-
selves rare and difficult to employ; and this craftsman should be shown
to have spent great care and pains in the execution. And one of the
ways of proving this is that when the object is already finished from the
artist’s point of view, he should devote a great deal of further time and
care to obliterating all traces of his own handiwork—smoothing out and
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