DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27180#0327
THE ACROPOLIS
fore more objectively; we see it with the artist’s eye, and only
its artistic value means anything to us. There is one pre-
liminary condition attaching to its enormous importance:
we must be allowed to carry off the Acropolis if we so desire.
Only if it is transportable does it retain its highest and purest
value. This condition, however, implies a defect in our own
development, which eats at the root of our own artistic
masterpieces of which we are rightly proud, and is due to an
individualism which for the sake of isolated climaxes dis-
misses the claims of universality. Did such antitheses exist,
then, in Greek civilization ? Does not an antiquity flanked by
precipices contradict all our literary preconceptions of it?
... I am letting my fancy run away with me.
The temple of Neptune at Paestum, in the broad plain
by the sea, is more effective. Segesta, on its gently rising
hill which leans up against the mountain in the background,
looks more secure. The solitary landscape today gives the
temples a most appropriate setting; and I wonder whether
the less noble material of the Sicilian temples does them an
actual disservice, or whether marble may not emphasize
constructional limitations — not only the art itself, but the
artistic effect as well. At Segesta the rudimentary unfinished
columns and the rust-coloured porous shell-limestone con-
tribute to the atmosphere of the building. As it stands there,
it looks as though it had grown up out of the stony realms of
earth. It is probable, however, that the builders of the
Parthenon would have rejected this impression precisely
because of its wilful picturesqueness.
Every day I made a fresh attempt. Babuschka struck.
To her the Parthenon was well enough, but she would have
no more to do with it. An Acropolis means little or nothing
to her or to any other youngster. A person like myself gets
covetous and dislikes giving in. Besides, all manner of con-
sequences are involved. It would be simpler to say yes or no.
The disquieting part is this Chinese puzzle of ifs and buts,
3°x
fore more objectively; we see it with the artist’s eye, and only
its artistic value means anything to us. There is one pre-
liminary condition attaching to its enormous importance:
we must be allowed to carry off the Acropolis if we so desire.
Only if it is transportable does it retain its highest and purest
value. This condition, however, implies a defect in our own
development, which eats at the root of our own artistic
masterpieces of which we are rightly proud, and is due to an
individualism which for the sake of isolated climaxes dis-
misses the claims of universality. Did such antitheses exist,
then, in Greek civilization ? Does not an antiquity flanked by
precipices contradict all our literary preconceptions of it?
... I am letting my fancy run away with me.
The temple of Neptune at Paestum, in the broad plain
by the sea, is more effective. Segesta, on its gently rising
hill which leans up against the mountain in the background,
looks more secure. The solitary landscape today gives the
temples a most appropriate setting; and I wonder whether
the less noble material of the Sicilian temples does them an
actual disservice, or whether marble may not emphasize
constructional limitations — not only the art itself, but the
artistic effect as well. At Segesta the rudimentary unfinished
columns and the rust-coloured porous shell-limestone con-
tribute to the atmosphere of the building. As it stands there,
it looks as though it had grown up out of the stony realms of
earth. It is probable, however, that the builders of the
Parthenon would have rejected this impression precisely
because of its wilful picturesqueness.
Every day I made a fresh attempt. Babuschka struck.
To her the Parthenon was well enough, but she would have
no more to do with it. An Acropolis means little or nothing
to her or to any other youngster. A person like myself gets
covetous and dislikes giving in. Besides, all manner of con-
sequences are involved. It would be simpler to say yes or no.
The disquieting part is this Chinese puzzle of ifs and buts,
3°x