The Principles of AestheticsParker, De Witt H. (De Witt Henry)
Philosophy
The Principles of Aesthetics
Parker, De Witt H. (De Witt Henry)
Aesthetics
As is assumed in the preceding paragraph, the elements of lines may
be shapes or masses, as well as points. That is, not only do lines
made up of points form shapes, but shapes in their turn, when arranged
on a surface, necessarily make lines. Such lines are, as a rule, not
continuous; yet since the eye takes the shapes successively and in a
given direction, they are nevertheless true lines and possess the
qualities of ordinary simple lines. The arrangement of masses in an
undulating line, say in a landscape painting, has essentially the same
value for feeling as a similar continuous line; compare this with a
horizontal arrangement of masses, which has all the quiet and repose
of a simple horizontal line.
Colors and lines, relying on the direct expressiveness which we have
been studying, may stand by themselves, as in an oriental rug; yet in
painting they have another function: to represent. And even in the
purely ornamental use of color and line, the tendency towards
representation is apparent everywhere; either the lines are derivatives
of schematized pictures of men and plants and animals, or else such
objects are introduced as motives without disguise. In painting,
therefore, the color red has value not only as so much red, but as
standing for the red of a girl's lips or cheeks; and that curved line
is of significance, not as mere line alone, but as the curve of her
limbs. In this way the native value of the sense symbols becomes
suffused and enriched with the values of the things they represent.
The two functions of color and of line should never be indifferent to
each other; representation should not become a mere excuse for
decoration, the objects represented having no value in themselves; nor
should color and line be used as mere signs of interesting objects,
without reference to their intrinsic value. On the contrary, the two
functions should play into each other's hands. If, for example, the
human body is represented, the colors and lines employed should be so
disposed that they decorate the surface of the picture and hold us
there through their sheer rhythm and quality; yet, at the same time,
and through their very ornamental power, they should make us feel the
more keenly the values of the object they represent. Between the
immediate values of the colors and lines there should exist unity:
stimulating colors should go with stimulating lines, quiet colors with
quiet lines; and the resulting feeling tone of the medium should be
in harmony with the feeling of the objects represented; the one should
give the other over again, and so each enforce the other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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