The Principles of AestheticsParker, De Witt H. (De Witt Henry)
Philosophy
The Principles of Aesthetics
Parker, De Witt H. (De Witt Henry)
Aesthetics
From what we have already established, we know how this requirement
can be met: by elaborating the outer aspects of the object in the
direction of pleasure and expression. By this means the beauty of mere
appearance will strike and occupy the mind, inducing the aesthetic
attitude towards the outside, from which it may then spread and embrace
the inner, purposive meaning. The obviously disinterested and warmly
emotional admiration of the shape will prevent the admiration for the
purposive adaptation from being cold and abstract. Hence, although
from the point of view of utility the beauty of mere appearance may
seem to be a superfluity, it is almost indispensable from an aesthetic
point of view, since it raises the appreciation of the purpose to the
aesthetic plane. And we can understand how enthusiastic workmen, whose
admiration for their work is already aesthetic, must necessarily desire
to consecrate and communicate this feeling by beautifying the appearance
of their products; how inevitably, through the ages, they have made
things not only as perfect as they could, but as charming.
When developed for the ends of the aesthetic life, the useful object
exhibits, therefore, two levels of beauty: first, that of appearance,
of form and sensation, line and shape and color; and second, that of
purpose spoken in the form. The first is of the vague and immediate
character so well known to us; the second is more definite and less
direct, since it depends upon the interpretation of the object in terms
of its function. The relation between the two is like that which
obtains, in a painting, between color and line, on the one hand, and
representation, on the other. When the first level of beauty is richly
developed on its own account, it becomes ornament. In a Greek vase,
for example, there is a beauty of symmetrical, well-proportioned shape,
delicate coloring of surface, and decorative painting, which might be
felt by people who knew nothing of its use; and, in addition, for those
who have this knowledge, a beauty in the fine balance of parts in the
adjustment of clay to its final cause. These factors, which we have
distinguished by analysis, should, however, be felt as one in the
aesthetic intuition of the object; the form, although beautiful in
itself, should reveal the function, and the decoration, no matter how
charming, should be appropriate and subordinate. Otherwise, as indeed
so often happens, the beauty of one aspect may completely dominate the
others; when the object either remains a pretty ornament perhaps, but
is functionally dead; or else, if it keep this life, loses its unity
in a rivalry of beautiful aspects.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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