The Philosophy of Fine Art, volume 3 (of 4): Hegel's Aesthetik
Georg Hegel · en
The first stage, however, in this new sphere is, as yet, no
withdrawal of mind into the completely _ideal_ world of subjective
consciousness[113], so that the representation of what is of Spirit
would require what is itself a purely ideal mode of expression.
Rather Spirit grasps itself, in the first instance, only in so far as
it is still expressed in _bodily_ shape, and therein possesses its
homogeneous and determinate existence. The art which accepts for its
content this attitude to the possessions of Spirit will consequently
have, as its due function, to clothe spiritual individuality as a
manifestation under _material_ conditions, and we may add, in what is
actually material to the senses. For discourse and speech are also
indications[114] which Spirit assumes under the form of externality,
but they belong to a mode of objectivity, which, instead of possessing
the attributes we attach to matter in its immediate and concrete sense,
is merely as tone, motion, the undulation of an entire body and the
rarified element, the atmosphere, a communication of such Spirit. What
I call immediate corporeality, on the contrary, is the spatial mode of
material substance such as stone, wood, metal, or clay, wholly spatial
in all three dimensions. The form, however, which is adequate to Spirit
is, as we have already seen, the unique bodily form which belongs to
it; and it is through this that sculpture makes what is of Spirit
actual in a whole which is subject to the spatial condition.
From this point of view sculpture stands on the same plane as
_architecture_[115] to the extent, namely, that it gives form to the
sensuous material as such, or what is material according its _spatial_
condition as matter. It is, however, to a like extent distinguishable
from architecture by virtue of the fact that it does not work up the
inorganic substance, as the opposite of Spirit, into an environment
created by Spirit and endowed with its purpose in forms to which a
purpose is attached which is exterior to it; rather it sets before us
spirituality itself in the bodily shape which, from the standpoint
of the notion, is adequate to Spirit and its individuality. In other
words its efficient function and independent self-subsistency brings
indivisibly before our sight both aspects, body and spirit, as one
whole. The configuration of sculpture, therefore, breaks away from the
specific function of architecture, which is to serve Spirit merely as
an external Nature and environment, and assumes a really independent
position. Despite, however, this separation the image of sculpture
remains in essential relation to its environment. A statue or group,
and yet more a relief, cannot be made without considering the place
in which such a work of art is to be situated. One ought not first to
complete a work of sculpture and then consider where it is likely to
be put, but it should in the very conception of it be associated with