On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
from the book of record . It is not bis business either to think , to judge , to argue , or to know . His place is neither in the closet , nor on the bench , nor at the bar , nor in the library . They are for other men arid other work . He may think , in a by-way ; reason , now and then , when he has nothing better to do ; know , such fragments of knowledge as he can gather without stooping , or reach without pains ; but none of these things are to be nis care .- . The work of his life is to be two-fold only ; to see , to feel / ! .- ' : ¦ ' . ' Nay , but ,, the reader pei-haps , pleads with me , one of the great use 3 of know- ledge is to open the eyes ; to make things perceivable which never would have been seen , unless first they had been known . ..
" Not so . This could only be said or believed by those who do not know what the perceptive faculty of a great ai-tist is , in comparison with that of other men . There is no great painter , no great workman in any art , but he sees more with the glance of a moment than he could learn by the labour of a thousand houi's . God has made every man fit for his work ; He has given to the man whom He means for a student , the reflective , logical , sequential faculties ; and to the man whom He means for an artist , the perceptive , sensitive , retentive faculties . And neither of these men , so far from being able to do the other's work , can even comprehend the way in which it is done . The student has no understanding of the vision , nor the painter of tlie process ; but chiefly , the student lias no idea of the colossal grasp of the true painter ' s vision aud sensibility . " We cannot afford to extract all we would ; but we must hear Mr . Buskin , qualify liis assertion :-
—* ' What , then , it will be indignantly asked , is an utterly ignorant and unthinking man likely to make the best artist ? No , not so neither . Knowledge is good for him so long as he can keep it utterly , servilely , subordinate to Iiis own divine work , and trample it under his feet , -and out of'his way , the moment it is likely to entangle him . " And in this respect , observe , there is an enormous difference between knowledge and education . An artist need not be a learned man , in all probability it willbe a disadvantage to him to become so ; but he ought , if possible , always to
be an educated man : that is , one who has understanding of his own uses and duties in the world , and therefore of the general nature of the things done and existing in the world ; and who has so trained himself , or been trained , a 3 to turn to the best and most courteous account whatever faculties or knowledge he has . The mind of an educated man is greater than the knowledge it possesses ; it is like the vault of heaven , encompassing the earth which lives and flourishes beneath it : but the mind of an uneducated and learned . man is like a caoutchouc band , with an everlasting . spirit of contraction in it , fastening together papers which it cannot open , and keeps others from opening .
" H . ixf our artists arc ruined for want of education , and by the possession of knowledge ; the best that I have known - have been educated , and illiterate . The ideal of an artist , however , is not that he ' should be illiterate , but well read in the best books , and thoroughly high bred , both in heart and in bearing . In a word , he ' should -be fit for the best society , and shotdd keep out of it * " ' Mr . E-uskin feels , to its full extent , the responsibility of the artist . Much is given to him , muck will be required of-him ; his duty is to speak out , as clearly , and forcibfy , and persuasively as ho may , the " part which is entrusted-to him of the great message to man . It may be a word only , a feeble and faltering word ; it may be a volume , powerful and trumpettongued ; but the true artist will not repine , because his own share in the work is a trifling one , and will feel that , provided something great is gained for humanity , it matters little if the doer be he or another .
To the end that the artist should execute his work efficiently , it is necessary he should conceive it in its true spirit . Let tis hear , in Mr . Huskin ' s words , what that spirit is : — " Here , therefore , let me finally and firmly enunciate the great principle to which all that has hitherto been stated is . subservient ;—that art is valuable or otherwise , only as it expresses the personality , activity , and living perception of a good and groat human , soul ; that if may express and contain this Avith little help from execution , and less from science ; and that if it have not thin , if it hIjow not the vigour , perception , and invention of a mighty human spirit , it is ivoithleas . Worthless , 1 mean , as art ; it may be precious in some other way , but , as art it in nugatory . Once let this bo well understood among us , and magnificent c ' onsequtmcoa will soon follow . Let me repeat it in othor terms , so that I may not
be misunderstood . All art i . s great , and good , and true , onl y so far as it is distinctively the work of manhood in its entire and highest Hisn . se ; that ia to say not the v / ork of limbs and fingors , but of the soul , aided , according- to her nocVs-8 ) ti (! 8 , by the inferior powers ; and therefore dintinguishod in eHsence from all products of those inferior powera unhelpud by the soul . For as a photograph in not a work of art , though it requires certain delicate manipulations of paper and acid and subtle calculations of time , in order to bring out a good result- bo neither would a drawing like a photograph , made directly from nature , bo a work of art although it would imply many delicate manipulations of t \\ v . pencil and hiiMIo ' calculations of elfhctH of colour und fihade . It in no more art to inariipulato ' n camel V hair pencil , than to manipulate a china tray and a gbi . su vial . Jt in no ' more art
to lay on colour delicately , than to lay on acid delicatel y . It in no more art to use tho cornea and retina for tho reception of an image , than to uno a lenn ' anil a piece of . sjlvez-od paper . But the moment thai , inner part of : tho man or rnUio ' r that entire and only boing of tho man , of which cornea and retina , fuim-iH and hand :- ! , pencili-s and colouns , ar « all tho inoro nervant » and inHtnunentti ; tlmt manhood which ha . s light in itfiolf , though tho eyeball lie ni ghtie ™ , ; MJd < j ; iii J ; ' j u ntren ^ th when tho hand and the foot are hewn off and cant into tho / in ,- ( Jie nioniont tliif ) part of the jnan HtandH forth with il , n Holouni , 'Behold it in | ' \] t \ w work becomes art . indeed , perfect in honour , priceless in values , ' bound ' lehfj ' iii power . "
J 5 ut tbo whole responsibility does not rest with our teachera . Thov -1 do much for us ,, but , they cannot * Io all . Wo hoar a great den ] <> f the in feriority of modern artisl . s ; but may not nomo of it bo traced to Iho iuf riority of modern audienccB ? Do we , in thin age of restless activity n \ ' 1 invention , and fierce competition , often turn anidc , to p .-uirte and pond > over art , in such a thankful and reverent Kpirit m ( lie following p -.. "Wo have junt Hoon tJiat all gnwt art in tho work of tho whole livino- oronfc * "Society nlway . i him nd ( wl , ru < 'tiv < siuHu ( 'n < : e upon mi nvt ' wt , - . fii-Ht , . l > y ifM Hyinpiitli v ( 1 liiti incivmwt , puwci-ii ; nwondly , by itM dulling wmil . of un ( l ( trntaiidii ' i ^ of '| , j H ir ,.,.., ^) . ' i ) and , thirdly , by its vain occupation of Jiin tniw and ( . lioughta . Ofcouifie « , h (» i n ( o . " f jn <» irmMt bo a ' moiuj men ; but it ought , to bo us a watchor , not as a companion "
body and soul , and chiefly of the soul . But it is not only the work of the who ! creature , it likewise addresses the whole creature . That : in which the perfef being speaks , must also have the perfect being to listen . I am not to spend m utmost spirit , and give all my strength and life to my Work , while you , spectato or hearer , will give me only the attention of half your soul You must be all mine , as I am all yours ; it is the only condition on which we can meet each other All your faculties , all that is in you , of greatest and best , must be awake i ' you , or I have no reward . The painter is not to cast the entire treasure of h 5 human nature into his labour , merely to please a part of the beholder : not merely to delight his senses , not merely to amuse his fancy , not merely to be < mile him into emotion , not merely to lead him into thought ; but to do all this . ° Senses
* ^^ ^ b ~ ^ k « V ^ J > S ^ . ^** % « »¦ ¦ ^^^ ^ u « . _^ «^ «^ ¦ - ^ L L . ^ i ^ ^ ¦» L » ^^ ¦ y ^ ^^ "F - ^ P W ^ 4 ^ L W *^ r ^ h # * I d * J 4 . M M - m ,, » ,- ^ ^< . ^ L ' ~ ^ _ l ¦ ifl ^ V ^ A M fancy , feeling , reason , the whole of the beholding spirit , must be stilled in attention or stirred with delight ; else the labouring spirit has not done its work well " For observe , ' it is not merely its right to be thus met , face to face , heart to heartbut it is its duty to evoke this answering of the other soul ; its trumpet call must be so clear , that though the challenge may by dulness or indolence be unanswered , there shall be no error as to the meaning of the appeal ; there must be a summons m the work , which it shall be our own fault if we do not obey . We require this of it we beseech this of it . Most men do not know what is in them , till tb , ey . receive this summons from their fellows : their hearts die within them , sleep Settles upon them , the lethargy of the world's miasmata ; there is nothing for which they are so thankful as for that cry , ' Awake , thou that sleepest . ' And this cry must '
most loudly uttered to their noblest faculties ; first of all , to the imaoination for that is the most tender , and the soonest struck into numbness by fhe poisoned air : so that one of the main functions of art , in its service to man , is to rouse ^ he imagination from its palsy , like the angel troubling the Bethesda pool ; a 5 dtd the art which does not do this is false to its duty , and degraded in its nature . S Ifc ; : is not enough that it be well imagined , it niiist task the beholder also to imagifae well ; and this so impei'atively , that if he does not choose to rouse hunself to meet the work , he shall not taste it , nor enjoy it , in any wise . Once , that he is well
awake , the guidance which the artist gives hirn shqiold be full and authoritative the beholder ' s imagination must not be suffered to take its Own way , or wander hither and thither ; but neither must it be left at rest ; and thie , right point of realization , for any given work of art , is that which will enable . the spectator to complete it for himself , in the exact way the artist would have him , but riot that which will save him the trouble of effecting the completion . So soon as the idea is entirely conveyed , the artist ' s labour should cease ; and every touch which he adds beyond the point -when , with the help of the beholder's '¦ imag ination-, the story ought to have been told , is a degradation to his work . So that the art is
wrong , which either realizes its subject completely , or fails in giving such definite aid as shall enable it to be realized by the beholding imagination . " : ... '' . ¦ We glance sadly from our still numerous extracts to our lessening space ! We would gladly have culled a passage or two from the chapter on Grotesque Itenaissanee , —from the masterly and philbsopliical analysis of the true essence of the grotesque ' spirit , offspring of that playfulness , arising out of tiie necessity for recreation felt by human nature ,- In its highest and healthiest devehrpment . " For man is not an God , But then most Godlike , being- most a man . "
Such playfulness do we find side by side with the deepest and most serious thought , in the ivories of our greatest minds ; or , to use Mr . Buskin ' s own words , " from Plato to a very wise book of our own time , not uworthy of being named in such companionship , Jfriends in . Council .. , We had i n tended to conclude with an extract on the decline of art , but it is impossible to do so with fitting justice to Mr . liusldii ' s views on that subject , in the space that remains to us . He states the two great causes to have been " m-ide and infidelity . " Ho believes that art declined in proportion as religion , or as earnest conviction , faded put of the minds of men , shaken and weakened by the internal dissensions of the church , and
dazzled , overwhelmed , and lost in the revival of letters , in the 16 th century . Voiy eloquent , graphic , and interesting is tho rapid sketch of this "Decline and Fall . " We cannot trust ourselves to enter on it , but must refer the reader to the work itself . We would further direct his attention to the notes on modern education , printed in the Appendix . And we cannot quit the volume without noticing the excellent ! and coj ) io \ i 8 " Indices , " which greatly enhance the value of such a , work . They are four , — -personal , local , topical , and Venetian , which last is a perfect " guide" to tho works of art in Venice , most valuable to the student , who miiy be so fortunate as to read Mr . . ttu . skin ' s Stones of-Venice , under the shade of her palaces , with the eternal murmur of her Sea Stories in \ i \ b car .
Untitled Article
, HANNAY'S NAVAL SKETCHES . Sketches in , Tn . tra Marine . B y . TmneH Hminny , lal . e of her Miij « wfcy'H l ^ avy , Author of " Sin / jfloton Fonlonoy , " & »• ' . ii v ' ols . ¦ Price UOa . Afliicy and C () . Ar / rn : ou ( m these Sketches are all rcpublication , s , some having appeared in the United Service . Mur / azine , and others being booklotH publiflhcd during 1 S-18 and 1811 ) , very well luiown l ) otb to naval roaderH and lovers of ivit , we may squeeze in a word of recommendation , if merely to announce their republication in a convenient collected form , for the benefit of LUoho who may want to make , or to muake acquaiuUiujo with Mr . Hniw » y > hcoihjh of naval life ,-, —vi / ,., tho J . ' emonttl JtvnriniwoHccs of . Parciual . Plug , -Mr . Sni ( fnbj / s Yacht * Pips Cruise in . Ike Violet , and Xiny ' Dobhs .
In one and all of theno fttorics , we see an CarneHt spirit , un ( Jor a Vifp ) l Ha , r < : a . stic mask ; there in a pwrpoHo in hin natiro , and a real tjefliro forjiaval rcfornus , which lii . s experience . at nca was long pnougji to rnako him *<' > J ' aud not long enough to hav <» blunted , by familiarity , Inn perception of fclW waul . There arc imitations of Tlumkoray ' s manner , hero' and thttre , natural to a , young man with a Ha ( , irj (; a'l turn , but ho IiWh a tiVy fo ' oi \ l'in own—a chiar , nwil ' l ; , trenchant , epigrammatic nlylo , winch will j ^ oii / i'oloaao itHdlf from all traces of imitation , and make Hself fc . it , ; no ihv fltyfa , of «» independent man . Oritit-H will note , -porhapn , a tendency in these volumes
Untitled Article
. looi , ,.. . ^ = ., :: , :: ^ ,.,, . ; l ! a : i . ;; tjgap ^ Br :: -r- ^ :: i .- ' ^; . : fewiS ^ .,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 15, 1853, page 1002, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2008/page/18/
-