One function, then, of art is to feed and mature the imagination
and the spirit, and thereby enhance and invigorate the whole of
human life.
_Ancient Art and Ritual_. Jane Ellen Harrison.
A large percentage of the population of the civilized world has more or
less to do with what is called art. In its various forms art touches in
some degree practically the entire human race. Its various activities
have developed great industries, and for the entertainment it affords
fabulous sums of money are spent.
What is this thing called art which takes such a hold upon the human
race? If it has no social or economic value then a vast amount of time
and money are wasted each year in its study and practice. A brief
inquiry into the nature and meaning of art may well be associated with a
discussion of the art of singing.
Art as a whole comes under the head of Aesthetics, which may be defined
as the philosophy of taste, the science of the beautiful.
It will doubtless be admitted without argument that ever since the dawn
of consciousness the visible world has produced sense impressions
differing from each other--some pleasant, some unpleasant. From these
different sense impressions there gradually evolved what is known as
beauty and ugliness. An attempt to discover the principles underlying
beauty and ugliness resulted in Aesthetics, the founder of which was
Baumgarten (1714-1762).
It will be interesting to hear what he and the later aestheticians have
to say about art. Most of them connect it in some way with that which is
beautiful, that is, pleasing, but they do not all agree in their
definition of beauty.
Baumgarten defined beauty as the perfect, the absolute, recognized
through the senses. He held that the highest embodiment of beauty is
seen by us in nature, therefore the highest aim of art is to copy
nature.
Winkelmann (1717-1768) held the law and aim of art to be beauty
independent of goodness. Hutcheson (1694-1747) was of essentially the
same opinion.
According to Kant (1724-1804) beauty is that which pleases without the
reasoning process.
Schiller (1758-1805) held that the aim of art is beauty, the source of
which is pleasure without practical advantage.
These definitions do not wholly satisfy. They do not accord to art the
dignified position it should hold in social development. But there are
others who have a clearer vision. Fichte (1762-1814) said that beauty
exists not in the visible world but in the beautiful soul, and that art
is the manifestation of this beautiful soul, and that its aim is the
education of the whole man.
In this we begin to see the real nature and activity of art. There are
other aestheticians who define art in much the same way.
Shaftesbury (1670-1713) said that beauty is recognized by the mind only.
God is fundamental beauty.
Hegel (1770-1831) said: "Art is God manifesting himself in the form of
beauty. Beauty is the idea shining through matter. Art is a means of
bringing to consciousness and expressing the deepest problems of
humanity and the highest truths." According to Hegel beauty and truth
are one and the same thing.
Thus we see that the great thinkers of the world make art of supreme
importance in the perfecting of the human race. They all agree that art
is not in material objects, but is a condition and activity of spirit.
They agree in the main that beauty and truth emanate from the same
source. Said Keats:
"Beauty is truth and truth beauty,
That is all ye know on earth and all ye need know."
Said Schelling: "Beauty is the perception of the Infinite in the
finite."
But perhaps the highest concept of art is from the great artist
Whistler. He said: "Art is an expression of eternal absolute truth, and
starting from the Infinite it cannot progress, IT IS."
Art in some form and in some degree finds a response in every one. Why?
Because every one consciously or unconsciously is looking toward and
striving for perfection. This is the law of being. Every one is seeking
to improve his condition, and this means that in some degree every one
is an idealist. Ever since time began idealism has been at work, and to
it we owe every improved condition--social, political and religious.
Hegel believed that the aim of art is to portray nature in perfect form,
not with the imperfections seen around us; and Herbert Spencer defined
art as the attempt to realize the ideal in the present. The artist tries
to make his picture more perfect than what he sees around him. The poet,
the sculptor, the musician, the craftsman, the mechanic, are all
striving for a more perfect expression, because perfection is the
fundamental, eternal law of being.
Wagner said: "The world will be redeemed through art," and if Whistler's
definition be accepted he is not far from the truth.
The important thing to remember is that art is not a mere pastime, but a
great world force operating to lift mortals out of mortality. It is the
striving of the finite to reach the Infinite.
In human history art, no less than languages, has conformed to the
theory of evolution. Language in the beginning was monosyllabic. Far
back in the early dawn of the race, before the development of the
community spirit, when feelings, emotions, ideas, were simple and few
the medium of expression was simple, and it grew with the demand for a
larger expression.
This same process of evolution is seen in the growth of each individual.
The child, seeing grimalkin stalk stealthily into the room, points the
finger and says "cat." This is the complete expression of itself on that
subject. It is the sum total of its knowledge of zoology at that
particular moment; and a long process of development must follow before
it will refer to the same animal as a "Felis Domestica."
In a similar way musical expression keeps step with musical ideas. In
the beginning musical ideas were short, simple, fragmentary,
monosyllabic, mere germs of melody (adherents of the germ theory will
make a note of this). The Arab with his rudimentary fiddle will repeat
this fragment of melody [Illustration: Figure H] by the hour, while a
company of his unlaundered brethren dance, until exhausted, in dust to
their ankles, with the temperature near the boiling point. This musical
monosyllable is ample to satisfy his artistic craving. In other words it
is the complete musical expression of himself.
The following is a complete program of dance music for the aborigines of
Australia. [Illustration: Figure I] The repetition of this figure may
continue for hours. If it were inflicted on a metropolitan audience it
would result in justifiable homicide, but to the Australian it furnishes
just the emotional stimulus he desires.
[Illustration: Figure J] This one from Tongtoboo, played Allegro, would
set the heels of any company, ancient or modern, in motion.
These people may be said to be in the rhythmic stage of music, that is,
a stage of development in which a rhythmic movement which serves to
incite the dance furnishes complete artistic satisfaction.
As it is a long distance from the monosyllabic expression of the child
to the point where he can think consecutively in polysyllabic
dissertation, so it is an equally long distance from the inarticulate
musical utterances of the barbarous tribes to the endless melodies of
Wagner, which begin at 8 P. M. and continue until 12.15 A. M. without
repetition.
Following the course of music from the beginning we shall see that it
has kept pace with civilization. As the race has grown mentally it has
expressed itself in a larger and more perfect way in its literature, its
painting and music. Physically the race has not grown perceptibly in the
last five thousand years, but mentally its growth can scarcely be
measured. If we follow each nation through the past thousand years we
shall see that its art product has not only kept pace with its
development, but that in its art we may see all of its racial
characteristics, those habits of mind which are peculiarly its own. A
nation left to itself will develop a certain trend of thought which will
differentiate it from all other nations. A trend of thought which will
affect its art, literature, politics, religion, and in course of time
will produce marked physical characteristics. This is noticeable in all
nations which have lived long unto themselves.
But modern methods of communication are destroying this. As nations are
brought into closer contact with each other they begin to lose their
peculiarities. The truth of this statement may be seen in the fact that
in the past fifty years composers all over the world have been affected
by the modern German school of composition. Not one has escaped. While a
nation lived unto itself it could preserve its national life in its art,
but more and more the life of each nation is becoming a composite of the
life of all nations. The musical output of the world shows this
unmistakably.
What will be the music of the future? We know the music of yesterday and
today, but the music of the future can be foretold only by the prophet
whose vision is clear enough to see unmistakably what the trend of
civilization will be during the coming years. There are mighty forces
operating in the world today. If they succeed in bringing humanity to a
saner, more normal state of mind, to a clearer realization of what is
worth while and what is worthless, then all art will become purer and
more wholesome, more helpful and necessary, and music speaking a
language common to all will be supreme among the arts.