Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-08-19

The Expression Of the Beautiful ia irt
-In Indispensable FucuItY.

!
.IH Indispensable FucuItY
I Ion will find it necdful to examine
The nature of that which is termed
Beauty, before acknowledging that
poetry car be no exception, but rather
tie chief illustration, when it is de-
clarcl that an indispensable function
Of the arts is the expression of the
beautiful
With respect to the artists and crit
les who abjure that dcclaration-ls
! when, for instance, Il critic said of an
| American draftSluan that ne was too
, tine an artist to concern himself about
mere beauty am convinced that they
simply are in rebellion against hack
ncyrd standards. They have adopted
some fresh, and therefore welcome,
notion al TO what is attractive. This
they have given Il new name, to dis
tinglliSh it from an established and too
familiar standard. They are unw!t-
tingly woong beauty in Il new dress
the same goddess, with more diSguiSes
! than Venus Mater Some day they
Will recognize her, ct vera inccSSu
pltuit dc:t. and again be taught that
She never nermitS her SuitorS to escape.
! she has the secret of Keeping Them
loyal in spite of themselves. ThiShclcf
hat they are free. is Il charm by which
She lures them to her unknown halllts,
| r"Wa!aling them with the light Of dis
toVcry, or ironically permitting thrm to
set up claims for invention. one may
even compare beauty to the wis., and
n, II, hn
+ tickle husbands attentions at mas
Gucrtde. She has a thousand 1races
and couIctricS. At last the masks are
removed. What, is it you? And still
superior to all others" He needs must
( worship her more than ever, and own
that none can rival her adorable and
infinite variety"
No; the only consistent revolt is on
the part Of those who declare that she
has no real eXiStcncc-that beauty is Il
= chinera. Let me confess mt one" that
] am not in their ranks. | lOubt
whether any artist. or any thinker who
honestly loves art and has an instinct
fer it believes this theory of csthetics,
though he may advocate it or be driven
INTO its acceptance. An argument can.
be made on that side, granting GER
! tain premises. Even that is dispute
about terms. The claim may serve for
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. not for those whose
vacations relate to the expression OF
artistic ideas in what is called tangible
form. Go back to Berkeley ana his
: forbcarS, if YOU like. Deny the exist
'nce of all thin2S-for that is what YOU
must do if you deny the actually OF
beauty, else you are instantly routed
, Your only safe claim is that naught but
soul exists. and this not the general
soul, but your own soul, your Ego.
! You think, therefore, you are; every
thing else is, for all that I can prove,
! the caprice Of your own dream. Some
| Of our modern tranSccndentalsts
Wanting their platonic allegiance to
! ideal beauty, affected Indifference to
it's material emblcms. The modern
| impressiOniSts, after all the most
ardent and ingenious techncists are
! unWittinGly their direct SUCCESSORS
Now, the trancendcndentalists often
were spectators, and not, as they
deemed themselves, artists and poets
! Having little command over the beau
tiful. they took refuge in Jiscrediting
| it. / speak Of certain Of the followers
their chief was Argus-eyed. In Emer-
son the true poet constantly broke
loose. He, too. looked inward for the
! ideal beauty, that purest discovery Of
/ the soul, but in song he always recog-
niZed its visible reality.
! But, as / say, the recantation Of
| beauty, by transcendentalists, reaIists
and impreSsiOnists alike is the search
| for her in some other of her many
realms. Whatsoever kingdom the i'm
prcssionist enters, he still finds her on
the throne. For him hhe may veil
herself in twilight and haIf-tints-or at
rare instants of perception in still more
witching drapery worn for him alone.
The individual impressions enrich our
museum Of her portraitures. The i'm
prcssionist depicts her not as she was
known to Phcidias, or Raphael, or Vel
asquez, but as she appears to his own
favored vision. This is the truth that
makes impressionism a brave factor i'm
modern art and poetry. What lessons
its advantage is the delusion, absurd
rs Malvolio's, Of incompetents, each Of
whom fancies that he Is in special favor
and that myopic vision and eccentric
tcchnic result in impressions that are
Stedman, in the Century for July