Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-04-08
ROBINS ART IDEAS.

THE French artist Rodin has made
explicit bon words. an idea long enter
tanned by philosophers ass 90 what COM
sututos beauty In the technical or
artistic ssns,
Ho maintains that n art "a thing is
beautiful whenever 10 expresses char
acter. What Be- commonly called ugli-
ness may bee. 90 the trained eye,
thing of beauty
Beauty. hc says is the soul tine sem
timeut the idea that shines out
through the features Of "a face. the
pose and action OF "a human body. the
tones of % sky. the lines NJ % horizon.
His exposition runs as follows
"Now. Go the great artist everything
in Nature affords character For his OBJ
servatiou penotrates to It's hidden
meaning And what people call ugly
g. often fuller Of character tsln what
people call beautiful, because the inner
truth comes out more forCibly through
uglincss than through regularity And
since 10 b. only the power OF character
that Yields beauty in art 10 comes
about that often what is ugliness In
Nature is most beautiful loo art
Nothing can be ugly In art except
what is without character-that Is 20
say. anordug mo- outer or inner truth.
The ugly things ZOO art are those that
ara false, artificial trying 90 De- pretty
instead Of expressive, things that are
affected and precious smiling without
motive. arranged without purpose,
things without soul. without truth,
things that tell lies because merely
producing a parade OF beauty and
grace
These considerations explain why the
face Of an aged or inhrm person may
be beautiful. while TO the unframed
eye. q is ugly repuIsive, or az least in
different.
Since IL II the expressed meaning
that constitutes technical beauty-that
IS. the beauty appreciated by one who
Understandable follows that things in
different in themselves become beau
tiful by association In this way the
home Of ones childhood IS nearly al
ways beautiful TO him who knew 1t
as such. while 10 others II might APP
pear commonplace and even misera-
BILE
Since beauty lies in discovering what
things really mean. ana since they
mean more TO us In proportion as our
knowledge about them increases. it
follows that the sphere Of the beautiful
Is enlarged with every addition to
knowledge and iuheres I'M every object
that suggests tender OF pleasurable
recollection. Thus the mathematician
sees strange beauty IN the equation,
the geologlst In the fossil lily, On mol
Iusk the astronomer in the periodic re-
turn of the comet. OF our own home
only can we say with perfect truth:
Beautiful home where my childhood
was spent
Beautiful skies. with the rainbow of
bent,
Beautiful hills echoing whipporwirs
song
beautiful streamlets. running zigzag
alonEl'
For the stranger the scene might be
dun and wholly devoid Of interest
II follows that each one creates his
worls Of beauty for himself, and in
creases it with every noble experience
and with every advance in real knowl-
edge Thus each 7erson. as the
Prophet Joseph remarked, creates his
own heaven Happiness lies within the
soul. it cannot be conferred boy oN-
tcrnsI conditions while the latter
may conduce TO. or detract from, the
enjoyment OF the beautiful as also
OF the good and the true these Ideas
depend upon the individual rather
than upon his surroundings.