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Page 34
If art refrains from doing this work, a chasm remains unbridged,
for no other power can take the place of art in this activity.
And at times when the human soul is gaining greater strength, art
will also grow in power, for the two are inextricably connected
and complementary one to the other. Conversely, at those times
when the soul tends to be choked by material disbelief, art
becomes purposeless and talk is heard that art exists for art's
sake alone.
[Footnote: This cry "art for art's sake," is really the best
ideal such an age can attain to. It is an unconscious protest
against materialism, against the demand that everything should
have a use and practical value. It is further proof of the
indestructibility of art and of the human soul, which can never
be killed but only temporarily smothered.]
Then is the bond between art and the soul, as it were, drugged
into unconsciousness. The artist and the spectator drift apart,
till finally the latter turns his back on the former or regards
him as a juggler whose skill and dexterity are worthy of
applause. It is very important for the artist to gauge his
position aright, to realize that he has a duty to his art and to
himself, that he is not king of the castle but rather a servant
of a nobler purpose. He must search deeply into his own soul,
develop and tend it, so that his art has something to clothe, and
does not remain a glove without a hand.
THE ARTIST MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, FOR MASTERY OVER FORM IS
NOT HIS GOAL BUT RATHER THE ADAPTING OF FORM TO ITS INNER
MEANING.
[Footnote: Naturally this does not mean that the artist is to
instill forcibly into his work some deliberate meaning. As has
been said the generation of a work of art is a mystery. So long
as artistry exists there is no need of theory or logic to direct
the painter's action. The inner voice of the soul tells him what
form he needs, whether inside or outside nature. Every artist
knows, who works with feeling, how suddenly the right form
flashes upon him. Bocklin said that a true work of art must be
like an inspiration; that actual painting, composition, etc., are
not the steps by which the artist reaches self-expression.]
The artist is not born to a life of pleasure. He must not live
idle; he has a hard work to perform, and one which often proves a
cross to be borne. He must realize that his every deed, feeling,
and thought are raw but sure material from which his work is to
arise, that he is free in art but not in life.
The artist has a triple responsibility to the non-artists: (1) He
must repay the talent which he has; (2) his deeds, feelings, and
thoughts, as those of every man, create a spiritual atmosphere
which is either pure or poisonous. (3) These deeds and thoughts
are materials for his creations, which themselves exercise
influence on the spiritual atmosphere. The artist is not only a
king, as Peladan says, because he has great power, but also
because he has great duties.
If the artist be priest of beauty, nevertheless this beauty is to
be sought only according to the principle of the inner need, and
can be measured only according to the size and intensity of that
need.
THAT IS BEAUTIFUL WHICH IS PRODUCED BY THE INNER NEED, WHICH
SPRINGS FROM THE SOUL.
Maeterlinck, one of the first warriors, one of the first modern
artists of the soul, says: "There is nothing on earth so curious
for beauty or so absorbent of it, as a soul. For that reason few
mortal souls withstand the leadership of a soul which gives to
them beauty." [Footnote: De la beaute interieure.]
And this property of the soul is the oil, which facilitates the
slow, scarcely visible but irresistible movement of the triangle,
onwards and upwards.
IX. CONCLUSION
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