专业英语阅读资料 03.docx

1、专业英语阅读资料 03Concerning the Spiritual in ArtPART 1: ABOUT GENERAL AESTHETICKANDINSKYS INTRODUCTIONEvery work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, themother of our emotions. It follows that each period of cultureproduces an art of its own which can never be repeated. Effortsto revive the

2、art-principles of the past will at best produce anart that is still-born. It is impossible for us to live and feel,as did the ancient Greeks. In the same way those who strive tofollow the Greek methods in sculpture achieve only a similarityof form, the work remaining soulless for all time. Such imit

3、ationis mere aping. Externally the monkey completely resembles ahuman being; he will sit holding a book in front of his nose, andturn over the pages with a thoughtful aspect, but his actions havefor him no real meaning. There is, however, in art another kind of external similaritywhich is founded on

4、 a fundamental truth. When there is asimilarity of inner tendency in the whole moral and spiritualatmosphere, a similarity of ideals, at first closely pursued butlater lost to sight, a similarity in the inner feeling of any oneperiod to that of another, the logical result will be a revivalof the ext

5、ernal forms which served to express those innerfeelings in an earlier age. An example of this today is oursympathy, our spiritual relationship, with the Primitives. Likeourselves, these artists sought to express in their work onlyinternal truths, renouncing in consequence all consideration ofexterna

6、l form.This all-important spark of inner life today is at present only aspark. Our minds, which are even now only just awakening afteryears of materialism, are infected with the despair of unbelief,of lack of purpose and ideal. The nightmare of materialism, whichhas turned the life of the universe i

7、nto an evil, useless game,is not yet past; it holds the awakening soul still in its grip.Only a feeble light glimmers like a tiny star in a vast gulf ofdarkness. This feeble light is but a presentiment, and the soul,when it sees it, trembles in doubt whether the light is not adream, and the gulf of

8、darkness reality. This doubt, and thestill harsh tyranny of the materialistic philosophy, divide oursoul sharply from that of the Primitives. Our soul rings crackedwhen we seek to play upon it, as does a costly vase, long buriedin the earth, which is found to have a flaw when it is dug uponce more.

9、For this reason, the Primitive phase, through which weare now passing, with its temporary similarity of form, can onlybe of short duration.These two possible resemblances between the art forms of todayand those of the past will be at once recognized as diametricallyopposed to one another. The first,

10、 being purely external, has nofuture. The second, being internal, contains the seed of thefuture within itself. After the period of materialist effort,which held the soul in check until it was shaken off as evil, thesoul is emerging, purged by trials and sufferings. Shapelessemotions such as fear, j

11、oy, grief, etc., which belonged to thistime of effort, will no longer greatly attract the artist. He willendeavor to awake subtler emotions, as yet unnamed. Livinghimself a complicated and comparatively subtle life, his workwill give to those observers capable of feeling them loftyemotions beyond th

12、e reach of words.The observer of today, however, is seldom capable of feelingsuch emotions. He seeks in a work of art a mere imitation ofnature which can serve some definite purpose (for example aportrait in the ordinary sense) or a presentment of natureaccording to a certain convention (impressioni

13、st painting), orsome inner feeling expressed in terms of natural form (as wesay-a picture with Stimmung) Footnote: Stimmung is almostuntranslateable. It is almost sentiment in the best sense, andalmost feeling. Many of Corots twilight landscapes are full of abeautiful Stimmung. Kandinsky uses the wo

14、rd later on to meanthe essential spirit of nature.-M.T.H.S. All those varieties ofpicture, when they are really art, fulfil their purpose and feedthe spirit. Though this applies to the first case, it applies morestrongly to the third, where the spectator does feel acorresponding thrill in himself. S

15、uch harmony or even contrast ofemotion cannot be superficial or worthless; indeed the Stimmungof a picture can deepen and purify that of the spectator. Suchworks of art at least preserve the soul from coarseness; theykey it up, so to speak, to a certain height, as a tuning-keythe strings of a musica

16、l instrument. But purification, andextension in duration and size of this sympathy of soul, remainone-sided, and the possibilities of the influence of art are notexerted to their utmost.Imagine a building divided into many rooms. The building may belarge or small. Every wall of every room is covered

17、 with picturesof various sizes; perhaps they number many thousands. Theyrepresent in colour bits of nature-animals in sunlight orshadow, drinking, standing in water, lying on the grass; near to,a Crucifixion by a painter who does not believe in Christ;flowers; human figures sitting, standing, walkin

18、g; often they arenaked; many naked women, seen foreshortened from behind;apples and silver dishes; portrait of Councillor So and So; sunset;lady in red; flying duck; portrait of Lady X; flying geese; lady inwhite; calves in shadow flecked with brilliant yellow sunlight;portrait of Prince Y; lady in

19、green. All this is carefully printed in abook-name of artist-name of picture. People with these books intheir hands go from wall to wall, turning over pages, reading thenames. Then they go away, neither richer nor poorer than whenthey came, and are absorbed at once in their business, which hasnothin

20、g to do with art. Why did they come? In each picture is awhole lifetime imprisoned, a whole lifetime of fears, doubts,hopes, and joys.Whither is this lifetime tending? What is the message of thecompetent artist? To send light into the darkness of menshearts-such is the duty of the artist, said Schum

21、ann. Anartist is a man who can draw and paint everything, said Tolstoi.Of these two definitions of the artists activity we must choosethe second, if we think of the exhibition just described. On onecanvas is a huddle of objects painted with varying degrees ofskill, virtuosity and vigour, harshly or

22、smoothly. To harmonizethe whole is the task of art. With cold eyes and indifferent mindthe spectators regard the work. Connoisseurs admire the skill(as one admires a tightrope walker), enjoy the quality ofpainting (as one enjoys a pasty). But hungry souls go hungryaway.The vulgar herd stroll through

23、 the rooms and pronounce thepictures nice or splendid. Those who could speak have saidnothing, those who could hear have heard nothing. This conditionof art is called art for arts sake. This neglect of inner meanings,which is the life of colours, this vain squandering of artistic poweris called art

24、for arts sake.The artist seeks for material reward for his dexterity, his powerof vision and experience. His purpose becomes the satisfactionof vanity and greed. In place of the steady co-operation of artistsis a scramble for good things. There are complaints of excessivecompetition, of over-product

25、ion. Hatred, partisanship, cliques,jealousy, intrigues are the natural consequences of this aimless,materialist art.Footnote: The few solitary exceptions do not destroy the truthof this sad and ominous picture, and even these exceptions arechiefly believers in the doctrine of art for arts sake. They

26、serve, therefore, a higher ideal, but one which is ultimately auseless waste of their strength. External beauty is one elementof a spiritual atmosphere. But beyond this positive fact (thatwhat is beautiful is good) it has the weakness of a talent notused to the full. (The word talent is employed in

27、the biblicalsense.)The onlooker turns away from the artist who has higher ideals andwho cannot see his life purpose in an art without aims.Sympathy is the education of the spectator from the point of viewof the artist. It has been said above that art is the child ofits age. Such an art can only crea

28、te an artistic feeling which isalready clearly felt. This art, which has no power for thefuture, which is only a child of the age and cannot become amother of the future, is a barren art. She is transitory and toall intent dies the moment the atmosphere alters which nourishedher.The other art, that

29、which is capable of educating further,springs equally from contemporary feeling, but is at the sametime not only echo and mirror of it, but also has a deep andpowerful prophetic strength.The spiritual life, to which art belongs and of which she is oneof the mightiest elements, is a complicated but d

30、efinite andeasily definable movement forwards and upwards. Thismovement is the movement of experience. It may take differentforms, but it holds at bottom to the same inner thought andpurpose.Veiled in obscurity are the causes of this need to move everupwards and forwards, by sweat of the brow, throu

31、gh sufferingsand fears. When one stage has been accomplished, and manyevil stones cleared from the road, some unseen and wicked handscatters new obstacles in the way, so that the path often seemsblocked and totally obliterated. But there never fails to come tothe rescue some human being, like ourselves in everything exceptthat he has in him a secret power of vision.He sees and points the way. The power to do this he wouldsometimes fain lay aside, for it is a bitter cross to bear. Buthe cannot do so. Scorned and hated, he drags after him over thestones t