Art: A Plea for Beauty
Art is ideally an expression of upliftment, of nobility of the human spirit over material difficulties. Classical artists, aware of their responsibility enlisted Beauty as their tool. Without it, art is left bereft.
Art influences human culture profoundly and the quality which elevates and achieves the desired success through any art is that of beauty.
Whether it is through the heart warming storytelling and externalizing of common human circumstances and intrigues; the portrayal of romantic dilemmas of human emotions; the glorious impersonal sounds of symphonic harmonies; the touching strings of a guitar; the pageantry of lavish operas; the music made visible through dance; the striking statuary of a national character; the graceful architectural lines of a fine building; the satisfying painted scene of rural tranquillity; the intriguing beauty of a portrait of a woman; the depiction of a legendary hero; or human nature captured in a skilled caricature, all art serves as a presentation, an insight which has been given some formal expression and to which we will individually respond.
All art at its best, serves to express the supremacy of the human spirit over difficulties, the grandeur above the mundane material life and circumstances. It is an expression of upliftment, of nobility of the human spirit. Each one of the arts serves to satisfy a different aspect of human life and helps us to arrive at a different place in our minds and mood and to satisfy our longing for harmony and beauty.
Whatever the stimulus and whatever the traditional means use in its creation, such work deserves the name of Art only when it stirs our hearts and minds in a positive manner and does not cast us into the depths of ugliness, distortion or despair.
That is why past classical artists, aware of their responsibility, sought to express the finest qualities of the human soul and life aspirations, enlisting beauty as their tool to tell of the religious ideologies, allegories and the traditional legends which endure in every culture. Those who chose to remind us of the wonders of nature, and the inherent goodness of human kind were highly successful.
Without idealism and an eye for beauty, all art fails us. This is why modern art fails. That is why ugly buildings last only a decade or so, ugly paintings are lodged for years in gallery basements, ugly clothing in fashion is transitory, vile language and crudities in sensational best sellers are quickly replaced, and ugly statuary in a brief time becomes the focus for ridicule.
Enduring classical art is always beautiful. The human soul hungers for beauty and is lost without it.
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