The Aesthetic ExperienceExcerpt from The Aesthetic Experience The enjoyment Of art is ordinarily looked upon as some thing detached from the serious business of life, as an episode in an existence otherwise fundamentally non-aesthetic. Art is conceived as shut up in books, concert-halls, and museums; as, perhaps, a legitimate preoccupation on a trip to Europe; but under ordinary circumstances a relaxation, and if more than that, a distraction or even a dissipation. For a few individuals, writers, musicians, or painters, it is more than a by-play or avocation; but for the mass Of men concern with it is an interlude, and its production is of course out of the question. In this it resembles religion. To go to a museum and to go to church alike involve a break with our usual habits. Both are expeditions into worlds other than that in, which our every-day Occupations go on. And both worlds are suspect from the point of view of the habitual dweller in the real world. The man who attempts to treat the precepts of religion as applicable to his business or personal relations is as little to be considered fully sane as the man whose life centers about art: both are at least likely to be queer. A book which is thought Of as a work Of art is presumably to be read from a sense of duty, and in a frame of mind both self-conscious and self-congratulatory |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 44
Page 66
... whole of the visible world , is not itself beautiful . If parts of it seem beautiful , other parts seem ugly , and in any case , if beauty is expression , nature , which expresses nothing , can- not in itself have aesthetic value ...
... whole of the visible world , is not itself beautiful . If parts of it seem beautiful , other parts seem ugly , and in any case , if beauty is expression , nature , which expresses nothing , can- not in itself have aesthetic value ...
Page 69
... whole process , and it is towards this that the man bends his whole conscious endeavor . But in the imaginative life no such action is necessary , and , therefore , the whole con- sciousness may be focussed upon the perceptive and the ...
... whole process , and it is towards this that the man bends his whole conscious endeavor . But in the imaginative life no such action is necessary , and , therefore , the whole con- sciousness may be focussed upon the perceptive and the ...
Page 112
... whole affair , as an interest which at its height may organize life as a whole , has been made appealing to the imagination and so persua- sive to the will , by the vast amount of fiction , poetry , drama , and ritual which are the work ...
... whole affair , as an interest which at its height may organize life as a whole , has been made appealing to the imagination and so persua- sive to the will , by the vast amount of fiction , poetry , drama , and ritual which are the work ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
achieved action actual aesthetic experience aesthetic value appear appreciation artist aspect attitude beauty become called Cézanne chapter character characteristic Clive Bell color concerned consider course danger day-dreaming degree desire difficult distinction Divine Comedy emotion ence enjoyment essen essential example expression fact feeling George Meredith Giorgione give grasp habits House of Mirth human nature imaginative impersonality impulse individual instinct intelligence interest intrinsic judge judgment least less live Lucretius material matter means ment merely mind moral morality and art mystical never object ordinarily Othello ourselves painter painting particular perception plastic art possess possible practical activities present purpose question realization realm reason recognize relation religion revealed Roger Fry rôle Romantic love seek seems sensations sense significance situation sort suppose things Thomas Munro thought tical tion Titian true understand vision whole wholly words