Beauty is the purpose of Art
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THE PAINTINGS IN MY HOME
I want share some of the paintings in my home and here are a few examples. They are all copies, of course. Above is a photo of one of my favorite paintings, which is a replica of an alterpiece created by Titian in Venice, Italy. The painting in my home is the original size—13 feet tall.
I am not fond of much art that has been produced in the 20th Century. I believe art has lost its way. I am not a trained art critic but I have always known art I loved the minute I first saw it. Most of my life I never questioned why this was. Now, late in life, I have begun an investigation to try to discern why I love the art I love—and why most of the art of last 100 years or so just doesn't do it for me.
Giovanni Bellini
Beauty was the purpose of Art
Beauty was the purpose of art before the 20th Century. In the past 100 years or so, art has change completely and its new goal is to create the unbeautiful—to disturb, shock, subvert and transgress in increasingly original ways. In fact, the beautiful art that has been created, such as by Thomas Kinkaid and Norman Rockwell, has been laughed at by art critics—who are animated by an entirely different spiritual force—as pure kitsch. Scenes of beauty give way to scenes of destruction and sacrilege. I believe there remains a great hunger in the human soul for beauty in art. Just compare "Piss Christ" with the painting above, which hangs in my living room.
Giovanni Bellini
The desecration
The postmodern theme of critically praised art is to desecrate and despoil what it means to be a living loving human being alive in the world. All of the sacred things we held dear in the world are to be destroyed through the spirit of modern art, in particular anything held to be Holy—set apart for God. We can see this spirit in film (only in the last 50 years) with its focus on rampant sex, violence, gore, the objectification of women—as objects instead of women created in the Image of God—and the ridicule of people who believe in God as superstitious rubes .
LEONARDO DA VINCI
The Purpose of Art
The purpose of art is beauty, truth, goodness, and transcendence; to create joy in the recipient. The Creator of the Universe granted Humankind the gift to mimic His omnipotent creativity (as well as recreate His gift of producing life itself! by reproducing ourselves—another gift we honored as sacred for thousands of years that we now flush down the toilet—the most incredible, amazing, astounding gift humans possess. Think carefully about it before you laugh, you who are not yet convinced, and you scoffers: YOU can produce another YOU).
MICHELANGELO
Recreation is our greatest gift
Below is my favorite sculpture ever created. Out a block of marble this image came forth. Michelangelo said that this image was already present—the word means gift—in the block of marble and all he had to do was reveal it to us.
MICHELANGELO
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Comments
mdawson17— Thank you very much for being the first to approve of my new direction. My thinking was that this topic would lower the temperature from my previous blog posts, which, though I did not foresee it, were apparently controversial.
Fantastic, James!
Doug
Hi James - everyone's taste in art is personal. For example, I have never liked the Titian work that heads this hub. The Michelangelo sculpture is great and my Sistine Chapel visit is still fresh in my memory after many years. Also on that visit, I went to a Caravaggio exhibition. He's among my all time favourites. I'd prefer to say that beauty is one of the purposes of art. Throughout history, art has been used for many purposes. I am with you in regretting the sensationalist version of modernity typified by the Turner Prize, but I still see a great deal of beauty in much of the art being produced today. All is not lost :)
Douglas— Thank you very much!
Paraglider— Thank you for visiting and for your comments. I agree with you. Art is personal. Like you, my visit to the Sistine Chapel a few years ago left an enormous impression on me. Caravaggio was certainly an incredible artist. He was a wild dude but he could surely paint and he was creative to beat the band.
I'm not particularly enamoured with any of your artistic choices but, as always, I enjoy reading what you have to say. Thanks.
Nemingha— You are welcome and thank you for checking it out and responding.
Your taste is impeccable:) I'm an extreme lamen when it comes to art. I've only recently found it interesting (at age 32) because I never thought about the artist, or the story behind the art. Now it "grabs" me, as it does you. I certainly cannot afford a Michaelangelo painting, but I do buy prints and paintings that make ME happy. Things that I understand. I also enjoy affirmation plaques, I have many of them. Like the AA Serenity prayer (not only because I've lived around addicts my entire life but because change has to do with life, period, not just an addiction), and several other short phrases that keep me smiling and positive.
Thanks for the little art lesson here, I enjoyed it very much:)
Great hub, James. Thanks for sharing these fantastic works. I love the St. Francis in Ecstasy - the light is incredible! I have heard that Michaelangelo saw the work that existed within the rock, and "merely" chipped away the excess. It's mind boggling to even look upon his works, let alone in the context of thinking about the way he personally viewed it.
I too have found myself frustrated with the stigmatization of art that is beautiful just for beauty's sake. It guess its not 'cool' but it will always be timeless. In a thousand years, the ironic, angsty, hip art may lose its relevance but a thing of beauty is a classic across the ages.
Thanks so much for sharing!
MissJamieD— I appreciate the compliment and encouragement. I wasn't into art, save for music, when I was younger either. But I grew to love it more and more for the beauty and joy it contributes to the world. And you are welcome, too.
RooBee— Thank you and you are welcome! My copy of the St. Francis is 8 feet by 5 feet—so you could say I love it, too! :-)
You made an astute observation of the timelessness of beautiful art. And I am glad you did.
Michelangelo certainly had few rivals. Being the connoisseur that you are; is the anecdote true, concerning striking his completed image of Moses on the knee with a hammer and saying... "I command you to speak"?
Larry— I had not heard this anecdote but I do not doubt it. Thanks for taking a look at my Hubs.
Just beautiful. I really appreciate art so this was divine. Thanks James. :)
blondepoet— Thank you for your gracious words. I am glad you stopped to take a look and enjoyed what you saw. And you are welcome.
I agree with you that art is for beauty. Have you read "How shall we then live?" by Francis Shaeffer? Nice hub.
Thank you for reading and commenting. I have indeed read that book and watched the film by the same name. I have many other books written by Francis as well. Several of my close friends were at L'Abri. Schaeffer is a great seer.
Perhaps you've heard the comment by Buckminster Fuller? He said, "When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong." I wouldn't say that beauty is the purpose of art but a by-product of the energy that flows through an artist as he is working. The more the artist can get himself out of the way, the more beautiful the work. Just a thought. . .
Madame X— Thank you for the insight. And, oh yes, I am quite familiar with Bucky!
I think some people like art for beauty, but the production of art has been an expression of religion, politics, and art for hire. Dick Dale, the fabulous guitarist (father of surf music) said about art 'I want to make you feel how I feel' I really liked that.
the paintings that you feature in this hub are beautiful. Did you ever check out old masterpiece work for sale? I've always thought of the old masters as producing beauty but there was some downright ugly stuff there.
James has a way of saying the things others think but fail to elucidate - and does so with delightful insight and the occasional well-placed twist of the proverbial knife.
Keep up the great work!
Dolores Monet— Thanks for your thoughtful comments here. Art is used for many purposes, to be sure. I loved Dick Dale's guitar playing, too.
ArchDynamics— Thank you for the laudations! You are welcome to comment anytime! :D
art should incite riots
Why?
not physical ones, but when you look at a true piece of art, it should create momentum inside of you.
OH! I thought you meant riots such as in Watts back in 1965. :D
nah just momentum the core of life, but i dig what your doing here man. keep being awesome
Thank you very much!
It is all very simple really. The sacred vacated art at the time of the Enlightenment because it generally doesn't stay where it is not wanted,... even before that indeed, when humanism reached its apogee at the end of the Renaissance and man got too big for his boots. The sacred, being what art was meant to serve, having been banished from the universe, the art world and the shrewdies who run it had nothing left but aimless inventiveness (Picasso et al) to worship and gimmickry or novelty which is where art has pitched its tent for the forseeable future. On the back of that of course is ego-mania. The artist now elects to walk in the Messianic sandals brandishing his brush of self-delusion with utter conviction aided and abetted from the wings in the manner of Don Quixote egged on by faithful dependent Sancho Panza. Ergo, your successful 'artist' today is an ego-maniac hell bent in upsetting people with the novel or the plain revolting in order to make a name for himself and keep his supporters and himself laughing all the way to the bank. Your granny's fireside embroidered hankie is closer to the meaning and purpose of art than Mr.Hirst and his ilk and all their overpriced vacuous works.
Will Kelly— A brilliant analysis. Where were you when I needed you?!
Thank you for reading and your extraordinary commentary.
I agree with you and Paraglider that art is very personal. I can see that you tend towards classical and religious art. Like you, The Pieta is also my favorite sculpture.
I have a very simplistic criterion on art. If the work moves me and I can say "wow!" then I love it. Then I take a 2nd or 3rd or nth look at the piece and when I can still say "wow!" - then I'm hooked forever.
jill of alltrades— Your criterion is identical to mine, word for word. Thank you for viewing and commenting. And The Pieta—I have spent a lot of time enjoying it and it never gets old.
Hi, this is the post I was telling you about: I really like to know that there are still people that enjoy the classics, and are not bored of them. Take a look at my vision of the art evolution over the years: I wrote it in an article called "The Purpose of Art Changed". This was actually inspired in this article of yours. Beacuse Beauty was the purpose of art. Nowadays it is no longer...
caoshub— I love the classics. I read your article referred to above and it was very good. All of your Hubs looked good. Let's continue to get the message out that beautiful art is good for the soul. Thanks for your commentary.
I thoroughly enjoy all you share James. Your home seems as filled with awe and inspiration as the Louvre - how do you ever leave?
I believe your assessment of the masterpieces vs. today’s art is accurate in many ways. There is even a difference in definitions of art from today and decades ago. Today’s primarily: a “human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.” Yesteryear’s: “human contrivance or ingenuity, as in adapting natural things to man’s use.” In the past, most masterpieces were commissioned based on the artist's degree of skill and experience. These days, most art is churned out with an emphasis on production, pieces being sold after the fact with their value based on PR (little of which reaches the artist).
I would however, beg to differ that all created in the last 100 years lacks glory. I have a piece by Anthony Casay that is so gorgeous and real, I swear one can hear the ocean’s thunderous power. There is such a depth that every slight change in lighting seems to move the wave rhythmically. Clearly, not the same as celebrating the natural emotions as a loving, living human being, but instilling joy and awe none-the-less.
We represented an artist in Hawaii who was third generation portrait artist. Recognizing how poor his predecessors were, he eventually turned to the more generically appealing ocean scenes. My choice was to purchase one of his earlier works of a male hula dancer, so real others would hide it in the gallery closet to avoid its watchful eyes. (Mona Lisa style) One can feel his humility as he honors and praises the glory of God. You are right, there is a difference.
SEM Pro— Thank you for viewing some of my art, the nice compliment, and the fine commentary. I don't leave home nearly as much as I used to—before I started Hubbing. :D
I had not heard of Anthony Casay. I appreciate you telling me about him. I just went to his web site and his paintings are very beautiful. I bookmarked it so I can study the paintings more leisurely later.
No doubt fine art is still produced—Thank God.
I loved this Hub. I especially enjoy that someone else finds Pieta to be completely unique in it's beauty.
A. M. Gywnn— Thank you so much! The Pieta is the favorite piece of art in my home. I appreciate your visit.
A 13 foot work of art is a massive covering at home. You must be cheerfully surrounded in beauty even in your shorts!
Without being too fleshly, how do you have the painting of the Assumption mounted?
newsworthy— It is mounted with two L shaped thingamajigs anchored into the wall . . . oh, what do they call those things behind the wall that occur here and there? Not beams . . .
It must be anchored near the top as well but whatever they put up there is not visible. All I can see is the two supports under the bottom. It is in a massive frame and very heavy. I hired someone to install. So, I guess I don't know! (After all that)
I am cheerfully surrounded in beauty in my shorts! That is true.
I sugest that one of the best painters is HIERONYMOUS BOSH,the guy made thrillers.You might change some thoughts about painting
gusripper— I absolutely agree with you. I used a Bosch as the featured painting in one of my other Hubs, "The Last Judgment." Excellent comment. Thanks.
Excellent Collection James. I am much impressed on this hub.
chandanakumarct — Thank you for saying so. It is a warm pleasure to see this beauty every day. It changes a person.
Yeap. Perfectly said james. I have bookmarked it and check it once in day :)
chandanakumarct— Beautiful! Thank you!
James...
Fantastique! I particularly liked this line:
"YOU can produce another YOU!"
Yes, indeed ;)
Sarah— Yes, indeed. I appreciate your accolades very much. Thank you for the visit!
MICHELANGELO is my favorite, "God touches Adam" There is such beauty in his brush strokes. He captures the human body like no other in my opinion.
Kym— I agree with you. And the Pieta! Unbelievable. I have seen it and the Sistine Chapel in person and this is one of the greatest blessings in my life.
Thank you for visiting and leaving your thoughtful comments.
Again, Great!
jiberish— Thank you again! I don't know why, but I didn't get notification of this comment until 5 days after you made it. hmmm . . .
Beautiful hub, and I agree, recreation is our greatest gift.. The god given spirit in us is always ready for work and creation, it is us that don't always realize that and we spend ourselves in meaningless activities. I like the idea of Muses, that the ancient greeks had - the inspirations that appeared in the form of a woman giving the artist the chance to express himself :)
Wild Cherry— Thank you very much. Welcome to the Hub Pages Community! I have been inspired by women all my born days, to create beauty and to sing the blues. :D
I appreciate the visitation. This is one of my favorite Hubs.
Yes-- "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder."
Yet, to me, there are real elements that go into constituting a perception of "beauty" in art for anyone: composition, use of light and dark for effect, use of colors for temperature and drama, clarity of purpose, and an evident mastery of the tools to accomplish it.
As I believe art to be a "light" shown onto what many believe to be a mystery-- the subject illuminated may not be perceived as "beautiful", but its presentation CAN be. "Beauty" is defined as an experience often involving the interpretation of some entity or object as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being. That's subjective. to me, a more universal definition might be "any experience that evokes deep emotions that yields a balance between your inner self and your perceptions outside of yourself, allowing you to feel moved."
Fascinating thoughts presented here! Thanks for the hub!
spiritactor— Welcome the Hub Pages Community. I am honored to receive such an accomplished guest here. My sister is an off-Broadway actress living in the Village. I am a musician.
I love your commentary. As an artist, you surely have a fine grasp on the beauty of art. I am quite pleased you posted your remarks here. They add clarity and illumination. Thank you! And you're welcome. Also, your stage name, spiritactor, couldn't be better.
Wow, some beautiful choices!
Taylor Finch— Welcome to HubPages! I just read your first Hub and it is excellent. Thanks for your compliment.
mdawson17 says:
7 months ago
I like this hub James it gives an expression of your personal self very expressive hub!!!
mdawson17