Beautiful Vs. The Artistic ( Originally Published Early 1900's )
The artistic may result from any isolated proof of
craftsmanship. Not so with the beautiful. It is general in its
effects, and these transcend those of the craftsman. The light
that it possesses is like that of a halo. It illumines
everything of which it forms a part, its influence on the mind
extending to the whole mental environment, giving suggestions to
imagination, stimulus to aspiration, and filling every allied
department and recess of energy with that subtle force which men
attribute to inspiration. It is merely in accordance with a law
of nature, therefore, that, as a fact, all such statues,
pictures, poems, buildings of past ages as are universally
considered to be great conform to the laws of ethics almost as
fully as to the laws of aesthetics, —in other words, that one
test of greatness in art has always been its influence upon
morals. Essay on Art and Morals. BEAUTIFUL, THE, VS. THE USEFUL
IN ARTS. The question, as applied to sights