Show THE OBJECT OF ART As far back as we can trace the history of humanity we find art It manifests itself in tliat still more obscure period which precedes authentic history By art mairhas from the beginning- chiefly distinguished himself from the crowd of inferior animals with which he seems to have so much in common on some sides of his nature In the dark caverns which formed his first habitation because they alone could protect him against beasts of prey we have discovered among the first formed arrows and knives objects which could have been used only for ornamental purposes necklets bracelets rings etc made of stone and bone more or less roughly worked out but enougti to show tliat art is not as has been often asserted the product of a superior civilization only Those savages at least made an effort to create something beautiful Their weapons of stone were decorated and by means of graver’s flint they cut upon flat bones the leading features of many animals with enough accuracy to enable us today to recognize the different species Probably the prehistoric man who cut roughly upon a piece of bone the outline of a cave-bewished to convey to his companions an idea of the animal he had seen or killed The idea was one of immitation but it clearly suggested tliat art might become a means by which ideas or thoughts could be expressed If we look back into the past to the time of Egypt or Assyria or to the oldest Indian civilization a time so early In the history of humanity that its most primitive instincts may be supposed to liave operated without the restraint of the critical habit which grows upon us afterward we perceive that these races possessed an art full of might and majesty whose silent language is still intelligible to us and conveys a clear conception of their mind and life Every art which is thoroughly genuine is the - ar spontaneous expression of a nation’s character taste and feeling and has in it some precious of quality which is a part fo the great mind humanity setting itself forth in the most perfect shape There is no such thing as the greatest art there is no such thing as the greatest art epoch The very highest and best in our art of today is as great as the art of the Italian Renaissance and the art of that period is as great as that of the Greeks because the arts of any great period have been a perfect reflection of the character taste feelings and ideals of the people who produced them and have given expression to the spirit of the age That knowledge which we have gleaned from the past and which has given us an insight into the lives thoughts and aspirations of different races of different times has been gained almost entirely through their great monuments which they have erected the poetry music painting besculpture and architecture they have left hind them The love of the true beautiful good and right with the aspiration to attain them as compersonal possessions forms the ideal of a plete man Truth speaks to the intellect inbeauty to the sensibilities goodness to the stincts and righteousness to the conscience of men Under the idea of the beautiful is found the admiration of the delicate graceful melo- dious harmonious grand and sublime These emotions when produced by objects appealing to the eye ear or conceptions of the mind make up what is properly termed the love of art and these objects of perception and conception which man has created in order to awaken these emotions come under the name of The Fine Arts Art is a language by which an idea a thought a fancy a conception of the mind or an emotion of the heart may be expressed There is very often a charm about a manner of talking ' |