Mark André ’s Reviews > What Is Art? > Status Update

Every work of art causes the receiver to enter into a certain kind of
relationship both with him who produced, or is producing, the art, and
with all those who, simultaneously, previously or subsequently, receive
the same artistic impression.

Before the waves from the first stroke of the bell congealed in the air, a second was heard, and immediately after it a third, and the darkness was filled with an incessant, trembling sound.

Every work of art causes the receiver to enter into a certain kind of
relationship both with him who produced, or is producing, the art, and
with all those who, simultaneously, previously or subsequently, receive
the same artistic impression.

. . . the object of logical knowledge is Truth, the object of æsthetic (_i.e._ sensuous) knowledge is Beauty. Beauty is the Perfect (the Absolute), recognised through the senses; Truth is the Perfect perceived through reason; Goodness is the Perfect reached by moral will.

If the sense of touch lacks colour, it gives us, on the other hand, a
notion which the eye alone cannot afford, and one of considerable
æsthetic value, namely, that of _softness_, _silkiness_, _polish_. The
beauty of velvet is characterised not less by its softness to the
touch than by its lustre.

There is one indubitable indication distinguishing real art from its counterfeit, namely, the infectiousness of art. If a man, without exercising effort and without altering his standpoint, on reading, hearing, or seeing another man’s work, experiences a mental condition which unites him with that man and with other people who also partake of that work of art, then the object evoking that condition is a work of art.

One remembers Plato’s advice not to let our thoughts run upon woman, for if we do we shall think clearly about nothing else,…