Service and the Arts of the Beautiful
Service and the Arts the Beautiful
For the past semester, the class has been discussing what the Arts of the Beautiful, or the Fine Arts, is. We discussed what Etienne Gilson considers to be the Fine Arts: Architecture, Statuary, Painting, Music, Dance, Poetry, and Theatre, and looked at their matter and their form. It was pointed out throughout the discussion that these arts are the Arts of the Beautiful not because of utility (Architecture), imitation (Statuary), representation (Painting), expression (Music and, possibly, Dance), or meaning (Poetry and to some extent, Theatre). These different arts are Arts of the Beautiful because they do not serve any other end but beauty. And to be beautiful, the matter of the art must be arranged in such a way so that they will be beautiful. In other words, to be an Art of the Beautiful, the thing must formally serve beauty as its end.
At the same time, the artwork could also materially serve other ends, according to Gilson. An example would be architecture: one cannot separate its utility and its beauty. However, its other end, utility, does not demand much from the arrangement of its matter: you can have a really beautiful skyscraper yet at the same time, its design does not necessarily have to be plain. It can be more beautiful with the choice of its construction materials and other, but it also serves another purpose: utility.
Another example would be that of poetry and theatre. The material of poetry are the words, while theatre’s are the actors, the script, and the other technical elements of it. For poetry and theatre to be beautiful, one has to arrange their elements beautifully. The end product is beautiful poetry and an excellent show for theatre. Their beauty lies not in their meaning. For Gilson, beauty does not lie in the material of the art; it lies in the arrangement of this material, the form. A poem is beautiful not because it talks about God, socially relevant topics, melancholy, or such. These may
For the past semester, the class has been discussing what the Arts of the Beautiful, or the Fine Arts, is. We discussed what Etienne Gilson considers to be the Fine Arts: Architecture, Statuary, Painting, Music, Dance, Poetry, and Theatre, and looked at their matter and their form. It was pointed out throughout the discussion that these arts are the Arts of the Beautiful not because of utility (Architecture), imitation (Statuary), representation (Painting), expression (Music and, possibly, Dance), or meaning (Poetry and to some extent, Theatre). These different arts are Arts of the Beautiful because they do not serve any other end but beauty. And to be beautiful, the matter of the art must be arranged in such a way so that they will be beautiful. In other words, to be an Art of the Beautiful, the thing must formally serve beauty as its end.
At the same time, the artwork could also materially serve other ends, according to Gilson. An example would be architecture: one cannot separate its utility and its beauty. However, its other end, utility, does not demand much from the arrangement of its matter: you can have a really beautiful skyscraper yet at the same time, its design does not necessarily have to be plain. It can be more beautiful with the choice of its construction materials and other, but it also serves another purpose: utility.
Another example would be that of poetry and theatre. The material of poetry are the words, while theatre’s are the actors, the script, and the other technical elements of it. For poetry and theatre to be beautiful, one has to arrange their elements beautifully. The end product is beautiful poetry and an excellent show for theatre. Their beauty lies not in their meaning. For Gilson, beauty does not lie in the material of the art; it lies in the arrangement of this material, the form. A poem is beautiful not because it talks about God, socially relevant topics, melancholy, or such. These may
Cited: Aristotle. “Metaphysics.” Great Books of the Western World. Ed. Mortimer J. Adler. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 1993. 499-626. Gilson, Etienne. Forms and Substances in the Arts. Trans. Salvator Attanasio. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1966. Tolkien, J.R.R. “On Fairy Stories.” The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: HarperCollins, 1997. 109-161.