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August 28, 2007
the artist and study
We need only lay down as essential the view that, though the artist’s talent and genius contains a natural element, yet it is essentially in need of cultivation by thought, and of reflection on the mode in which it produces, as well as of practice and skill in producing. A main feature of such a production is unquestionably external workmanship, inasmuch as the work of art has a purely technical side, which extends into the region of handicraft; most especially in architecture and sculpture, and less so in painting and music, least of all in poetry. Skill in this comes not from inspiration, but solely by reflection, industry, and practice; and such skill is indispensable to the artist, in order that he may master his external material, and not be thwarted by its stubbornness.
Moreover, the higher an artist ranks, the more profoundly ought he to represent the depths of heart and mind; and these are not known without learning them, but are only to be fathomed by the direction of a man’s own mind to the inner and outer world. So here, too, study is the means whereby the artist brings this content into his consciousness, and wins the matter and burden of his conceptions.
Hegel - Lectures on Aesthetics
Posted by amin at August 28, 2007 3:17 PM