For Maritain it was "splendor" a somewhat Thomast idea. The splendorous was not necessarily visual but a spiritual awareness.
WC --- On Tue, 12/23/08, Michael Brady <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Michael Brady <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: Enough "taste > To: [email protected] > Date: Tuesday, December 23, 2008, 11:25 AM > On Dec 23, 2008, at 11:11 AM, Chris Miller wrote: > > > Because -- this seems to be where his appetite for the > beautiful > > runs smack > > into the ideologies of modern art - for which he is a > professional > > partisan. > > He doesn't want to be known as old-timey -- he > wants to be a > > progressive man > > of the modern era. > > > > And for some reason -- he just cannot accept that his > desire for > > beauty is as > > tangential to the world of contemporary art -- as it > is to the > > worlds of > > motorbike racing, cattle breeding, investment banking, > information > > technology > > etc. > > Putting aside for the moment Miller's ludicrous attempt > to explain how > William thinks, let's consider an aspect of beauty that > seems to have > been overlooked. I'll pose it as a question: > > Does beauty describe or address *only* the manifested > appearance of > things. Is beauty's subject limited to visual or > perceptual delight? > > Most dictionary definitions say otherwise. (Don't work > yourself into a > frontic lather, Cheerskep. I'm not offering these > definitions as proof > of what the word means, but what various authoritative > compilations > have recorded as the working notion of "beauty.") > > > From the Apple Dictionary: "A combination of > qualities, such as > shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, > esp. the > sight; a combination of qualities that pleases the > intellect or moral > sense." > > From Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: "The quality > or aggregate of > qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the > senses or > pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit." > > From the American Heritage Dictionary: "The quality > that gives > pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such > properties > as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, > truthfulness, and > originality." > > From Dictionary.com online: "The quality present in a > thing or person > that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the > mind, whether > arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, > sound, etc.), a > meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a > personality in > which high spiritual qualities are manifest)." > > From the OED: "1. Such combined perfection of form > and charm of > colouring as affords keen pleasure to the sense of sight. > 2. That > quality or combination of qualities which affords keen > pleasures to > other senses or which charms the intellectual or moral > faculties > through inherent grace or fitness to a desired end." > > > > Note that several key characteristics stand out: beauty > affords > pleasure, which is elicited by the form of the object *or > by a fitness > to an end*, or something that, as one put it, "exalts > the mind" or > exhibits "truthfulness" or > "originality." > > Cut to the chase: Beauty in artworks (those wholly > independent > creations) can be found in striking or intriguing > combinations of > elements that appeal less to the sense of pulchritude, per > se, and > more to intellectual engagement. Beauty isn't just a > property of old- > school art, Beaux Arts art, traditional art, lately lost by > the > wholesale abandonment of standards by the debauched or > misled leaders > of the Art World in the XXth century. > > > | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | > Michael Brady > [email protected]
