THE PROVINCES OF THE SEVERAL ARTS 



1 ART,' said Goethe, ' is but form -giving.' We might vary 

 this definition, and say, ' Art is a method of expression or 

 presentation.' Then comes the question : If art gives form, if 

 it is a method of expression or presentation, to what does it 

 give form, what does it express or present ? The answer 

 certainly must be : Art gives form to human consciousness ; 

 expresses or presents the feeling or the thought of man. 

 Whatever else art may do by the way, in the communication 

 of innocent pleasures, in the adornment of life and the soften- 

 ing of manners, in the creation of beautiful shapes and sounds, 

 this, at all events, is its prime function. 



While investing thought and sentiment, the spiritual sub- 

 ject-matter of all art, with form, or finding for it proper modes 

 of presentation, each of the arts employs a special medium: 

 obeying the laws of beauty proper to that medium. The 

 vehicles of the arts, roughly speaking, are solid substances 

 (like ivory, stone, wood, metal), pigments, sounds, and words. 

 The masterly handling of these vehicles and the realisation of 

 their characteristic types of beauty have come to be regarded 

 as the craftsman's paramount concern. And in a certain 

 sense this is a right conclusion ; for dexterity in the manipu- 

 lation of the chosen vehicle, and power to create a beautiful 

 object, distinguish the successful artist from the man who 

 may have had like thoughts and feelings. This dexterity, this 

 power, are the properties of the artist, qiid artist. Yet we 

 must not forget that the form created by the artist for the 

 expression of a thought or feeling is not the final end of art 



