Art and Scholasticism by Jacques Maritain

What is art? What is beauty?

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tbieter
Posts: 1206
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:45 pm
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Art and Scholasticism by Jacques Maritain

Post by tbieter »

I'm reading Art and Scholasticism and Other Essays by Jacques Maritain.
Some text from the chapter "Christian Art":


"Art as such, for instance, transcends, like the spirit, every frontier of space or time, every historical or national boundary; it has its bounds only in the infinite amplitude of beauty. Like science, philosophy, and civilization, by its very nature and object it is universal" p. 77

Some few texts should be savoured. This is one.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159986 ... oks&sr=1-1
tbieter
Posts: 1206
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:45 pm
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Re: Art and Scholasticism by Jacques Maritain

Post by tbieter »

The following text is from the chapter titled "Christian Art":
"Do not separate your art from your faith. But leave distinct what is distinct. Do not try to blend by force what life unites so well. If you were to make of your aesthetic an article of faith, you would spoil your faith. If you were to make of your devotion a rule of artistic activity, or if you were to turn desire to edify a method of your art, you would spoil your art." p. 69 Emphasis added
Once, at a summer arts and craft show, I bought a oil painting by an artist who lived in a nearby town. It depicted a sole birch tree in the forest on a bright fall day. I thought that the painting was just radiant. I distinctly remember that I liked all of the paintings displayed in her booth and thought that she was very talented.

Some years later I again went to a summer arts and crafts show. I noticed her booth, approached, and because she was busy talking with others, I began to look at her paintings. I was shocked to see that, unlike my prior encounter with her art, this time each painting had some Scripture embedded in the painting!
!

As I recall, some of the paintings were confusing. I couldn't see a relation between the object depicted and the embedded Scripture passage.

After the shock, and then the confusion, I experienced anger and, because I disliked all of her paintings, I left without speaking to the artist.

Because I consider myself to be a Christian of the Roman Catholic denomination , the unpleasant memory of that experience (specifically, my adverse psychological reaction to objects containing Scriptural passages) has been perplexing. I've even wondered if I have actually lost my faith?

What possible explanations, other than a loss of religious faith, can you offer to explain my adverse reaction?
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