Parallel paths : a study in biology, ethics, and art / by T.W. Rolleston.

  • Rolleston, T. W. (Thomas William), 1857-1920.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Parallel paths : a study in biology, ethics, and art / by T.W. Rolleston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    objects whose primary purpose is something different —a building, a vase, a piece of furniture, or a hanging. This class, again, can be sub-divided into arts which attain this effect by the structure of the object, and those which do so by the application of ornament to its surface; both being, of course, often combined in the same object. In structure the expression of life is gained by so arranging the lines and masses as to give an impres- sion that power is at work—that something is being done—done triumphantly yet not without strain and effort. Every object of utility does something—art shows it to us in the act. An example may help to make clear what I mean, and may show how the principle can be applied to any kind of object which may be the subject of artistic treatment. A Greek temple in its simplest external aspect consists of a quadrilateral group of columns surround- ing a walled shrine and supporting a low-pitched roof. Nothing could well be simpler than the struc- tural conditions thus expressed. But the artistic expression of them is not so simple. This depends in the main upon the proportion observed between the pillars and the weight, or apparent weight, above them. If the pillars are too massive or too numerous there will be no sense of strain, and if they are too slender or too few there will be no sense of security. In either case the expression of vital energy in the structure will be imperfect, and beauty, which waits