The Picture of Dorian Gray

The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban

not seeing his own face in a glass. The moral life of man forms part

of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists

in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. No artist desires to prove

anything. Even things that are true can be proved. No artist has

ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an

unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid. The artist

can express everything. Thought and language are to the artist

instruments of an art. Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for

an art. From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is

the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the

actor's craft is the type. All art is at once surface and symbol.

Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read

the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life,

that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art

shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree,

the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making

a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for

making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

Dettagli