Griggs, E: Philosophy of Art

Excerpt from The Philosophy of Art: The Meaning and Relations of Sculpture, Painting, Poetry and Music

Goethe's study of the behavior of the emperor and court toward Helena in the Second Part of Faust is the most scathing portrayal I know in literature of the whimsical reaction of the world of polite society on the miraculous crea tion of beauty which should inspire silent awe.

How prevalent the same attitude is to-day! Consider the behavior of persons wandering through a gallery of painting, saying, I like this or dislike that, as if they had the right to like or dislike until they have appreciated and understood what of human thought and feeling is given, and with what measure of adequacy and harmony. Go to the Metropoli tan Opera House in New York, when some masterpiece of Wagner ls given. Where you find the true music lovers? Oh, everywhere, of course - one wants to be fair - but many of them are standing up in the top gallery; while, of the high-priced boxes in the great oval, many are empty the first hour and empty the last half hour - society displaying itself and its clothes as at any other function, with no no tion of the attitude necessary to the creation and appreciation of true art.

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