Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c3.21

c3.21

Side by side with commercialism, the growth of irreligion has been destructive of the arts. Needless to say that by irreligion I do not refer to the decline of one or another particular form of dogmatic belief, but to the prevalence of that superficial view of life which concentrates the attention solely upon outward things, and not at all upon things of the imagination, real things. The distinction between naturalism and idealism in art is one that is fundamentally religious. It is the lack of a metaphysic in modern materialistic culture that makes it possible for the artist to find sufficient satisfaction in the imitation of beautiful appearances, and a sufficient aim for art in the giving of pleasure. This reduction of the highest aim of art from prophecy to amusement strikes at the root of any possible revival of true art,—which has to do, not with imitation, but imagination. Art that is driven to save its life, as in modern Europe, by emancipation from all metaphysical and subjective conceptions, is bound in the end to lose that life; it becomes, in fact, the work of amateurs lacking equally in inspiration and tradition. To reunite imagination with technique is as necessary as to reassociate art with labour.