"If you watch the movement of a bird on the wing, see the beauty of every movement of the sky... - JK

(Well, on a personal note, this post comes quick and fast, a kinda back-to-back-blogpost in the series, thanks to some wonderful motivation, cute comments and valuable suggestions by a fab four – Mr. Shaji, Ms. Sharon, Ms. Priya, and Mr. Dinesh! Thank you much for your mails, and your messages, that real egged me on and proved the spur to burn my midnight oil and do this post at the fag end of this year! Love you guys! Keep rocking y’all!)

Myriad Responses to Beauty in Literature – III

Beauty has always been twin sisters to truth since time immemorial, and this aspect of its harmonious coexistence has never been so powerfully exemplified as has been done by the 18^th century poets, philosophers, composers and painters!

Wordsworth is all awe, when he admits to succumbing to the charms of this beauty, the rich beauty contained within nature, in his autobiographical poem, The Prelude!

I grew up

Foster'd alike by beauty and by fear;

Much favour'd in my birthplace, and no less

In that beloved Vale to which, erelong,

I was transplanted.

[from The Prelude: Book 1: Childhood and School-time]

Similarly, Hegel’s philosophy of art (that reflects to a great part streaks from off his mentorial philos, Kant and Schiller), is synonymous with a passionate celebration of beauty in art, vis-à-vis the arts of architecture, sculpture, painting, music and poetry.

Art, to Hegel, is an expression of the spirit’s understanding of itself, not in pure concepts, [as does philosophy], or in the multifarious images of faith, [as in religion], but in and through objects! Such objects – be it hewn out of stone, wood, color, music, sound or words – tend to bring out this ‘freedom of spirit’ to an audience. This sensuous expression of ‘free spirit’ constitutes beauty, according to Hegel.

To put it short, Art then, to Hegel, exists, not just for art’s sake, but for beauty’s sake too!

Something akin to what Immanuel Kant exemplifies on beauty! To Kant, again, the true experience of beauty is an experience of freedom!

For more on Hegel’s philosophy of art, a very interesting primer would merit an insightful understanding to some of the postulates put forth by this philosopher of the aesthetic, written by Stephen Bungay! It’s titled, Beauty and Truth: A Study of Hegel's Aesthetics and it examines Hegel’s postulates on beauty and truth in such intricate detail.

Well, how elegantly, Hegel syncs here, with J. Krishnamurti’s concept of beauty!

In his profoundly insightful read, titled, Letters to the Schools, Volume 1, Krishnamurti says, One must bear in mind constantly that freedom is essential for the beauty of goodness. Meaning to say that, once freedom is lost, there is no celebration of beauty or goodness! Hence to JK, ‘love, freedom, goodness and beauty’ are one!

On the beauty-truth connect, he’s got this to say: “Truth has no path, and that is the beauty of truth, it is living.”

I guess, some immortal lines from JK would serve to invigorate, inspire and impact our sensibilities for the better, on his awesommy take on beauty! Here goes –

If your eyes are blinded with your worries, you cannot see the beauty of the sunset. Most of us have lost touch with nature. Civilisation is tending more and more towards large cities; we are becoming more and more an urban people, living in crowded apartments and having very little space even to look at the sky of an evening and morning, and therefore we are losing touch with a great deal of beauty. If you are directly in contact with nature; if you watch the movement of a bird on the wing, see the beauty of every movement of the sky, watch the shadows on the hills or the beauty on the face of another, do you think you will want to go to any museum to look at any picture? Perhaps it is because you do not know how to look at all the things about you that you resort to some form of drug to stimulate you to see better. There.

- Freedom from the Known

Connect this with Bertrand Russell’s philosophy on freedom, in his ruminations on Education, and you have a fascinating blend there!

To Ludwig van Beethoven, again, Music is a revelation greater than any philosophy, as music elevates the soul with beauty! Widely regarded by scholars the world over, as the greatest composer who’s ever lived, Beethoven’s music strives to bring out the beauty of humanism in all its splendor. To Beethoven, the power of music lies in its ability to convey a beautiful philosophy to humankind!

Bertel Thorvaldsen is yet another painter-sculptor who was obsessed with beauty, especially with the beautiful mythological figures of the past! The son of a wood carver, Thorvaldsen, right from an early age, showed signs of being an excellent painter, and hence was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, at the tender age of eleven. He soon excelled in bringing out classical mythological figures live on marble, with such fine, nuanced and astute sculpting prowess, right from classical medallions to realistic, life-like busts. Most of his works were done on white marble.

He dedicated all his works to his people, and his ‘single-artist’ museum still holds fort as the first public museum building in Denmark, and a pioneering one at that!

Hebe, the goddess of youth, and the most beautiful of goddesses, proved an inspirational start to Thorvaldsen, as, according to him, ‘she possessed pure beauty!’ His exquisite art work on a life-size sculpture in marble of Hebe, is for sure, one of his finest sculptural marvels, and proves a real treat to the eyes and the heart as well! In mythology, Hebe was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus!

“Venus with the Apple” is yet another exquisite art work that’s appealed to art lovers across the globe!

As the story goes, Eris, the goddess of discord was visibly upset and angry at not having been invited to the wedding banquet of a king and a sea nymph, and so resolving forthwith to create trouble at the party, she threw a golden apple into the banquet hall. On it was written: “For the fairest goddess!” Naturally, Juno, Minerva and Venus, thought that the apple must belong to them, by default! In the squabble that ensued, the three goddesses brought forth their dispute before Zeus, who in turn chose a youth named Paris to be the arbitrator!

Paris realized the next-to-impossible situation that was staring at him! And added to his woes, splitting the prize of beauty was not an option as all three goddesses refused to accept on this proposition! And, each goddess tried her best to charm and win over Paris to choose her.

Finally, Paris decreed that the golden apple shall go to Venus, the goddess of beauty and love! This awe-inspiring sculpture by Thorvaldsen depicts Venus just after the beauty contest.

As the pictures are copyright, I request y’all to visit their website at thorvaldsensmuseumdotdk to view these delightful sculptural marvels in all their grandeur!

Well, this post has a little surprise in store for the eager-beaver-reader! I’ve tried connecting the concept of ‘beauty’ in Wordsworth, Hegel, Beethoven and Thorvaldsen, for quite a reason, this season! Hope you’ve found out the code to it, by now!

Best wishes, folks!

To be contd…

Image courtesy: 
JK: Amazondotcom
Birds: allfreedownloadsdotcom
Museum: copenhagenetdotdk