Even the draftsman who draws a poster
ought to give up the ambition to create a perfect picture. It might
have the power to attract attention, but it would hardly serve its
true purpose of fixing the attention on the article which is
advertised by the picture. The very meaning of beauty lies in its
self-completeness. The beautiful picture rests in itself and does not
point beyond itself. A really beautiful landscape painting is an end
in itself, and must not stir up the practical wish to visit the
landscape which has stimulated the eye of the painter. If the display
is to serve economic interests, every line and every curve, every form
and every color, must be subordinated to the task of leading to a
practical resolution, and to an action, and yet this is exactly the
opposite of the meaning of art. Art must inhibit action, if it is
perfect. The artist is not to make us believe that we deal with a real
object which suggests a practical attitude. The aesthetic forms are
adjusted to the main aesthetic aim, the inhibition of practical
desires. The display must be pleasant, tasteful, harmonious, and
suggestive, but should not be beautiful, if it is to fulfill its
purpose in the fullest sense. It loses its economic value, if by its
artistic quality it oversteps the boundaries of that middle region of
arts and crafts. This of course stands in no contradiction to the
requirement that the advertised article should be made to appear as
beautiful as possible.
Pages:
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234