Nearly everyone cares — or says he cares — about art. After all, art ennobles the spirit, elevates the mind, and educates the emotions. Or does it? — “The End of Art” by Roger Kimball, Copyright (c) 2008 First Things (June/July 2008).
How about The End of Art? Take some time to reflect upon and discuss this article with friends, family, and the blog over Thanksgiving break. To tease you a little, here’s the conclusion after ruminations on Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Jones, Murray, modern/postmodern art (to drop a few of, but not all of the names):
Man is the sort of creature whose nature is to delight in art and aesthetic experience; I believe that he is also, by nature, a religious animal — a creature who becomes who he really is only by acknowledging something that transcends him. These different aspects of humanity will often conspire, but we do both a disservice if we blur or elide their essential difference.
