First, the complete use of the medium. We
prefer, other things being equal, the work of art that has fully
exploited the expressive possibilities of its medium to one that has
failed to do so. As an illustration, I would cite the almost universal
condemnation, at the present time, of neo-classical sculpture, in which
the touch values of the surfaces of statues were destroyed. Of course
some compensating gain may be claimed--a greater visual purity; yet,
as we shall see, from the point of view of expression, the gain was
negligible compared with the loss. So likewise, unless the
_vers-libristes_ can show some positive gain in expression,--a
power to do something that normal verse cannot do, their work must
rank lower than normal verse, which makes fuller use of the rhythmic
possibilities of language.
Second, the unique use of the material. What we want of art depends,
not only on comparison between works of art belonging to the same
genre, but on comparison of the purposes of different genres, indeed
of the different arts themselves. What we want of painting depends
upon what we want of sculpture; what we want of poetry depends upon
what we want of painting and music. We compare picture with picture;
but equally we compare picture with statue and poem. We do not want
the sculptor to try to do what the painter can do better, and
vice-versa; or the poet to encroach on the domains proper to the
musician and painter. We do not want poetry to be merely imagistic or
merely musical when we have another art that can give us much better
pictures and still another that can give us much better music than any
word-painting or word-music.
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