Art for Arts Sake

A study of John Ruskin and Oscar Wilde’s Views on Art In the late nineteenth century a movement known as â€Å"Art for Art’s Sake† occurred, which consists of the appreciation of art for what it truly is; just art. At that time many critics tried to find moral and intellectual meanings within works of art. Many artists united to defend art, two authors who defend the concept of art are John Ruskin and Oscar Wilde. In his work From The Stones of Venice, John Ruskin exults and admires gothic architecture because its gives the artist the freedom of creativity and self-expression. In his preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde alike Ruskin defends the concept that art is â€Å"useless† and that it must be admired for what it is, which is just simply art. The following goes into more detail on the ideas Ruskin and Wilde have on art. In From the Stones of Venice [The Savageness of Gothic Architecture], John Ruskin presents his fondness for Gothic architecture because of the freedom it gives to man, he also points out that he finds southern Europe more appealing than Northern Europe because it is darker. In the following, Ruskin presents the system of architectural ornaments; in which he particularly prefers revolutionary ornaments because there is no difference between the architect and the workers and so they are all equal. The following passage presents each system: The systems of architectural ornament, properly so called, might be divided into three:1. Servile ornament, in which the execution or power of the inferior workman is entirely subjected to the intellect of the higher; 2. Constitutional ornament, in which the executive inferior power is, to a certain point, emancipated and independent, having a will of its own, yet confessing its inferiority and rendering obedience to higher powers; and 3. Revolutionary ornament, in which no executive inferiority is admitted at all. (Ruskin, 1326) John Ruskin goes on to elaborate his favoritism of imperfection. For Ruskin something that is perfect does not mean that is good and that the search for perfection is weakness and that passion for perfection will lead to the slavery of the mind. Ruskin believes that mental slavery is far worse than physical slavery; for Ruskin gothic ornaments such as gargoyles and goblins are signs of liberty and gives the worker a certain level of independence. Ruskin elaborates â€Å"accurately speaking, no good work whatever can be perfect and the demand for perfection is always a sign of a misunderstanding of the ends of art† (Ruskin, 1333). For him, imperfection is far more superior to the quest of perfection. In the eyes or Ruskin, art must be imperfect and it must be noble; he points out â€Å"A most important truth, that no architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect† (Ruskin, 1333). His reasons for loving imperfection, is because nothing in nature or in life is perfect and so art must reflect that. John Ruskin ends his work by expressing his thoughts on art in the following passage â€Å"Accept this then, for a universal law, that neither architecture nor any other noble work of man can be good unless it be imperfect†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Ruskin, 1334). In Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde alike Ruskin defends art for what it is. Wilde commences by pointing or that â€Å"The artist is a creator of beautiful things†¦. Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming† (Wilde, 1697). Wilde embodies the â€Å"Art for Art sake† movement with this passage because he elaborates that artist create beautiful things for the enjoyment and that those who try to find a more intellectual meaning behind it are corrupt. Wilde goes on to defend imperfection just as John Ruskin, he presents his thoughts of morality and imperfection in the following â€Å" The moral life of man forms part of the subject matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium†(Wilde, 1698). In this passage, Wilde points out that morality and art are two separate things and they both form a part of the life of the artist; there is no connection between art and moral. Oscar Wilde believes that the artificial is better than nature because unlike nature that changes and withers, art captures a moment and preserves it. For him, the form is only important and the content does not matter. The most important part of his work is at the very end in which Wilde elaborates the following â€Å"The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless† (Wilde, 1698). Oscar Wilde does not literally mean that art is useless but rather that art is made for admiration and so it must be enjoyed for what it is and not be used to find a deeper meaning. John Ruskin and Oscar Wilde embody the â€Å"Art for Art’s sake† movement because they enjoy art for what it is, which is simply art. They both rejected the concept that art has to be studied because it holds a deeper moral lesson. For them, true beauty lies in the imperfection, because in life nothing is truly perfect. Wilde and Ruskin believe that art is a form of liberation and freedom; for them art is created to be admired and enjoyed.

Shakespeare Othello Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Shakespeare Othello - Essay Example The film is presented in the same environment featuring the violent, catching and emotional story of friendship, love and betrayal. In Burge’s film, this quality is intensified and told in a passionate manner. In the film, Othello compares to the original Othello in Shakespeare’s play. Olivier plays the role of Othello in Blackface. Burge makes Olivier adopt an exotic accent, introduce a special walking style and speak in a deeper voice incomparable to his normal voice. He shows excellent leadership skills and a bright future. He dates Maggie Smith who acts as Desdemona (Fischlin and Fortier 234). In one interview Burger said, â€Å"†¦I found the strength of the movie is that you play the plot and situation as straight forward as you can. Essentially it's an action thriller, but you've thrown Rowan Atkinson in the mix†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚  Just like the original play, Othello by Shakespeare, the heinous villain is a person who is a very close friend to Olivier. Frank F inley, representing Lago has gained trust and loyalty from Olivier as his best friend. The fact that Olivier has trust from the people makes Hugo feel bad because of the praises he gets from the public. This makes Lago develop a desire to destroy Olivier. Lago manipulates Olivier and makes him doubt the love and fidelity of Maggie smith towards him. When this gets out of hand, Olivier decides to murder Maggie and commits suicide after that.  Othello, as directed by Oliver Parker has almost the approach towards the play.   The setting is fifty percent of the original play and involves a black police officer who has gained praise in his department because of his integrity, competence at work and valuable principles. The main difference involves lopping of Shakespeare’s original text from the actual screenplay. Laurence Fishburn acts as Moor Othello. He is the commissioner responsible to confrontation of the Turkish army at Cyprus. Nathaniel Parker acting as Cassio and Iago are always the right-hand man men of Othello. Iago is not as faithful to him as Othello thinks he is. Because of his rage, hatred and jealousy, Jago decides to plot an issue that would cause Othello’

The Role of Culture, Rights, and Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Role of Culture, Rights, and Justice - Essay Example Nevertheless, it becomes clear that the requirement for the formation of government is a certain form of collective ideology or shared values, and the existence of such facilitates the formation of states in the local domain and its nonexistence prevents that same formation in the global arena. It is impossible to build a ‘world state’ if there is ‘no community willing and able to support it’ (Gienow-Hecht & Schumacher 2004, 28). Likewise, for liberal theorists, the international arena is distinguished by â€Å"competing codes, rival philosophical traditions, clashing conceptions of morality† (Gienow-Hecht & Schumacher 2004, 28), or â€Å"the absence of what might be called an international sense of community† (p. 28). At this point, culture is undoubtedly an essential part of the transformation of the international system. But for a long time, culture did not serve a clear function in international relations theories. Instead of exploring the interaction between cultures and the states of conflict, theories are rooted in another plane underneath culture, that is, the nature of human beings. The subject matter of human nature is characterised by homogeneity, not diversity as in the case of culture (Harrison 2004). In the meantime, for liberal theorists, moral codes for the behaviour of the political sphere of the international arena may be based on a theoretical state of nature; they could be described in relation to individuals’ natural rights (Brown et al. 2004). Hence, according to Wendt (1999).