One never finishes learning about art. There are always new things to discover. Great works of art seem to look different every time one stands before them. They seem to be as inexhaustible and unpredictable as real human beings. It is an exciting world of it's own with it's own strange laws and it's own adventures. Nobody should think he knows all about it, for nobody does. Nothing, perhaps, is more important than just this: that to enjoy these works we must have a fresh mind, one which is ready to catch every hint and to respond to every hidden harmony: a mind, most of all, not cluttered up with long high-sounding words and ready-made phrases. It is infinitely better not to know anything about art than to have the kind of half-knowledge which makes for snobbishness. The danger is very real. there are people, for instance, who have picked up the simple points I have tried to make in this chapter, and who understand that there are great works of art which have none of the obvious qualities of beauty of expression or correct draughtsmanship, but who become so proud of their knowledge that they pretend to like only those works which are neither "beautiful" nor "correctly drawn". They are always haunted by the fear that they might be considered uneducated if they confessed to liking a work which they really find somewhat repulsive. I should hate to be responsible for any similar misunderstanding. I would rather not be believed at all then be believed in such an uncritical way.
The Essential Gombrich: Selected Writings on Art and Culture, E.H. Gombrish (page 79)
Neat image I found whilst googling:
No comments:
Post a Comment