Oscar Wilde's opinion on art is diverse. One would sense that he believes art is
used to determine the character of an individual. 'Those who find ugly meanings in
beautiful things are corrupt without being charming' (1) and 'Those who find beautiful
meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated.' (1) So the knowledge of art, it's translation
and it's effect on the soul is a defining quality of a person. Oscar Wilde takes
a standpoint that 'It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.' (2) and that art is
only useless if it is uninspiring and not heavily admired. Or the uselessness can be
forgiven if, indeed, it is heavily admired. Wilde states that 'The artist is the creator of
beautiful things' and Connoisseurs of the medium ponder under the symbols and surface
at their own peril, not over thinking it and that art is a powerful source of beauty or idiocy, revealing the
artist, with every stroke rather than the receiver. He employs wry humour in the end of the preface by blandly adding, 'All art is quite useless.' (2) after drilling on a paragraph and a half of the aspects of art and it's purposes of beauty and perils.
I'm glad you caught the satire. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's quintessential Wilde- there's sarcasm and jokes but he's also probably almost serious. It's possible he really DOES think all art is useless, and he knows that what he's saying is ridiculous after he just wrote a preface on the purpose of art.
I love your paragraph! I translated the preface almost exactly as you have(though your brilliance of wording is something I will never accomplish). I caught a sense of sarcasm too as I was reading through and noticed his "...art is useless." ending. At first I was a wee bit confused, but once I read over it a couple more times I picked up on his little joke.
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