File:History of art (1921) (14780941944).jpg

Identifier: historyofar02faur (find matches)
Title: History of art
Year: 1921 (1920s)
Authors: Faure, Elie, 1873-1937 Pach, Walter, 1883-1958
Subjects: Art
Publisher: New York and London : Harper & brothers
Contributing Library: PIMS - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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renity, the Taoist priest gathers from life everyengaging expression that he can find—the divine smileand the dance of women, the quizzical kindness of thesages, the childlike joy of the saved, the indescribableand blithe atmosphere in which floats the trinity ofhappiness. A strange sweetness emanates from allthose little works of wood and ivory, of jade andbronze, that people the pagodas and encumber the flatbaskets with the colored-paper signs along the crowdedstreets where the refuse of humanity accumulates. Inthe heart of this philosophic people the philosopher hasindeed extinguished all of that disquietude which racksmen, but so often causes them to rise higher. Whatmatter .f^ Situated as they are, they have the strengthof those who know little, but who are certain of whatthey know. Their peace is a little stupid, no doubt;their absence of cares, their absence of dreams, hassomething that perhaps irritates one in course of timeand is even unhealthful. But one reads in it such a
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KouAN-Hiou (?) Lohan, painting (first half of theX Century). (Charles Vignier Collection.) 80 MEDIAEVAL ART certitude of honesty that one feels oneself attachedto these men. They have given their singular expres-sion to the moral life by studying the incessant strugglethat takes place in the depths of human nature andby realizing that it has its origin in the aspirationtoward higher levels. The strange thing is that weshould see beauty in that struggle itself and that theChinese should find it in the victory his ancestors wonfor him in ages past. He expresses his obstinate,unlyrical enthusiasm for those who gave him repose ofconscience for all time. And it is the weight of thatrepose that we feel in his art. Therein lies the mystery of this soul which is com-plex on its surface, but infinitely simple in its depths.It achieves a science of form so sure that it can carrythe grimace of its logic to a point that we should callimpossible; but it can also attain to essential and pro-found b

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