“ Beauty must come back to the useful arts, and the distinction between the fine and the useful arts be forgotten. ”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Art (1841). copy citation
| Author | Ralph Waldo Emerson |
|---|---|
| Source | Art |
| Topic | beauty distinction |
| Date | 1841 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | in "Essays: First Series" |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Essays:_First_Series/Art |
Context
“it stands in the imagination as somewhat contrary to nature, and struck with death from the first. Would it not be better to begin higher up, — to serve the ideal before they eat and drink; to serve the ideal in eating and drinking, in drawing the breath, and in the functions of life? Beauty must come back to the useful arts, and the distinction between the fine and the useful arts be forgotten. If history were truly told, if life were nobly spent, it would be no longer easy or possible to distinguish the one from the other. In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive;”
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