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Various

"The Germ Thoughts towards Nature in Poetry, Literature and Art"

" Thus then we have, definitely stated, the powers or
capabilities of _Fine Art_, as regulated and governed by the objects
it selects, and the objects it selects making its subject. Now the
question in hand is, "what the nature of that _subject_ should be,"
but the _subject_ must be according to what Fine Art proposes to
effect; all then must depend upon this proposition. For if you
propose that Fine Art shall excite sensual pleasure, then such
objects as excite sensual pleasure should form the _subject_ of Fine
Art; and those which excite sensual pleasure in the highest degree,
will form the _highest subject_--'High Art.' Or if you propose that
Fine Art shall excite a physical energetic activity, by addressing
the sensory organism, which is a phase of the former proposition,
(for what are popularly called sensual pleasures, are only particular
sensory excitements sought by a physical appetite, while this
sensory-organic activity is physically appetent also,) then the
subjects of art ought to be draw form such objects as excite a
general activity, such as field-sports, bull-fights, battles,
executions, court pageants, conflagrations, murders; and those which
most intensely excite this sensory-organic activity, by expressing
most of physical human power or suffering, such as battles,
executions, regality, murder, would afford the _highest subject_ of
Fine Art, and consequently these would be "_High Art_.


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