Mavarine Du-Marie
Personal ID: M2515473
The Open University
Question
“Only someone who has his own religion, his own original way of looking at infinity, can be an
artist.” Friedrich Schlegel, Ideas, 13.
By close reference to texts by the early German Romantics, explain how they would justify this
conception of the artist.
Number of words: 1,905
Page 1 of 7
The dissatisfaction of the German Romantics was due to the Enlightenment being so
rationalised, as it left the notion of sentimentality out in the cold1. Therefore the above
statement of Friedrich Schelegel was an exposition regarding Romanticism based
upon the ‘purpose’ of emotions and the desire to ‘value’ it through the means of an
artist-genius; translating their artistic work into a ‘meaningful’ aesthetic experience,
thus ‘enriching’ the understanding of the creative spiritual force within Man.
However, the German Romantics had to establish the concept of an artist-genius
which differed from that of a merely enlightened artisan, then set out the principle and
model of this artist-genius’ works as “only someone who has his own religion, his
own original way of looking at infinity, can be an artist.”
So in explanation, the ‘artist-genius’ is the someone in the above statement who’s
efficacious because of the qualities he imbues, such as empathy and the intuition of
what is occurring in the external world, but, having a sensitivity within himself to
express these profound insights is what’s called ento-ectad2 meaning ‘outwards from
within’. Thereby turning their works of art into meaningful displays of affection and
acroteric; pertaining to the extremities of emotions with an appreciation of their
infinite epagoge3 meaning ‘to induce reasoning’, which naturally, would affect the
spectator to whom he has touched in spirit, thus gaining a mutual exchange of
emotional benefits through works of art, which makes the artist-genius estimable.
This deserving admiration of the ‘artist-genius’ was because Romanticism recognised
Mavarine Du-Marie
Personal ID: M2515473
The Open University
“...the concept of being [which] unlocks the door to a whole new
universe of meaning, for the reality which brings before the mind
[which] is so luminous with intelligibility that it overflows the limits
of its idea — it is so rich in import that we have to use new concepts
to express these new flashes of meaning. These new concepts do not
add anything to being for whatever they express is also being; they
simply make explicit for us what is already implicit in the idea of
being...”4
and its this idiom, in the philosophical realm of the ‘artist-genius’ for which the
German Romantics began to expound. As the German Romantics, during the
eighteenth century, were a group of cognoscenti as they held an informed appreciation
of the fine arts, and it was also their belief that “only an artist can divine the meaning
of life...”5 and that it was the artist-genius who was “the final guardian of truth.”6
How this was to be achieved through the artist’s will7, as he moulded his ideas by
utilising the imagination to be formative, thus it was the artist-genius creative power
manifested, for as stated “...the artistic imagination, [..] does not imitate the world, but
in a special way creates its own, with a further goal in view.”8 This established the
purpose of emotions as striving for the possibilities of the human spirit to bring about
changes in society by focusing on the individual from the insights of the artist-genius
who was endowed with the conception of Art.
Thereat, the reason for the artist-genius esteemed position having been endowed with
artistic properties, was again explained by the Germans during the Romantic period,
as the belief of the artist being “...[of] one mind that is reality must also be infinite:
the mental is by definition not spatial (it is not in any place at all) and without form,
and what is existent but without form in infinite...”9 which could encompass what the
ancient spirit was all about, and its was through the medium of an ‘artist-genius’ to
explain this power of imagination for an understanding of the human nature and of the
ultimate reality: the spirit. For this romantic idealism of the spirit came about
regarding the concept of art because
Mavarine Du-Marie
Personal ID: M2515473
The Open University
“...the Grecian ideal of human nature was perfect unison and
proportion between all the powers, — a natural harmony. The
moderns, on the contrary, having arrived at the consciousness of an
internal discord which renders such an ideal impossible [and] the
impressions of the senses are to be hallowed, as it were, by a
mysterious connexion with higher feelings; and the soul, on the other
hand, embodies its forebodings, or indescribable intuitions of infinity,
in types and symbols borrowed from the visible world...”10
as stated by August Wilheml Schlegel in his course of lectures on the dramatic art and
literature, as it appreciated the niche of the artist-genius to explore actively this
personified phenomenon.
Thus the active exploration of Romanticism during the eighteenth century made it
possible to view the realities of being human, that is, the mental and imagined faculty
within us as “...this connecting link is furnished by criticism, which both elucidates
the history of arts, and makes the theory fruitful...”11 and thereby duly familiarising us
with a spiritual self and worldliness that manifested in artwork, which wasn’t
mechanical nor functioned under causal laws giving a truly aesthetic experience, for
as stated “...[w]orks of art, in general, are at best a partial fit with theories of art. This
does not entail that theorizing about art is foolish: it has it own value in summarizing
trends and making shifts in artistic preoccupations clearer...”12 which was about
striving for an understanding of the universal creativity that exists and the artistgenius who sought to convey this reality in differing art forms.
This universal creativity, with reference to the statement of Friedrich Schlegel, that
“[o]nly someone who has his own religion, his own original way of looking at
infinity...,”13 could be regarded that he saw Romanticism on par with religion due to
its complexity and variety, as was also stated by Johann Georg Hamnn (1730-1788)
“...God speaks to us through his works, through the world that gave
us, and in particular to our senses — do not seek to reduce him or his
Mavarine Du-Marie
Personal ID: M2515473
The Open University
world to some inner core, some irreducible and ultimate entity.
Accept what is given — flesh, passion — and do not attempt to
explain them, transform them, or deduce them. What is given is
given; to learn to submit is to learn to understand...”14
as it was the closest an ‘artist-genius’ had, of his own, in reverence to the creative
process of looking beyond the fixed nature to be found in materialism and of an
artificer, as
“....this is joy in creation, sensuous joy. God himself was made
flesh, else he could not discourse to us, who also are flesh; but we
have divided the spirit and the flesh. To gather the fragments
together — disjecti membra poetae — is the work of a scholar; to
interpret them, of a philosopher; to imitate them or shape them, of
the poet...”15
who is the artist-genius, a creator who has the power of revivification as “....only the
free can understand or inspire or be inspired; and freedom consists in being at once
one’s master and one’s most faithful subject; acceptance of general rules was always
slavery — ‘he who trusts the judgement of another more than his own ceases to be a
man....”16, thereby an action of creativity, such as this freedom would entail, would
result in an intimate act of conceiving Art on religious grounds, as also said by
Friedrich Schlegel in his aforementioned ‘Idea 13’ so succinctly.
As the conception of art, in its differing forms, was the preoccupation of the German
Romantics who analysed the manifestation of artistic works based upon a certain
criteria, as set out by Jean Le Rond D’Alembert;
“...the kind of depiction which are speaking here demands a subtle
and profound study of the shadings which differentiate our
sensations; thus it is not to be hoped that these shadings will be
distinguished by an ordinary talent [but] grasped by the man of
Mavarine Du-Marie
Personal ID: M2515473
The Open University
genius, perceived by the man of taste, understood by the man of
intelligence, they are lost on the multitude....”17
as it was crucial in the matter of describing the condition regarding the discourse of
Romanticism and Art. Therefore, the principle activity of the artist-genius was to try
and convey ideas in context of experiences, as the German Romantic writer Wilhelm
Wackenroder explains that
“...a precious painting is not a paragraph of a textbook which
when with a brief effort I have extracted the meaning of the
words, I then set aside as a useless shell: rather, in superior works
of art the enjoyment continues on and on without ceasing. We
believe that we penetrating deeper and deeper into them and,
nevertheless, they continuously arouse our sense anew and we
foresee no boundary at which our soul would have exhausted
them. There is aflame within them an eternally burning oil of life,
which is never extinguished before our eyes...,”18
which would be the state of ‘epanorthosis’ 19 meaning an emphatic repetition, being
sought after by the Romantics during the eighteenth century and this stimulation was
necessary for the imaging’s not to be in a state of mental stasis.20
Thus, the model artwork of the romantic artist-genius had to embody a variety of
emotions, either by creating what could be seen, for example painting, architecture,
sculpture and garden design, to that of what was portrayed by a sense of feeling, for
example music and literature, as the experience of this work was supposed to move
the learned man to an exalted state of being and this would not occur easily without
the artistic activity of an artist-genius21.
Thereat again, the aforementioned explanation of the person called an ‘artist-genius’
was the belief that he held within himself an ability of expressing emotions, based
upon the principle and model of artwork, as written about by the German Romantics,
Mavarine Du-Marie
Personal ID: M2515473
The Open University
to enable the learned individual to perceive his own infinite mind and have a profound
effect on their human spirit, therefore the activity from the artist-genius would only be
justified if
“...in the creation of a work of art [...] unless the artists really have
something they wish to convey, unless there is some genuine and
real imaginative experience behind it, the work of art will be
lifeless [and] to be successful modern art need not be like any
previous model; rather, it must be true to the concerns that give it
life. This is the idea that art can be authentic, which enters
European consciousness at this point...”22
in other words not based on ‘art for art sake’ by an artist nor their work consisting of
eiusdem generis which is Latin for ‘of the same kind’23 but occupying the distinct
realm of original Art created by an artist-genius.
Therefore, there is a strong reason to believe that other German Romantics would
justify the above statement of Friedrich Schlegel, because as stated “....the romantic
outlook is always alive to its epoch, and every epoch is different. Change is constant,
and so the art that reflects it must also change constantly (it is always a state of
‘becoming’). We rely on the imaginative genius or artist to respond appropriately to
changes, for the artist is closest to the spirit.”24 Thereby recognising that the artistgenius could live beyond his masterpiece and into infinity of the human mind,
especially when it’s absorbed into the faculty of the imagination thus creating his own
religion based upon the notion of romanticism.
In short, an explanation has now been given that does clarify the beliefs and idealism
of a divine human being called the artist-genius, thus justifying the aforementioned
statement regarding the concept of an artist by Friedrich Schlegel — unarguably.
REFERENCES
Mavarine Du-Marie
Personal ID: M2515473
The Open University
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Mavarine Du-Marie
Personal ID: M2515473
The Open University
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