| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Essays & Lectures by Oscar Wilde: on their work are the traces of their hand. But it is not so with
the painter; it is not so with the artist.
Art should have no sentiment about it but its beauty, no technique
except what you cannot observe. One should be able to say of a
picture not that it is 'well painted,' but that it is 'not
painted.'
What is the difference between absolutely decorative art and a
painting? Decorative art emphasises its material: imaginative art
annihilates it. Tapestry shows its threads as part of its beauty:
a picture annihilates its canvas: it shows nothing of it.
Porcelain emphasises its glaze: water-colours reject the paper.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: this excavated people, foreigners, who are not prone to reflection,
experience at first a movement of disgust towards the capital, that
vast workshop of delights, from which, in a short time, they cannot
even extricate themselves, and where they stay willingly to be
corrupted. A few words will suffice to justify physiologically the
almost infernal hue of Parisian faces, for it is not in mere sport
that Paris has been called a hell. Take the phrase for truth. There
all is smoke and fire, everything gleams, crackles, flames,
evaporates, dies out, then lights up again, with shooting sparks, and
is consumed. In no other country has life ever been more ardent or
acute. The social nature, even in fusion, seems to say after each
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells: "It was shockingly unfair. I have always realized that. I've
done what I could to make things up to her. . . . Heaven
knows what counter disappointments she has concealed. . . .
But it is no good arguing about rights and wrongs now. This
is not an apology for my life. I am telling you what
happened.
"Not for me to judge," said Dr. Martineau. "Go on."
"By marrying I had got nothing that my soul craved for, I had
satisfied none but the most transitory desires and I had
incurred a tremendous obligation. That obligation didn't
restrain me from making desperate lunges at something vaguely
|
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: themselves before the rabbit's burrow the hole appeared
to them like the entrance to a tunnel, which indeed it
was.
"I'll go first," said wee Polychrome, who had made
herself grow as small as the others, and into the
tunnel she danced without hesitation. A tiny Scarecrow
went next and then the two funny little tin men.
"Walk in; it's your turn," said the Blue Rabbit to
Woot the Wanderer. "I'm coming after, to see how you
get along. This will be a regular surprise party to
Nimmie Amee."
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
