Sunday, February 12, 2012

WILDE: GROUP I




GROUP I
[POSTED BY REBECCA]
What do you think of the passage “Where, if not from the Impressionists, do we get those wonderful brown fogs that come creeping down our streets, blurring the gas-lamps and changing the houses into monstrous shadows”? Does Vivian truly believe that these fogs have imitated scenery by Impressionists? “There may have been fogs for centuries in London. I dare say there were. But no one saw them, and so we do not know anything about them. They did not exist till Art had invented them.” What is he trying to say?

                

4 comments:

  1. In the passage, “Where, if not from the Impressionists, do we get those wonderful brown fogs that come creeping down our streets, blurring the gas-lamps and changing the houses into monstrous shadows?” (Wilde, 189) Vivian is giving an example of how art influences reality, and proving his point on how through art people experience the beauties of Nature. Vivian goes on to say, “Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it depends on the Arts that have influenced us” (189), showing that through their art, Impressionists are helping people see beauty, “At present people see fogs, not because there are fogs, but because poets and painters have taught them the mysterious loveliness of such effects” (189). The Impressionists artistic image of the fog is what has allowed people to notice and see the beauty in them, something they would not be able to do, according to Vivian, without Art.
    Further on in the passage it is stated by Vivian that, “There may have been fogs for centuries in London. I dare say there were. But no one saw them, and so we do not know anything about them. They did not exist till Art had invented them” (189). Here he is saying that, “one does not see anything until one sees its beauty” (189), and people are only able to see the beauty of something through the medium of art, and through the artists who are able to create that art. This makes me wonder that without the transformative and aesthetic capabilities of artists would people ever be able to experience beauty on their own or would they have to go about the world merely “looking at things” and never truly “seeing them” (189)?

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  2. When Wilde writes that "Where, if not from the Impressionists, do we get those wonderful brown fogs that come creeping down our streets, blurring the gas-lamps and changing the houses into monstrous shadows? (Wilde, 189) the character of Vivian is questioning the ability of the public as a whole in its ability to recognize beauty without the help of Art. This is further evidenced when Vivian goes on to say that "At present, people see fogs, not because there are fogs, but because poets and painters have taught them the mysterious loveliness of such effects. There may have been fogs for centuries in London. I dare say there were. But no one saw them, and so we do not know anything about them. They did not exist till Art had invented them," (189). I believe this goes along with Vivian's low opinion of the public's ability to perceive beauty or possess intelligence. He voices his views on the public early on in the work, when he states that "Thinking is the most unheal
    thy thing in the world, and people die of it just as they die of any other disease. Fortunately, in England at any rate, thought is not cartching. Our splendid physique as a people is entirely due to our national stupidity," (169). Vivian does however conceded that, in his opinion worryingly, people are beginning to become overeducated and as such their happiness could be at risk.

    In my opinion Vivian's viewpoint is overly exaggerated in order to get the reader thinking about Art and the relationship which a largely unobservant public has with it. Do you believe that with this work Wilde is offering a criticism of the realist movement in art or that he is attempting to prod the reader into realizing the worth of art forms from the past in addition to modern movements?

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  3. This passage from The Decay of Lying is about art’s ability to construct a person’s reality. According to Vivian, “Art is our spirited protest, our gallant attempt to teach Nature her proper place” (Wilde, 168). In this sense, art does not copy nature; rather it is the means by which people see order in nature. By viewing art, a person sees a part of nature that they may have overlooked or not appreciated, but when an artist emphasizes a certain part or aspect of nature a person can then have a better appreciation for nature that did not exist prior to art. The fogs in the passage are not new obviously, but they were just ordinary. Then, an artist comes to “lie,” so to speak about the fogs so that they can be viewed in a new way because people see nature through the lens of the artist.
    Art that only copies nature, or literature that only deals with the most realistic subjects and people is boring. Critiquing realist and naturalist literature, Vivian observes that analyzing real human subjects is boring, because “The only real people are the people who never existed” (Wilde, 175). Like the fog, this means that the purpose of art is to create something better then life, by idealizing it, by lying. The lies of the artist are what make people aspire to want better things and be better people, or to see good in others. Again, art is how our reality is shaped, people do not see things in nature or humanity until it is pointed out or expanded on in art.

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  4. Oscar Wilde’s essay examines aestheticism through a unique lens in which he describes art as a truly independent and expressive entity. He believes that art is remarkable in a sense that it embodies self-expression, “Art never expresses anything but itself. It has an independent life.” (192) “In no case does it reproduce its age.” (193). Vivian truly believes that the fogs have imitated scenery by Impressionists. Vivian is writing a critique of nature by comparing art against nature. To him, it is nature which mirrors art: “Where, if not from the Impressionists, do we get those wonderful brown fogs that come creeping down our streets, blurring the gas-lamps and changing the houses into monstrous shadows?” (189). In this statement we are left with the impression that art is not only self-expressive, but also something of a cure for natures flaws. Art exists as an entity which is alienated from its time because it guides us. It is what leads us and shapes our perceptions and not the other way around.

    While reading Wilde’s essay, I was left to question what the artists’ role was in creating art. Is the painter, writer, or sculptor a component of art’s expressive beauty? Does he declare any agency in his art? Or is he merely a conduit through which Art can live, breathe and express itself?

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