Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/400

CHAPTER V. THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS. § I. Definition and Charactej^istics of Industrial Art, The expression, industrial art, has sometimes been severely criticised, but yet it answers to a real distinction founded upon the nature of things, and we do not see that it could be dispensed with. When the artist sets about making a statue or a picture his only aim is to produce a fine work. He does not take zttility, in the unphilosophic sense of the word, into account. The task which he sets before himself is to discover some form which shall truly interpret his own individual thoughts and feelings. This done, his end is accomplished. The resulting work of art is self- contained and self-sufficient. Its raison d'etre is to satisfy one of the deepest and most persistent desires of the human mind, the cesthetic sentiment, or instinct for the beatttiful. In the industrial arts it is different. When a cabinet-maker or a potter sets to work to produce an easy chair, or a vase, his first idea is to make a chair in which one may sit comfortably, or a vessel to v^^hich liquids may be safely entrusted and from v/hich they may be easily poured. At first, the artisan does not look beyond fulfilling these wants, but a time comes, and comes very soon, when he feels impelled to ornament the furniture or pottery upon which he is at work. He is no longer content to turn out that which is merely useful ; he wishes everything that comes from his hands to be rich and beautiful also. He begins by adding ornament made up of dots and geometrical lines ; this he soon follows up with forms borrowed from organic life, with leaves and flowers, with figures of men and animals ; and from an artisan he springs at once to be an artist. But his productions are strictly works of industrial art, and although they may deserve a high