The Indispensable East
The work explores the dichotomy between Eastern and Western artistic traditions, emphasizing the superiority of Orientalism in decorative arts. It argues that Eastern art, characterized by its rejection of imitation and embrace of artistic convention, leads to imaginative and beautiful creations. In contrast, Western art, which often seeks to replicate nature, results in vulgarity and lack of originality. Historical examples illustrate how periods of strong Eastern influence, such as in Byzantium, Sicily, and Spain, produced exceptional artistic achievements. The text critiques modern Western art forms, such as tapestry and stained glass, for their adherence to realism and lack of beauty. It suggests that a return to Eastern methods and philosophies is necessary for revitalizing Western art, advocating for an artistic approach that prioritizes creativity over mere representation. The central thesis posits that true artistic education should stem from an understanding of art itself rather than the natural world.
By Oscar Wilde · First published 1887 · Genre: Essays, Art Criticism, Cultural Commentary · 403 words
First lines
What is true about the drama and the novel is no less true about those arts that we call the decorative arts. The whole history of these arts in Europe is the record of the struggle between Orientalism, with its frank rejection of imitation, its love of artistic convention, its dislike to the actual representation of any object in Nature, and our own imitative spirit. Wherever the former has been paramount, as in Byzantium, Sicily and Spain, by actual contact, or in the rest of Europe by the influence of the Crusades, we have had beautiful and imaginative work in which the visible things of life are transmuted into artistic conventions, and the things that Life has not are invented and fashioned for her delight. But wherever we have returned to Life and Nature, our work has always become vulgar, common and uninteresting. Modern tapestry, with its aerial effects, its elaborate perspective, its broad expanses of waste sky, its faithful and laborious realism, has no beauty whatsoever. The pictorial glass of Germany is absolutely detestable. We are beginning to weave possible carpets in England, but only because we have returned to the method and spirit of the East. Our rugs and carpets of twenty years ago, with their solemn depressing truths, their inane worship of Nature, their sordid reproductions of visible objects, have become, even to the Philistine, a source of laughter. A cultured Mahomedan once remarked to us, "You Christians are so occupied in misinterpreting the fourth commandment that you have never thought of making an artistic application of the second. " He was perfectly right, and the whole truth of the matter is this: The proper school to learn art in is not Life but Art. -- _The Decay of Lying_.
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The Indispensable East is listed on Textopian as an essay by Oscar Wilde, dated 1887 CE.
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- Work type: Essay
- Author: Oscar Wilde
- Date: 1887 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Essays, Art Criticism, Cultural Commentary, Philosophy, Literary Criticism
- Length: 403 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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Genres
- Essays — The work presents a critical analysis of art and aesthetics, characteristic of essay writing.
- Art Criticism — The text discusses the nature of art, particularly the influence of Orientalism and its contrast with Western artistic traditions.
- Cultural Commentary — The work reflects on cultural influences and the evolution of artistic expression across different societies.
- Philosophy — The text engages with philosophical ideas about art, imitation, and the nature of beauty.
Tags
Literary Fiction · Philosophical Themes · Social Commentary · Satire · Humor · Irony · Existentialism · Absurdism · Critique of Society · Critique of Culture · Critique of Politics · Morality