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proposition that art develops the individual, for moral conduct is to a large extent dependent upon that self-respect which accompanies a properly developed personality. While the influence of aesthetic surroundings upon conduct cannot be exactly measured, it is evident that such forms of immorality as uncleanliness, drunkenness, and the general degradation which accompanies a slum population, are more unaesthetic in their origin than untruthfulness, for example, which depends more upon mental discipline than upon artistic appreciation. That an aesthetic environment does actually have an elevating influence has been sufficiently demonstrated by experiments in improving housing conditions, such as building model towns.

Mere development of personality is not, however, the total moral effect of aesthetic influences. Art counteracts the predisposition of the personality to become self-centered, by focusing attention upon abstract conceptions of the beautiful and the good existing outside of and beyond the individual; and, more than that, it expands the personality through merging it with the universal.

The third effect of art upon social welfare is its power to increase happiness and further individual efficiency, through the direct influence of beauty on the nervous organization. There is a measurable physical basis for pleasure and pain. Lines, , colors, and sounds in harmonious arrangement stimulate the circulation and increase the energy of the body; and in so doing they create a sense of well-being. Whereas discordant stimuli inhibit the action of the bodily functions and decrease energy, and in so doing create sensations of pain. Herein lies the basic cause of the subtle differences in influence between ugly and beautiful environments. Harmonious surroundings are soothing and gently stimulating, whereas ugly surroundings are irritating and depressing. Even though the aesthetic surroundings may not come into the range of consciousness, their effect is real nevertheless. Efficiency is actually increased by beauty and decreased by ugliness. The truth of this principle is not affected by the fact that persons long subjected to the influence of ugliness do not respond immediately to the influence of beauty, for their perceptions may have become dulled. But persons who are sensitive to beauty are usually equally sensitive to ugliness, just as a trained musician is sensitive to discordant sounds.

1 See Yrjo Hirn, The Origins of Art, Ch. 3.

The fourth effect of art on social welfare, and the one perhaps most generally recognized, is its power as a stimulus to activity. Men act from the spur of the emotions, rather than through any pressure from the intellect, and consequently an appeal to the emotions is a direct incentive to action. This fact is recognized in the various uses of music. Music is used to stimulate action in war or to direct the emotions in periods of joy and of triumph, or of sadness and of mourning. Religion recognizes and uses this principle and has at different times allied itself with almost all forms of art, utilizing them as powerful instruments for influencing conduct.

The effects of art already described are primarily individualistic in their action, but the fifth to be considered is directly social in its nature. Art not only reacts upon society through its development of the individual, but it plays its own particular part in the work of socialization, for individuals continually subjected to the same emotional stimuli come to be similar. Art therefore should be classed among the forces tending towards social integration. Art in its various forms depicts national achievements and ideals sufficiently to arouse strong national sentiments. Yet the socializing influence of art is not confined by political boundaries. Music, literature, and the drama may possess an appeal so universal as to become bonds between nations.

Social Significance of Different Forms of Art. In addition to the social effects of art in general, something may be said concerning the development and meaning of the different forms of art; but, as the rise of the separate arts depends upon two factors, - that is, both on the character of the emotional life and on the progress of science or technique, - it is hard to give an exact account of their separate developments. The natural, indeed almost involuntary, ways of expressing the emotions are through cries and movements of the body. Even among primitive peoples the dance, poetry, and music, represented by rhythm, are to be found. Rhythm, either in movement or in sound, is perhaps the easiest and least intellectual way of expressing emotion, and is but little dependent upon social development. Other arts are more intellectual and are evolved from correspondingly higher social conditions. It is perhaps true, as De Greef maintains, that arts which appeal to the ear are more emotional, and those which appeal to the eye are more intellectual. He believes there is some correspondence between the intellectual life of a people and the kind of art which it produces and appreciates. Music and oratory, he says, appeal to an emotional people, while architecture, sculpture, and painting are the expressions of a more thoughtful and scientific people.

Following the primitive individual manifestation of art in rhythm, architecture appears as the first artistic expression of a more intense social life. Great architectural works require for their construction extensive coöperation, and the finished product has social significance, for it shows that many persons have united for a common purpose. It may be said, therefore, that architecture indicates the existence of a feeling of social solidarity, together with, of course, sufficient economic resources to make great undertakings possible. This feeling of solidarity may be political and show itself in governmental buildings, or it may be expressed through the figurehead of the sovereign or hero and take the form of a palace or a tomb, or the solidarity may be religious as shown by the building of temples. The last type is well exemplified in the history of the Jews and of the Greeks and is especially well illustrated by the Europeans of the Middle Ages. The element of utility connected with architecture was also a stimulating factor in its development and caused it to reach a high degree of perfection before other arts.

Sculpture and painting appeared later because they are more complicated and more intellectual types of expression. They express in more detailed form the specific ideals and achievements of advanced peoples. And much the same thing is true of music and literature. In fact in the status of any of these arts may be detected very clearly the rise or decline of a people or of a period. An art of aspiration, produced during the rise

1 Guillaume De Greef, Introduction à la sociologie, Pt. II, p. 178 seq. of a people, is distinguishable from an art of achievement or of enjoyment representing height of national development; and different from both of them, and not infrequently frivolous and sensuous, is the art which marks national decline. During the rise of the Greek states the male type of beauty, the athlete, was the prominent ideal; later female beauty dominated, indicating less strenuous ideals and greater capacity for enjoyment; and later still, portrayal of personal pleasures rather than of social ideals, marked the beginning of the decline. In Italy the period of aspiration was reflected in religious art. Development reached its height in the individualistic and joyous art of the Renaissance, and the decline, which was characterized by a return to religious subjects, portrayed extremes of sentiment and suffering foreign to the aspirational art of the early period. At the present time an early stage of an art movement is apparent, for the predominant note in art is distinctively aspirational, as is well illustrated in music and poetry. And the portrayal of social problems, particularly in the novel and in the drama, illustrates the desire to attain a juster form of social democracy.

Conditions Favorable to the Development of Art. Since the effect of art on progress and on social well-being is so important, it will be worth while to consider next the conditions under which art is likely to appear and the means which may be used to stimulate its development. In a study of this kind masterpieces of art must be accepted as criteria both of artistic achievement and of popular appreciation. The fact should also be kept in mind that, inasmuch as architecture usually precedes sculpture and painting, great architectual works may appear before the forces giving rise to a particular artistic movement are far advanced, while the high crest of painting may be reached only when the movement as a whole is on the wane.

The conditions favorable to the development of art may be divided into two groups: first, the physical and social factors which stimulate artistic products; and, secondly, the more personal influences which produce artists. The general physical and social conditions favorable to the production of art may best be shown by a brief review of some of the great periods of art production.

Influence of the Physical Environment. Analyzing first the physical influences, it is apparent that art has had a much greater development in warm southern countries than in cold northern countries. In no northern country, except the Netherlands, has any complete school of painting developed nor has sculpture attained distinction even there. Sculture even more than painting has been the product of warm countries. And no great architectural styles have developed north of France, notwithstanding the fact that buildings have a greater value in cold than in warm countries. The only arts in which the development in northern countries is comparable to that in southern countries are music and literature, these being the arts least affected by the physical environment.

This unequal development of art is the result of a direct as well as an indirect influence of the environment. Perhaps the most obvious advantage possessed by warm countries is that civic art may be more freely exhibited there than in cold countries; sculpture particularly may be more appropriately exposed to view in public places. In cold countries works of art are much more likely to be housed in museums. Now museums are excellent institutions, particularly for the use of special students; but, for the popular development of artistic taste, they are ineffective compared with an open air civic art. But even if the displays of art were equal, the busier life of the people of northern countries would allow them less time to examine and appreciate it. The idler life of southern countries, on the other hand, gives people both the leisure and the disposition to see and to admire. And undoubtedly the continuous exhibition of works of art is an important factor in stimulating popular appreciation. In no city in the world has so much fine art been exposed conspicuously to view as in ancient Athens, and no people in the world have been more appreciative observers and more intelligent critics than the Athenians. This appreciative insight has of course been a cause as well as a result of the greatness of the art displayed, for a discriminating taste demands high art.

Furthermore warm climates tend to develop a more intense form of social life than is possible in cold countries. People are more likely to spend their leisure time out of doors and to

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