Art for Life's Sake
An Application of the Principles of Art to the Ideals and Conduct of Individual and Collective Life
Description:... Occasionally there appears a book which expresses clearly and forcibly what a large number of people have been feeling more or less inarticulately for a long time. Such a book is "Art for Life's Sake," a book of broad scope, of careful logic, of informational value, and of high ideals. It shows the relation of art to life in the past and how it may be more closely and helpfully united with real life in the present. The author skillfully satirizes the so-called artists who believe in Art only for Art's sake. The ultimate aim of the book is to "further the getting together of each and all, no matter what may be their specialized work, in an organized cooperation, animated by the ideal of individual and collective betterment." Thus the book is seen to have a broad message for the general reader, as well as a special message for the artist in colors, stone, metal, wood or other medium. To the latter he holds up a high standard, saying; "Hence the proud distinction of the artist proper, if he understand himself aright and be rightly understood, is to hold aloft the ensign to humanity, pointing the way to nearer and nearer approaches toward perfection." It is impossible in a brief review to further suggest the character of the subject matter of a book such as this, but the reader may be assured that his ideas about art will be clarified and his efforts toward human betterment will be given renewed impulse by close study of the chapters of this book.
--Manual Training Magazine, Volume 14
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