{"id":9993,"date":"2026-03-21T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=9993"},"modified":"2026-03-20T23:54:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:54:57","slug":"art-in-context","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/art-in-context\/","title":{"rendered":"Art in Context"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Image<\/a>
Stars in the making: Westerlund 2 in near-infrared light, seen in near-infrared light. (2015)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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\"KPNO\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/T.A.<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I take quite a few things seriously, including art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll be talking about that \u2014 art, I mean \u2014 along with attitudes, the Eighth Commandment, and whatever else comes to mind. But first, a quick look at how I see art, the universe, and God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the firmament proclaims the works of his hands.”
(Psalms 19:2<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Briefly, God is large and in charge. This universe is packed with beauties and wonders we’re only beginning to notice, let alone understand. Art is an important part of the human experience, but it’s not the only important part. And, finally, it’s all connected<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”
(John Muir, quoted<\/a> in a book, article, essay, letter, or something by Terry Gifford. Possibly associated with Muir’s “My First Summer in the Sierra”. (1911))<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>A Serious-Minded Man’s Book, G. K. Chesterton’s Comments <\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"Jack<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I admit it. I like books. A lot. I like libraries and bookstores: particularly, in a way, used bookstores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one thing, used books were generally priced lower than new ones. For another, there was the chance that I’d find a title that’d never show up in, say, Barnes & Noble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s probably why Dr. Alfred Kessler \u2014 don’t bother remembering the name, there won’t be a test \u2014 was in a used bookstore in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I’m getting ahead of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little over a century back, Holbrook Jackson was a serious-minded man: both a socialist and a fan of Nietzsche.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I’ll give him credit for sidestepping pretension, or at least making the effort. His “Platitudes in the Making” starts with this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“These thoughts were written down for my own pleasure.
They are now published for the same reason.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He published “Platitudes in the Making” in 1911. Or, rather, D. J. Rider of London did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book’s full title was “Platitudes in the Making \/ Precepts and Advices for Gentlefolk”. Like I said, he was a serious-minded man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At some point, Jackson gave a copy to G. K. Chesterton,2<\/a><\/sup> who read it and made the occasional marginal comments. Which, more often than not, were actually made between<\/strong> the printed lines: not<\/strong> in the margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast-forward several decades. Dr. Alfred Kessler \u2014 finally, I’m back to him \u2014 found a copy of Jackson’s “Platitudes” on the shelves of a used bookstore in San Francisco. It was the one G. K. Chesterton had written in. Since Kessler was a Chesterton fan, he bought it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More time passed. Dr. and Charlotte Kessler let Ignatius Press publish facsimile copies of Jackson’s book with Chesterton’s comments. Then, almost three decades back now, I learned about the facsimile edition and got a copy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think “Platitudes Undone” is out of print, but you might find a copy in a used bookstore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Art and a Boogeyman of Yesteryear<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Dik<\/a>
The end of civilization as we know it: as usual.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jackson ended his “Platitudes” with a section about something that’s fairly important to me: art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“In degenerate ages the arts are pastimes.”
[Holbrook Jackson]
“In perfectly putrid ages they are taken seriously. They are now.<\/span><\/strong>”
[G. K. Chesterton’s comment, written in green pencil]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In a beautiful city an art gallery would be superfluous.”
[Holbrook Jackson]
“In a real one it is an art gallery.<\/span><\/strong>”
[G. K. Chesterton’s comment, written in green pencil]
(“Platitudes Undone”, Ignatius Press (1997 page 91 (Prelude to Art)); facsimile edition of “Platitudes in the Making: Precepts and Advices for Gentlefolk”, Holbrook Jackson (1911))<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Although we’ve got doomsayers in excessive abundance these days, terribly earnest discussions of decadence and degeneracy are pretty much off the radar. Even the best boogeymen don’t last forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 18th and 19th centuries, however, deliberating on the dire threat of degeneracy was all the rage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europe’s better sort, cross-pollinating the emerging social and biological sciences with their own attitudes, feared that society \u2014 nay, civilization itself \u2014 was on the skids. Due in part to the prevalence of people like me.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like pretty much anything else involving people, it’s complicated. Which is why I won’t try untangling that intellectual rat’s nest this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>The Eighth Commandment, Media, and Art<\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"John<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Art matters, but it’s not all that matters. Not by a long shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turns out that “art for art’s sake” is what “l’art pour l’art” sounds like in English.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1800s, folks living in Paris who think a lot, and apparently wouldn’t let anyone else forget it, said that works of art shouldn’t connect with social values or practical uses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time I started running into “art for art’s sake”, it sounded like the idea that art was and should be the only thing that really matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thought art mattered, but I didn’t think it rated top spot when I was growing up, back in the Sixties. I still don’t. What’s changed is how much I know about why “art for art’s sake” set off my bologna detector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Backing up a bit, God makes everything we see and everything we can’t see. And we’re made “in the image of God”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth \u2014
“God created mankind in his image;
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.<\/strong>
“God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed\u2014the sixth day”
(Genesis 1<\/a>:1, 27, 31) [emphasis mine]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Fast-forward to what we call the Ten Commandments: a summary of sound ethical principles, or pesky rules that keep us from having fun, depending on viewpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think they make sense, including this one that says we shouldn’t distort truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
(Exodus 20:19<\/a>)
“You shall not bear dishonest witness against your neighbor.”
(Deteronomy 5:20<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Exodus takes nine words in my language to express the idea that false\/dishonest witness is a bad idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing on experience recorded over several millennia, the Catechism of the Catholic Church discusses that idea in paragraphs 2464 through 2513.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>“Truth, Freedom, Justice, and Solidarity”<\/h4>\n\n\n
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\"Sister<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Basically, truth matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I’m a Catholic, I should think that this is so, and act like I believe it. Even if doing so means experiencing unpleasantness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a section in the Catechism on social communications media (2493-2499) and another on truth, beauty, and sacred art (2500-2503).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They’re all part of the section looking at “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” \/ “You shall not bear dishonest witness against your neighbor” (2464-2513).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Catechism’s discussion of social communications media focuses on older forms, but I think what it says applies to stuff I post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“The information provided by the media is at the service of the common good. Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, justice, and solidarity.<\/strong>…” (Catechism, 2494) [emphasis mine]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I don’t have a problem with that, although \u2014 arguably \u2014 that stuff about “truth, freedom, justice, and solidarity” cramps my style. Not much, though. I never did have a taste for emotion-drenched rants or panegyrics. Not once I calm down, at any rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A point I’m groping for here is that avoiding ‘dishonest witness against my neighbor’ is both a good idea, and includes a lot more than what I say about the folks next door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Giving Form to the Truth of Reality<\/h4>\n\n\n
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\"James<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I thought I was going to talk about art galleries, architecture, and urban planning this week. Then I noticed that the Catechism talks about art in the context of the Eighth Commandment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A point that jumped out at me was making art is one way we show that we’re made “in the image of God”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Created ‘in the image of God,’ man also expresses the truth of his relationship with God the Creator by the beauty of his artistic works.<\/strong> Indeed, art is a distinctively human form of expression; beyond the search for the necessities of life which is common to all living creatures, art is a freely given superabundance of the human being’s inner riches. Arising from talent given by the Creator and from man’s own effort, art is a form of practical wisdom, uniting knowledge and skill, to give form to the truth of reality in a language accessible to sight or hearing. To the extent that it is inspired by truth and love of beings, art bears a certain likeness to God’s activity in what he has created. Like any other human activity, art is not an absolute end in itself, but is ordered to and ennobled by the ultimate end of man.<\/strong>”
(Catechism, 2501) [emphasis mine]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, I don’t see folks who aren’t ‘artistic’ as having a smaller slice of humanity’s transcendent dignity. It doesn’t work that way. We’re not all alike, we’re not supposed to be, and I’ve talked about that sort of thing before:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Salvador<\/a>
Dali’s ‘The Sacrament of the Last Supper’. (1955)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n