What is Acting? is it an Art? What is Art?

By F. F. Markay

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473358362

Book preview

Art?

What is Acting? Is it an Art? What is Art?

A VERY distinguished actor* writing upon this subject, quite recently, said: Art I define as a whole, wherein a large element of beauty clothes and makes acceptable a still larger element of truth. Now while there can be no doubt about the gentleman’s ability as an artist, there is great obscurity in his definition of Art, and, as a consequence, there may be some doubt as to its correctness.

How shall we, then, define art? Let us seek for a definition through a brief process of induction.

Two words in our language, Nature and Art, limit and define the universe of things.

Art is not Nature, for the reason that Nature is created and Art is made, and again,—

Art is not Nature for the reason that Nature re-produces plant and animal after their kind, and Art only re-presents them, and again,—

Art is not Nature for the reason that Nature is ever crescent and Art is ever decaying.

Everything that man finds here he calls Nature. Everything that he makes he calls Art. Nature is created. Art is made. To create, in its original sense, is to bring forth a visible, tangible something from an invisible, intangible nothing; while to make, is simply to re-arrange material already created. But to re-arrange—that is, to make—demands a mental and a physical force, and, therefore, art is a result of the application of the impressional force to mental conceptions through muscular action. Under this definition art becomes a generic term which includes the useful as well as the fine arts—two species based in different causes, and with very distinctive effects.

The useful arts are the outcome of the mental and physical forces, striving for the perpetuity of the animal man, but eventually demoralizing and depreciating the very forces by which they come into existence. As thus: Suppose two mechanics to seek employment in the office of a machine shop, one man at the age of thirty, the other