Beauty and the beholder

An art professor apparently set his students an art-appreciation exercise. He showed them a photo of a very colourful piece of fabric and asked them their opinions. Many commented on how subtle the design was: seemingly chaotic but expressing something of deeper significance. They felt the artist had painted something of profound meaning to himself and others.

It was then the teacher revealed that the photo was of his apron he wore as he painted. In reality, it was mere accidental splotches of paint with no design or purpose. And yet his gullible students had such a vague sense of form and beauty that they believed the messy work apron was a work of art.

For all of us who figure that our pre-schoolers can do better work than many contemporary artists this is not surprising. The fact that people pay lots of money to procure and display some modern artwork might say something about our idea of form and beauty. Is it all subjective? Is all beauty in the eye of the beholder? Or is it much as our text suggests, that our creator God is the source of beauty and that he is the foundation of a more objective standard of beauty?

We can all agree that we have different tastes, but perhaps beauty itself is beyond taste.

Blessings
David Reay