SYMBOLISM IN ART

Before attempting a more detailed analysis of the media of the major arts, let us quickly survey the field by means of a brief, nontechnical description of the primary and secondarys media of the arts here considered (This distinction will be discussed in the next section. It is, in a word, the distinction between the partly or wholly sensuous medium (here called "primary") which is directly manipulated by the artist, and the subject-matter (here called the "secondary" medium) whose interpretation achieves artistic expression only indirectly through the organization of the primary medium).

The primary medium of pure or absolute music consists of musically related tones and rests which permit of formal organization into abstract musical patterns. These patterns are not visible, as are architectural compositions, but auditory; they are not "imitative" or representational, and therefore differ from those of pantomime and of representational sculpture and painting; and they are not, in whole or in part, symbolic of ideational meaning as are words, taken both singly and in combination. The secondary medium or subjectmatter of pure music is human emotion and conation. In vocal and program music both media are more complicated.

The primary medium of the non-mimetic dance is the human body in motion and at rest. Its secondary medium, like that of music, is human emotion and conation. The dance has, since earliest times, been accompanied by music, or at least by an audible rhythmic beat. So accompanied, it is not, strictly speaking, a pure art. Even with an auditory accompaniment, the dance need not be mimetic; its three-dimensional patterns, like musical patterns, can be directly expressive of inner emotional states and attitudes. But the dance is often more or less mimetic. Pantomime is the "imitation" or mimicry, by means of bodily movement and facial expression, of the appearance and behavior of human and other individuals and types. It is also possible by means of pantomime to tell a simple story. Hence the secondary medium of pantomime includes whatever lends itself to silent mimicry. The art of acting also involves bodily movement. But acting is a mixed art because it makes use not only of bodily movement but of the spoken word. The dance is therefore the purest exemplification of the generic art of bodily movement.

The primary medium of architecture is three-dimensional solids and voids. Like music and the non-mimetic dance, architecture is essentially an "abstract" art which achieves artistic expressiveness directly through non-representational forms. It thus differs basically from the representational arts of sculpture and painting. It differs also from literature because its primary medium and its forms are not essentially symbolic, as are words and phrases, though architectural forms may acquire symbolic meaning, as may musical figures and the movements of the dance.

Architecture differs from the other major arts in one important respect. I am not referring, as might be supposed, to its dependence upon engineering principles--a dependence which has received much attention from contemporary architectural "functionalists." Architecture is no more enslaved by the non-artistic laws of its primary medium than are the other arts by the analogous laws of their respective media. I have in mind the social function of architecture. The use to which a building is put is its distinctive secondary medium. The architect must know, from the beginning, not only the site and available building materials but also the manner in which the building is to be employed. This is an artistic, not merely a utilitarian, necessity, for the artist is under artistic obligation to express in architectural form the spirit of the building's social function. All art, of course, has a general social function, and particular works of art in other media may be created for particular social uses and occasions. But it is only in architecture, among the major arts, that a more specific "program" constitutes an essential part of the secondary medium. Like certain minor arts, architecture is in this sense peculiarly utilitarian in character; the artistic expression of its practical use is integral to architectural excellence.

Sculpture and painting can be considered together. Their primary or physical media are of course different; the sensuous medium of sculpture is a three-dimensional solid, that of painting, a twodimensional surface. But these arts resemble each other in inviting representational treatment, though their primary media can be organized non-representationally. In sculptural and pictorial abstractions the respective primary media are organized, as are musical tones, into non-representational patterns which give direct artistic expression to inner emotive and conative states. But unlike the primary media of music and architecture, the physical media of painting and sculpture lend themselves so effectively to the representation of visible objects that the potentialities of these arts cannot be said to have been adequately exploited in pure "abstractions." These arts, like the pantomimic dance, have, therefore, as their secondary medium all objects which might be regarded as potential representational subject-matter.

Sculpture and painting may also be treated symbolically. Symbolic meaning can be attached both to abstract and to representational forms, whether pictorial or sculptural. But such symbolism is no more essential to these arts than it is to music, architecture, and the dance. It is only literature whose primary medium is essentially symbolic.

The primary medium of literature is words in meaningful relation. This medium is more complex than that of any of the other arts, for words themselves have a complex character. They have, on the one hand, a sensuous aspect, for they are audible sounds to which are assigned visible symbols in all civilized languages. But these sounds (and visible signs) also have ideational meanings. These meanings, in turn, are in essence conceptual, but they may also, in addition, be imagistic, emotive, and conative. The relation of sensory symbol and ideational meaning is arbitrary (save in the case of onomatopoeia), since meanings become attached to signs by fiat or convention. The meaning of a verbal symbol must therefore be learned, and only through translation does such a symbol become intelligible.

The sound-patterns of words used in various combinations may be directly expressive of emotional attitudes in a way somewhat analogous to the way in which musical patterns can be directly expressive. But complete reliance in literature on the immediate non-symbolic expressiveness of the spoken word is even more of a tour de force than is complete reliance on wholly abstract form in sculpture and painting, and constitutes an even greater failure to exploit the potentialities of the primary medium. The meanings of words used singly and in combination constitute an essential part of the primary medium of literature.

The referential meanings of words refer us to "objects" of one type or another which, in aggregate, constitute the potential subject-matter or secondary medium of literature. This medium is much more extensive and varied than that of any of the other arts. Music and the dance are, for the most part, restricted to the interpretation of man's emotive and conative states. The chief subjectmatter of architecture is man's social activities which require to be housed. Sculpture lends itself best to the representation of the human body, and even painting can directly represent only the visible world of nature. Literature, in contrast, can treat of every type of object and every kind of human experience. It cannot, it is true, make its physical subject-matter visible to the eye, as can sculpture and painting, nor can it express man's emotive and conative states in the way in which music expresses them. It too has its expressive limitations. But what it cannot "represent" to sense it can conjure up for the imagination, and what it cannot directly evoke by sound alone it can evoke by its own methods of indirection. Because of its complex primary medium literature has a far richer secondary medium than any of the other major arts.

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