prevented the production of the frightful crudities which passed for
art in Germany and England during the present and past centuries. By
helping to create a freer and more intelligent atmosphere for the
artist to be born and educated in, and finer demands upon him when
once he has begun to produce and is seeking recognition, the student
of aesthetics may indirectly do not a little for him. And surely in our
own country, where an educated public taste does not exist and the
fiercest prejudices are rampant, there is abundant opportunity for
service.




CHAPTER II

DEFINITION OF ART


Since it is our purpose to develop an adequate idea of art, it might
seem as if a definition were rather our goal than our starting point;
yet we must identify the field of our investigations and mark it off
from other regions; and this we can do only by means of a preliminary
definition, which the rest of our study may then enrich and complete.

We shall find it fruitful to begin with the definition recently revived
by Croce: [Footnote: Benedetto Croce: _Estetica_, translated into
English by Douglas Ainslie, under title _Aesthetic_, chap. i.] art
is expression; and expression we may describe, for our own ends, as
the putting forth of purpose, feeling, or thought into a sensuous
medium, where they can be experienced again by the one who expresses