to be found in nature. And, although the general shape and arrangement
of the parts of a useful object is dominated by its purpose, if it is
also beautiful--a Louis Seize chair, for example--there is, besides,
a design that cannot be explained by use. In artistic expressions,
therefore, there exists a unity in the material, superposed upon the
unity required by the purpose or thought expressed. And this property
follows from the preceding. For, since the medium is valuable in itself,
the mind, which craves unity everywhere, craves it there also, and
lingers longer and more happily on finding it; and, since the medium
can be expressive, the unity of the fundamental mood of the thought
expressed will overflow into and pervade it. Hence there occurs an
autonomous development of unity in the material, raising the total
unity of the expression to a higher power.




CHAPTER III

THE INTRINSIC VALUE OF ART


Our definition of art can be complete only if it enables us to
understand the value of art. The reader may well ask what possible
value expression can have when it becomes an end in itself. "I can
understand," he may say, "the value of expression for the sake of
communication and influence, but what value can it have of itself?"
At this point, moreover, we are concerned with the intrinsic value
immediately realized in the experience of art, not with further values
that may result from it. Art, no less than practical expression, may