Titus Burckhardt holds to a traditional approach to Christian art because Christian art requires it. "For this very reason traditional symbolism is never without beauty: according to the spiritual view of the world, the beauty of an object is nothing but the transparency of its existential envelopes; an art worthy of the name is beautiful because it is true." (Locations 136-138 Kindle version) Burckhardt expresses a premodern view of art (Medieval), as opposed to a modern view (Renaissance and after). In the former the truth of traditional symbolism is important; in the latter individual expression is important.
One of the most tenacious of typically modern prejudices
is the one that sets itself up against the impersonal and
objective rules of an art, for fear that they should stifle
creative genius. In reality no work exists that is traditional,
and therefore 'bound' by changeless principles, which does
not give sensible expression to a certain creative joy of the
soul; whereas modern individualism has produced, apart
from a few works of genius which are nevertheless
spiritually barren, all the ugliness—the endless and
despairing ugliness—of the forms which permeate the
'ordinary life' of our times. (Kindle Locations 146-150)
In the first essay, “Introduction to the Sacred Art of Christianity,” and the last essay, “The Decadence and the Renewal of Christian Art,” Burckhardt writes of the differing perspectives, and the loss of the sacred in the modern one.
The second essay, “The Role of Illuminated Manuscripts in Christian Art,” introduces the reader to several important manuscripts, such as the Book of Kells, the Book of Durrow, early Northumbrian manuscripts, early Syrian manuscripts, and the Ambrosian Illiad. The author writes of the style of illumination and the cultures these books came from.
The title essay, the longest, is more technical than the others. Burckhardt discusses the art of the icon, architecture, and what these represent; medieval philosophy, mainly from Aristotle, but also from Plato and Boethius; and art of Eastern Orthodoxy. In this essay the author includes specific examples of each art.
As these are essays, and the topics significant, the book is a rather broad overview, far from comprehensive. Aptly, the author’s writing is significant. In writing a review there are many quotations I would have liked to have included. Burckhardt’s words have the weight of someone who knows religion and art, both of which use the language of man’s nature and the timeless.
P.S. In the last essay, “The Decadence and the Renewal of Christian Art,” the author addresses the question of whether Christian art can be renewed or reborn. He makes two separate statements:
But a renewal of Christian art is not conceivable without
an awakening of the contemplative spirit at the heart of
Christianity; in the absence of this foundation, every
attempt to restore Christian art will fail; it can never be
anything but a barren reconstruction. (Kindle Locations
1461-1462)
"Christian art will not be reborn unless it completely frees itself from individualistic relativism, and returns to the sources of its inspiration, which by definition are situated in the 'timeless.'" (Kindle Locations 1497-1498)
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