“BEAUTY IS TRUTH”

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 19 September 1936, Page 12

“BEAUTY IS TRUTH”

Mr Philip A. dc Laszlo, the painter, in a paper read before the Royal Society of Arts, said: —In all the past civilisations of which we have knowledge to-day the artistic achievement which had as its purpose the glorification of religion has been of the highest rank, and has shown the spirit of the artist under its most convincing aspect. Look where you will—in China, India, Egypt, Assyria, Mexico, Greece or Rome —and at what you will—at the bas-reliefs of Assyria, the temples of Egypt or the art treasures of the Vatican —and you will find in them all a seriousness of intention and a loftiness of effort which are exceedingly significant. Certainly,, it was the same devotion to a noble ideal that inspired the monumental work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, and the Parthenon, that magnificent achievement of Phidias. Both of them were giving of their best. After all, what is the purpose that art fulfils in human life? Surely, to foster a desire for the best and to show how to find in Nature the beauty that will satisfy this desire. I am a painter, and as a painter, I believe that my supreme duty is to worship Nature and to realise her truths as faithfully as I can. I say—with Keats—“ Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty: that is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.”