Thoughts upon the word sublime , a word rarely used today if ever in connection with art -
oh certainly we have "' Awesome'" and if ever was a word more abused it is this one , I mean
a haircut is not awesome however wonderful , a visit to disneyland is not or is it .
Some years ago I vsited The Highlands of Scotland in the late Summer
I came over a rise in the hill and there below was the Loch , a huge expanse of water surrounded
by high mountains the setting sun burnished gold upon the water .One heard in the distance the
the weird calls of the golden eagle - I was awe-struck by the I MMENSITY one felt small and insignificant- one drowned in the vastness of it .
However getting back to the wonderful word sublime - its difficult to relate this word
to a lot of modern art because it seems to have many narrative classical aspects However I would say an artist like Mark Rothko seems to aim towards this mainly through his experience of the immediacy
of the experiance of some of Michelangelos works . Actually the word means putting something
on a pedestal making something elevated something of a transcendant nature. I can bring to mind
many examples of this quality Bethovens ninth symphony-some of Mahler Bela Bartok
In painting Nicholas Poussin -probably also the Greek word pathos has a part to play in its meaning .
Certainly if one goes into The British Museum and walks into - lets face it the stolen
statues of the parthenon freize -there one finds awe there one finds in marble flesh echos of
the "" sublime "
