"El Greco’s Elongations" [by David Lehman]

from "Three Aesthetic Questions" (in Literary Matters:)

El Greco's Elongations

Do we agree with Roger Fry who
commended El Greco for “his complete
indifference” to what the public wanted?
Do we admire the artist’s uncompromising
self so much that “verisimilitude of texture”
ceases to be a virtue and any “harshness of
accent” or “crudity of color opposition” is OK
if necessary to the realization of an idea?
Fry wrote in 1920 in advance of any guard.
He influenced everybody, and I speak from
personal experience, because when
I started looking at art, the harder it was
to understand, the better I liked it.
In short: what is art?

See too "Schubert's Unfinished": https://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2024/07/schuberts-unfinished-in-literary-matters.html

Comments

[Frederick G Kushner]

He was the first true “expressionist“ bending and twisting his forms, people and landscapes to his will

[David Lehman]

Thank you for your astute comment, Fred.