SPECULATIONS. Essays on Humanism and the Philosophy of Art

Speculations ESSAYS ON HUMANISM AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF ART By T. E. IIULME Edited by HERBERT READ With a Frontispiece and Foreword by JACOB EPSTEIN LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER CO., LTD. NEW YORK HARCOURT, BRACE COMPANY, INC. 1936 T. K. HULME From n Bronze by Jacob Epstein. CONTENTS Frontispiece Portrait of the Author from a Bronze by Jacob Epstein PAGE FOREWORD . . . . vii INTRODUCTION . . . ix AUTHORS PREFACE …. xvi HUMANISM AND THE RELIGIOUS ATTITUDE I MODERN ART AND ITS PHILOSOPHY . . 73 ROMANTICISM AND CLASSICISM . . Ill BERGSONS THEORY OF ART . . .141 THE PHILOSOPHY OF INTENSIVE MANIFOLDS I I CINDERS ….. 215 APPENDICES A. REFLECTIONS ON VIOLENCE . . 249 B. PLAN FOR A WORK ON MODERN THEORIES OF ART . . . .261 C. THE COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS OF T. E. HULME …. 265 INDEX …… 269 FOREWORD HUI. ME was my very great friend, and what I can say about him is entirely personal. What appealed to me particularly in him was the vigour and sincerity of his thought. He was capable of kicking a theory as well as a man downstairs when the occasion de manded. I always felt him to be my chief bulwark against malicious criticism. He was a man who had no regard for personal fame or notoriety, and he considered that his work lay entirely in the future. His whole life was a preparation for the task of interpre tation which he had set himself. He would make reckless sacrifices to possess works of art which he could not really afford he bought not only my own works, but also those of Gaudier-Brzeska and this long before Gaudier was well known. Hulme was a terror to fumistes and charlatans of all kinds. His passion for the truth was uncontrolled. I recall dozens of little personal things characteristic of the man but particularly our first meeting. I was at work on the Wilde monument. Hulme immediately put his own construction on my work turned it vii SPECULATIONS into some theory of projectiles. My sculp ture only served to start the train of his thought. Abstract art had