The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

HUMANIST

VALUES 217

seated

and

universaland

continuous,as,forexample,

the

processofbreathing.

And/thishabitofprojecting

theimageofourownfunctions

upontheoutsideworld*^

of reading the outside

world in our own terms, is

certainly ancient,common,and profound.
It/is, in

fa:ct,the natural

wayof perceivingand interpreting

what wesee\ Itis the wayof thechild in whom

perpetual pretence and

'

endless

imitation

'

are a

spontaneousmethod

ofenvisagingtheworld. It is

thewayof the savage, whobelieves in 'animism,'

andconceiveseveryobjecttobeinvestedwithpowers

likehisown.^ Itisthewayoftheprimitivepeoples,

who inthe elaborate business

ofthe dance give a

bodilyrenderingtotheirbeliefsanddesireslongbefore

thought has accurately expressed them. It is the

wayofa,superblygiftedraceliketheGreeks,whose

mythologyisonevastmonumenttojustthisinstinct.

It

is the wayof the poetic

mind

at

all times and

places,whichhumanisestheexternalworld,not

in

a

'

Thusithasoflatebeen

morefullyrealisedthatchildrenand

primitiveracesare often

capable ofveryremarkable achievement

in

expressiveart,whilethe

scientificperceptionofthe

world

for

the

most

partunderminesthe

gift. Ifthechildorthesavage

isincapable

ofappreciatinggreat

architecture,itis notbecausethey

lackthe

sesthetic

sense(fora

childthegeneralforms,for

instance,ofapiece

offurnitureareoftenchargedwithsignificance

andimpressiveness),

butbecausethescopeandcontinuityoftheir

attentionistoolimited

toorganisetheseperceptionsintoany

aestheticwhole,stillmoreto

givethem concreterealisation. None

theless, itisonthis

half-

consciousorsubconscious,yetnotquite

undiscoverableworldinwhich,

morethanourselves,theylive, that

architecture,likeallthearts,

dependsforitseffect.