MARVIN LIPOFSKY - Micaela

“...It is Art which makes life, makes interest, makes importance...and I know no substitute whatever for the force
and beauty of its process...”
- Henry James
Marvin Liposky and the Mistress of the World
Pascal called the imagination “...the mistress of the world, the superb power, the enemy of reason...
it disposes all things....it creates beauty, justice, and happiness.” If we accept Pascal’s premise - that
the imagination is the power of the mind over things - then it stands to reason that the artistic nature of
any idea depends upon the mind through which it passes, for ideas are not inherently artistic in and of
themselves. The imagination of the artist is clear and keen, and its achievement lies in its attempt to
bridge the abstract gap between fact and miracle. But of what real use is the imagination of the artist to
us, the casual viewer?
It is not to lead us out of the havoc that we find ourselves in the midst of everyday. Nor is the role of
the artist and their imagination to comfort us while we are constantly barraged with an onslaught of
information from myriad sources. I think that the function of the artist is to make their imagination ours,
to gradually watch their imagination glitter in our mind. The role of the artist, in short, is to help us live
our lives. The artist does this by creating a world to which we can turn to, again and again, so that we
eventually are unable to conceive of our lives without the artist’s imagination and feeling. Art is one of the
sacraments of life - the crucial interface between the imagination and reality, the thing that makes life a
deeper and broader thing than what it might be without such insight.
The artist discovers through their own imagination and feelings what they deem to be art. The artist then
reveals the freedom of their imagination to us through the artwork they subsequently create, and that is
the artist’s distinction - as our distinction as the viewer is to be the recipient of the artist’s imagination and
feeling. But while this revelation - the actual artwork produced - may define to the artist what is art, it is
not the invention of a definition of art. By this, I mean the art itself - the naked artwork - is the imagination
and feeling of the artist revealing itself in the artwork they create.
The artist’s imagination reflects reality, but more importantly, reality reflects the artist’s imagination. The
artist’s imagination is constantly pressing up against the pressure of reality. The creation of an artwork
releases this pressure as energy. This energy is the force capable of turning the substance of the artist’s
imagination into subtlety, and creates a sympathetic resonance in our own reality by the sheer force of
the artist’s will. If the philosopher’s world is:
[the whole world + thought]
Then the artist’s world is:
[the whole world + imagination]