A METAPHYSIC OF MODERN ART
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passion that scorns schoolroom concepts of orderly eXposItIOn; both
are concerned with art, not primarily as a source of aesthetic pleasure,
but as a means of salvation. Malraux's work, it is true, lacks the wealth
of intellection one finds in Nietzsche; his ideas, though superbly ex–
pressed, are not enriched by Nietzsche's conceptual
elan.
And if there is
one quality that distinguishes Nietzsche, perhaps to excess, it is his
boldness in facing the full implications of his own ideas. Malraux, on
the other hand, while recognizing the importance of primitive in–
fluences on modern culture, shies away from attempting to reconcile
this influence with his own theory of modern art; and in my opinion,
undermines his main argument by this evasion.
In any case, Malraux's strong point is not his framework of con–
cepts-suggestive though these undoubtedly are-but rather, the con–
crete analyses of individual art works, artists and art styles that make up
the bulk of the present volumes. Rarely, in modern writing on art, has
such a wealth of suggestive imagery been combined with so sure an in–
sight into the historical and religious values embodied in particular art
styles. One would have to go back to Ruskin and Walter Pater in Eng–
lish, or Taine and H egel on the Continent, to find pages of comparable
scope and grandeur. Whole sections of the book are prose poetry of a
high order-hut a poetry whose images are controlled, at every point,
by an infallible exactitude in defining stylistic and historical nuances.
Unfortunately, it will not be possible for us to dwell on this aspect of
the book; nor is it altogether desirable that we should do so at the
present time. This task may confidently be left to the future, which is
certain to regard Malraux's work as one of the major efforts to under–
stand the nature of art, and, through art, the nature of man.
The first volume of Malraux's work, called "The Imaginary
Museum," is a general introduction to his leading ideas on modern art,
which are then, in the second volume, extended to the whole history of
art. By the title of the first volume, Malraux alludes symbolically to the
process tha t, in his view, has led to a new understanding of the nature
of art-an understanding based on a more extended knowledge of past
art styles than has ever before been available. In perfecting the tech–
nical means of reproducing art works, modern man has created an
" imaginary museum" for himself that places him in a different relation
to art than preceding generations. The growth of real museums from
small private collections had already, as Malraux points out, led to the
intellectualization of art, since in entering the museum the art work
