I have been thinking lately of the marvelous gifts talented artists give us. My friend, Father Joe McCarthy, who I am confident is now in heaven, once said to me, “Bob, I think all entertainers go straight to heaven. They give so much pleasure to people.” I thought it was a lovely idea. Joe’s comment has been on my mind lately, and I wonder if his belief might extend to serious artists. I often forget how much we benefit from the gifts that talented artists give to us. They can be wonderful revelations, revelations about the world and about ourselves.
Lately, I have been thinking about the gift authors give us. I am imagining a novelist, a short-story author, or a poet. Each looks at some area of reality or some human experience and tries to share what they see with the rest of us. Though I have written several books, I have never written a novel, a short story, or a poem. I am imagining what authors of those types of literature might experience in the process of producing their work.
I imagine that the author has some experience, perhaps emotional or insightful, and wants to share that experience with others through a piece of literature. Perhaps the process of creating the work goes well and smoothly, and the artist has shared something of themselves with others. At other times, the process of creating may not go smoothly, and the experience may be almost painful. There is an anecdote, perhaps not factual, that I think captures the struggle many artists may experience to create. A novelist was up in his attic trying to finish writing a novel with which he was struggling. Knowing her husband well, his wife was careful not to disturb him.
When he came downstairs for breakfast, she could tell he was still struggling, so she did not ask him any questions about his progress with the book. When he came down for lunch, she could tell that he was still struggling. When he came down for dinner, he seemed quite happy and relaxed. His wife said to him, “Did you finish the novel?” He replied, “No, but I found the right word!”
When I was an undergraduate in college, a classmate, Charles Matonti, and I worked on an undergraduate thesis on Jaccqes Maritain’s theory of art. We worked very hard, and what I learned about Maritain’s theory I have used for many years in trying to interpret art, especially literature and film. I think I can tap my memory now and present Maritain’s theory succinctly.
Maritain claimed there were two components in any work of art. He called them the matter and the creative intuition. What Maritain meant by the matter is easy to understand. He meant the material used to create the work of art. So, for painting, the matter was canvas and oil; for sculpture, stone or wood; for literature, language; for theatre and film, words, action, and plot. To produce significant works of art, the artist needed some skill with matter. Did the artist gain that skill through practice, or was the artist born with it? Not having that skill, I don’t know, but I suspect the great artists are born with some gift the rest of us do not have, and that they develop that skill through practice. It is impossible to fully understand creative intuition. Even Maritain did not fully understand it. Creative intuition is not a concept or an idea. It cannot be verbalized. It is an insight into reality or into human experience. All of us have insights into reality, but the artist’s insight moves them to create. When the artist has a profound creative intuition and expresses it successfully, in a matter, a masterpiece is born.
Ideally, creative intuition exists in three places: in the artist, in the work of art, and in the person experiencing it. I think if there is no creative intuition, the work of art is not “saying” anything.
Even this short description of Maritain’s theory may help us understand, to some extent, why opinions about art can vary enormously. A work may be neglected for years and then eventually be judged by many to be a masterpiece. Also, a work may be considered a masterpiece for years, but eventually judged to be an inferior work.
Sketching Maritain’s theory has reminded me what a marvelous gift talented artists offer us and what a great gift every masterpiece is. Great art can help us see ourselves in new ways and appreciate those new insights with gratitude. There are many ways that we can gift others. Great artists offer special gifts.
Father Lauder is a philosophy professor at St. John’s University, Jamaica. His new book, “The Cosmic Love Story: God and Us,” is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes & Noble.