Happy are they who live in the dream of their own existence, and see all things in the light of their own minds; who walk by faith and hope; to whom the guiding star of their youth still shines from afar, and into whom the spirit of the world has not entered! They have not been “hurt by the archers”, nor has the iron entered their souls. The world has no hand on them.
–William Hazlitt, Winterslow: Essays and Characters (1850)
I have used a quote once before here, back in 2012, from the British art and literary critic of the 19th century William Hazlitt. The quote made me chuckle when I came across it this morning while researching the quote from him above:
Landscape painting is the obvious resource of misanthropy.
As a painter of primarily landscapes, I am not saying that Hazlitt’s claim isn’t sometimes true. Believe me, there are days when the last thing I want to do is see or talk to another human being. Most days, actually.
But the fact is that I see the landscapes that I paint, internally created though they may be, as connecting tissue to our humanity and all that is good and decent in it. And that goodness and decency is something I will always revere and love in humans.
Part of the attraction of painting my landscapes is that I can create a world that reflects an acceptable form of humanity for me, one that creates space for our better angels. Nne that I can feel comfortable in. One that brings me happiness of some sort.
A landscape that gives me a path to follow and a light to guide me.
You can see why I was attracted to Hazlitt’s less cynical words at the top of the page. I can see them reflected in much of the work from my Guiding Light exhibit at the West End Gallery that ends tomorrow. The first line–Happy are they who live in the dream of their own existence, and see all things in the light of their own minds– resonates deeply for me in the work of this show.
The only part of Hazlitt’s passage to which I might mildly object is the one stating that this created inner world is one into whom the spirit of the world has not entered. As I said, I see these internal landscapes as connecting tissue to my humanity. The spirit of the world, at least the better angels of that spirit, are infused in the work.
As noted, it is a mild objection only as I understand that he is inferring that if the darker angels of our spirit were to enter such a world, happiness in this inner world might never be achieved.
For my part, the work for this show brought me such happiness as Hazlitt describes. I hope others sensed that and felt it in themselves.
All I can ask of it.
Guiding Light now hanging at the West End Gallery comes to its conclusion at the end of the day tomorrow, Thursday, November 13.
Redtree Times 