Excerpt from Art and the Handicraftsman By Oscar Wilde
People often talk as if there was an opposition between what is beautiful and what is useful. There is no opposition to beauty except ugliness. All
things are either beautiful or ugly. Utility will always be on the side of the beautiful thing, because beautiful decoration is always an expression of the
use you put a thing to and the value placed on it.
No workman will beautifully decorate bad work, nor can you possibly get good handicraftsmen or workmen without having beautiful designs. You
should be quite sure of that. If you have poor and worthless designs in any craft or trade, you will get poor and worthless workmen only. However,
the minute you have noble and beautiful designs, then you get men power and intellect and feeling to work for you. By having good designs, you
will have workmen who work not merely with their hands but with their hearts and heads, too.
15
Select the correct answer
Which statement best expresses how the author connects art and craftsmanship in this text?
А
OB
The author demonstrates how craftsmanship can be useful without being beautiful
The author describes why it is important that artists make mistakes when learning craftsmanship
The author suggests that functional craftsmanship requires beautiful artwork
The author insists that craftsmanship, and not beauty, is most significant in life.
Ос
D
Reset
Next